GRETA THUNBERG

In 2018, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg’s personal campaign against climate change moved beyond her family and led to student demonstrations around the world.

Former journalist Marcovitz ably introduces the Swedish teen who became Time magazine’s youngest ever Person of the Year in 2019. Strongly moved by a climate change video at age 11, Thunberg became totally focused on its devastating effects and seriously depressed. A diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome explained her hyperfocus, and she used this trait to challenge first the Swedish government and then world leaders. What began as her personal “School Strike for the Climate” became an international crusade as she was invited to address world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos and United Nations meetings in Katowice, Poland, and New York. The book chronicles her activism—spurred in part by the post-Parkland anti-gun protests in the U.S. and her parents’ own advocacy—as well as the sometimes personal public criticism she has faced, to which she once replied, “If they are attacking me, then that means they have no argument to speak of and their debate only involves attacking me. That means we’ve already won.” Marcovitz concludes with various examples of “the Greta Effect.” The straightforward, accessibly written text includes short pullout sections on a variety of topics and occasional photographs.

Informative and well-sourced, this holds appeal for young activists.