![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpfhbjK657Vc5nXw9fv4ZboB3iZNugsbvGKGf4aXAaQG24AjoZBlcn8cVGNCfJ_mVodro-1FQDizpDM1SIjhV0ex74-0j99Kedl3ORm7Qaw73DmZvQa9kKngMiH6dAY6Qy1m3/s1600/environmental-book-club-logo.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4kN4vbL8yYsPgxc_tPwrzMCj29h5x6t-flOa5d9COQQHX3InGpZ0DsHzjR5KkeXo05WE0WRch_tiUjsJCeCVZmfs8LVU_3cgPXUKXl_lkrxqkclz92G4yty8ncpH7ZWqfQai/s200/scat.jpg)
Scat is about two students who become involved in the give and take between an oil company trying to steal oil in a Florida swamp and what might be described as an eco-terrorist trying to save endangered panthers living there. The book follows the big, bad company vs. small-time good guys formula that we've seen in another environmental book for young readers, Operation Redwood. This formula turns up in a lot of movies and TV shows relating to the environment, too. We could call them David and Goliath stories.
My question: Will I ever be able to find an environmental story for kids that doesn't follow either this pattern or the dystopian future brought about by human-made environmental disaster convention? Stay tuned.
Scat's structure is significant because it involves point of view switches, a lot of them. The most interesting character, for me, was not either of the two kids who are the leads. I wish the book had been about Duane Scrod, Jr., who has been held back in biology for two years. He is not your traditional children's book/YA protagonist, and, as I said, he's not the protagonist here. Duane, known as Smoke, becomes interested in environmental science, because he recognizes that if the Black Vine Swamp changes, there won't be a place for people like him, people who are part of that environment.
Most of the characters in Scat experience the Black Vine Swamp from a distance. For the main characters, it appears to be just a school field trip destination. Smoke is what I'm looking for in eco-fiction, someone who is immersed in an environment. Could someone like him be the jumping off point for an environmental book?
No comments:
Post a Comment