This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Peter Aronson is a former journalist and attorney and now he writes books for middle-grade readers. In 2015, Peter realized that global warming was the biggest problem in the world. He decided to write a book that middle-grade readers could relate to, about kids fighting climate change because adults have really messed up. The book is a novel set in 2030, but there is a lot of truth behind it. This is Peter's third middle-grade book. To learn more, please visit www.peteraronsonbooks.com.
Reviewed by Francis Mont for Readers' Favorite
Mandalay Hawk’s Dilemma: The United States of Anthropocene by Peter Aronson is an extremely important novel, written for middle-grade students but it is equally informative and, most of all, motivational for any age group, from 6-year-old to adults. It deals with climate change as it plays out in the US in 2030, less than a decade from now. It extrapolates existing trends to a completely believable yet horrifying status quo in which the devastation caused by massive storms, flooding, and extremely high temperatures is matched only by the total apathy bordering on boredom by both the citizenry and their leaders as they respond to one weather-related disaster after the other; except for three 14-year-old students, inspired and led by Mandalay Hawk, a determined young girl who wants to save the planet. Learning from the failures of past protests, she wants to do something different on a much larger scale. She has to overcome opposition from parents and teachers at first, then the whole American establishment. Her motto is “failure is not an option.” Will she succeed in her near-impossible quest?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this captivating novel. It is very well written; the language is perfectly tailored to the intended audience. Anyone who has had the experience of raising teenage girls (including this narrator) will find both the characters and their psychology completely believable. The pacing is alternating between sensitive descriptions of relationships on one hand and breakneck speed action parts on the other, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. The plot and storyline are ingenious. Mandalay manages to fulfill her aim of doing something never tried before, bold and different that eventually leads to her objective of forcing a confrontation with the powers of the country – small and large. The novel is also a goldmine of information on every aspect of the science and history of climate change, describing how and why we got from current trends to an unbearable near future. I was particularly impressed by the seldom heard, yet unanswerable argument that if the US government could instigate massive changes to all walks of life, both private and business, so the country would be prepared for WW2, why isn’t the same possible today when the country is facing a far more severe existential threat by climate change? In addition to all that, the novel is highly entertaining. I can truly recommend Mandalay Hawk’s Dilemma: The United States of Anthropocene by Peter Aronson to both young and old alike.
