Onward: Climate fiction to inspire hope
A collection of 16 remarkable short stories for aspiring teen activists centered on the climate crisis, highlighting how small actions can make Earth sustainable against climate change.
This inspiring collection of sixteen short stories is packed with fascinating characters and settings that illuminate current and possible changes to our planet and how humanity responds.
Included here is prose, verse, and personal essays from a wide range of authors diverse in ethnic background, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.
This young adult anthology cultivates deep hope and stunning resilience—what we all need in order to make life on Earth more sustainable for us all.
REVIEWS & BLURBS
“In this wide-ranging collection of poems, short stories, and an essay, climate change is explored in ways that are meant to inspire hope rather than despair, encouraging readers toward activism and a resistance against the rapid destruction and consumption of Earth’s resources. The characters are sharp and bold across multiple genres in this anthology of sixteen works, and each is able to see what needs to be done even if some are still coming to understand how they can be part of a solution… There is a rich diversity of writing styles, voices, and perspectives that keeps the collection fresh and each entry distinct, though all adhere to the central theme.” - The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (November 2025 Issue)
“A powerful look at a shifting world.” - Kirkus Reviews
* “An inspiring and varied collection of cli-fi short stories, all designed to encourage hope in their readers. The vast array of voices, perspectives, topics, and styles make Onward a distinct and intriguing collection.” - Shelf Awareness, starred review
“The overall focus on psychological resilience is highly effective. The book is bolstered by excellent information, including author’s notes on real-world events like the Flint water crisis and QR codes for immediate climate action. This is a vital and uniquely optimistic resource...a necessary and valuable title.” - School Library Journal
“This compilation of 16 short stories, essays, and poems is designed to help young people work through feelings and fears associated with climate change.With a mostly positive through line and back matter listing further resources, the main theme is hope. All the stories feature characters that have the capability to do great things, but they’re never by themselves; a message of community radiates through the pages. This timely work makes the seemingly impossible problem of climate change feel a little more manageable with its bite-size stories.” — Booklist
PRESS & INTERVIEWS
Watch this space