This Is the Year

Starred review from November 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Julieta "Juli" Villarreal wants nothing more than to leave Earth. She's grieving the death of her twin sister, Ofelia, who was killed in a hit-and-run, and life in Florida has been miserable in the face of climate disaster. As an immigrant--who are called New Americans in her world--she is recruited by the Cometa Initiative, a private space mission recruiting New American teenagers to start a sanctuary on the moon. Suddenly, Juli has the option to leave this planet and the disasters facing it, and she has to reckon with her place in the universe. Against all odds, Juli begins to find joy and hope as she forms new friendships, interspersed with layers of grief and anger. Told in interspersing prose and lyrical poetry, this sf work asks the question, what do we owe to the planet and to one another as a society in the face of climate crisis? Juli is a brilliantly layered protagonist; her anger and disgust with the darker sides of human nature are easy to empathize with. She never falls into dystopian YA stereotypes, and her poetry shines, adding depth, grief, and hope to the story's message. Side characters feel complex, and Juli's relationship with her late twin is robustly written; you feel Ofelia's absence as a through line. Mu�oz's debut teaches us what it means to be a human on Earth and how we keep surviving---together.

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November 15, 2024
A rising senior struggles with her life path and her twin sister's recent death. Julieta Villarreal, 17, can't imagine working toward building her future while the world falls apart around her. Set in a near future where the climate crisis has turned her Florida home into a dangerous and increasingly uninhabitable hellscape, the story follows Colombian American Juli as she weathers her grief, depression, and feelings of hopelessness alone. She refuses to open up to her friends or therapist and avoids answering questions from caring AP English teacher Ms. Hawthorne and from her Mami (who's also struggling to avoid "falling into the darkness again"). Eventually, Juli considers leaving the world behind and launching herself into the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the corporation StarCrest's inaugural Cometa Mission, which will send 15 U.S. seniors into space for five years to establish a base camp on the moon. Alternating between prose and poetry, this innovative story explores the conflicted inner life of its traumatized protagonist and her journey to self-acceptance, vulnerability, and purpose. Adding to its appeal, the story also touches on many everyday aspects of young adult life, such as school, friendship, romance, preparing for life after graduation, and following your dreams. It also deftly explores complex topics such as the climate crisis, single motherhood, grief, poverty, and predatory business practices that target vulnerable populations. An original storytelling style and post-apocalyptic setting make this coming-of-age novel a worthy and special read. (letter to readers)(Climate fiction. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2025

Gr 9 Up-Set in a dystopian future where climate change has ravaged the Earth, this sci-fi novel follows Juli as she attempts to join an elite group of space rangers set to prepare the moon for a space station colonization. Meanwhile, she begins to reconnect with her estranged friends and starts to wonder if she truly wants to leave Earth behind. Grief is at the forefront of the novel, as Juli struggles to see a future without her twin sister, Ofe, who died a year earlier. Told from Juli's perspective as if she is speaking directly to Ofe, the novel palpably depicts the teen's emotions. However, this narration does make the novel feel a bit scattered at times, with a time line that is occasionally confusing. Mu�oz intersperses the narrative with poetry, which is beautifully written, but does not help with the scattered feel. The world is depressing, but there is a note of hope as Juli realizes that no matter how bad the climate disasters are that destroy the Earth, there will always be people working together to help their community and the planet. Juli is Colombian American, and most of her friends are also Latinx. VERDICT A sad but hopeful look at our future if climate change continues to be ignored.-Mariah Smitala

Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 21, 2024
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.