Environmental Crisis in Young Adult Fiction

This pioneering study is the first full-length treatment of feminism and the environment in children's literature. Drawing on the history, philosophy and ethics of ecofeminism, it examines the ways in which post-apocalyptic landscapes in young adult fiction reflect contemporary attitudes towards eco-crisis and human responsibility. Identifying the neoliberal discourses of individualism and self-advancement that 'feminise' categories lying outside the parameters of the adult white male, it explores the ways in which contemporary young adult authors attempt to develop a sustainable ethic of care that can encompass 'feminised' peoples and spatialities, including nonhumans and the environment. With particular reference to the ways in which global processes are mapped onto the local landscape, it advocates a poetics of earth to replace the disengaged planetary consciousness often engendered through crisis. This study lays forth various transformative responses to eco-crisis at a time of escalating global concern over the environment. Discussing a range of contemporary texts and authors, including The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now, this engaging book offers a significant contribution to children's literature studies.