Love in the Time of Global Warming

Penelope, Pen, has lost everything and everyone during a disaster of earthquakes and a tidal wave that destroys her home. She searches for her family in a post-apocalyptic world swarming with giants. Pen embarks on a Homer-esque quest to find her family, but instead finds three misfit friends. Pen and her three new friends battle both literal and metaphorical monsters, and find and explore their sexuality.

Dystopian novels are quite the rage with tweens and teens. For readers who love The Hunger Games and Divergent, Love in the Time of Global Warming will certainly fill that need. Not only is this a wonderful dystopian novel, but also it uses lots of literary metaphors and Pen’s journey almost directly parallels Homer’s Odyssey.

Chapter 2: Adolescent Development

According to Havinghurst’s Theory of Developmental Tasks, adolescents must define their appropriate sex roles (Lesesne pg. 27).

The transgender and bisexual love relationships that evolve throughout the novel will provide an outlet for any reader who feels like they don’t belong, or who are questioning their own sexuality.

Block, F. (2013). Love in the time of global warming. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co.

Lesesne, T. (2003). Making the match the right book for the right reader at the right time, grades 4-12. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse.