Parched.

Clark, Georgia.  Parched.  Holiday House  2014  312p  $17.95  ISBN 978-0-8234-2949-3  jr/sr  Science fiction  VG-BN    

Tess was born to a life of privilege in a world where most must fight for basic resources, but after spending time beyond the safe walls of her home, she uncovers a government plot involving artificial intelligence in this fantastic futuristic story.  There is a lot more to this book than meets the eye, even though its cover is, frankly, awful, and at first the message about climate change and global warming seems a little heavy-handed.  But the setting is too intriguing to dismiss, because author Georgia Clark seriously considers how life would go on after the sort of drastic climate change described in her novel.  Even Tess is not very interesting as a main character initially, until more is revealed about her past and the circumstances surrounding her mother's death.  Her interactions with her uncle's assistant, Hunter, are cute and awkward and feel very real. It is wonderfully refreshing that Tess is not instantly an amazing guerrilla warrior when she eventually takes up with the anti-government group Kudzu. The science-fiction elements actually feel like science fiction, rather than bits of science thrown into a dystopic romance, and this is also a delightful surprise for the young-adult reader who isn't necessarily ready to jump into hardcore science fiction just yet.  Parched is a classic example of why we shouldn't judge books by their covers, so do pick it up.       

Summary: In this fantastic, futuristic story, Tess was born to a life of privilege in a world where most must fight for basic resources, but after spending time beyond the safe walls of her home, she uncovers a government plot involving artificial intelligence.

Climate change-Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic Novels --Bethany Geleskie