This Is the Year

Via reflective prose, poet Muñoz (Danzirly, for adults) grapples with the effects of climate change on personal identity in this intense YA debut set in a bleak, unspecified future suffering from mass animal extinctions and catastrophic natural disasters. Colombian American 17-year-old Julieta Villarreal longs to leave Florida, where she’s only known as the girl whose twin sister was killed in a hit-and-run. A high test score brings with it the attention of aerospace company Cometa, which seeks to send immigrants, or “Nueva Americans,” to establish new colonies in space. Juli secretly enrolls and commences training, determined to be one of the lucky few selected to travel the cosmos. Despite trying to avoid emotional connections, Juli rekindles old relationships, makes new friends, learns to skate, rehabilitates wounded animals, writes poetry, and unexpectedly falls in love. Through steadfast first-person narration and her poems, interspersed throughout, Juli relays daily happenings to her sister, whom she pretends to speak with in her head. Juli’s situation, and the events that precede it, serve to challenge readers to consider how even the smallest action can change the trajectory of their lives in this thoughtful read that ruminates on the precarious state of the world. Ages 14–up. Agent: Serene Hakim, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Jan.)