THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND by Allegra Goodman

I did not realize until after I had finished this book that it was intended for a young audience.  No matter.  Also, it’s even more relevant now than it was when it came out seventeen years ago.  Climate change is an increasingly bigger problem, and kudos to Allegra Goodman for writing about it in language accessible to all.  Honor is a 10-year-old girl in a dystopian society, and her parents are not conforming to the will of Earth Mother, a corporate entity that makes the rules.  The school system is molding the students into Stepford children, who are punished for any infraction that defies or questions the government’s restrictions.  Everyone knows that non-compliant parents will be “disappeared,” and their children will become orphans who have to board at the school.  Honor is terrified that her parents will meet this fate if they don’t start behaving in the manner expected of them.  This reversal of who is rebelling—the parent rather than the child—begs the question of whether or not safety is in obedience or in refusing to be subject to the constraints of a repressive society.