The true story of how a massive catastrophic eruption plunged the world into darkness, altering the global climate and inspiring the likes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—from the award-winning author of The Mona Lisa Vanishes and featuring black-and-white illustrations throughout.“A tour-de-force for our times . . . At once a heart-stopping tale of climate change and a profoundly hopeful call to action.”—Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal winner for The One and Only IvanThe world was upside-down. The wind was fire. The sky was ash. The rain was rock.A couple of hundred years ago, on a quiet Indonesian island, a volcano called Tambora erupted with a force and violence that changed history.
It tore apart the island, and in the months and years that followed, its fallout tore apart the world. The sun refused to shine; the rain refused to stop. Everything that everyone assumed would always be there—a world that made sense, a climate that made sense—was suddenly gone.
From this riot of thunder and lightning, a young woman named Mary Shelley conceived of a scientist and his cursed creature. From the nightmare of Tambora, she wrote a nightmare of a book:
Frankenstein—a terrifying reminder of how much damage we humans might do, without even realizing it.
This is the story of a volcano that changed the world and a creature that changed us.
Once upon a time, everything was different. And no one knew if it would ever be the same.
In this masterful work, Nicholas Day, author of the Sibert Award–winning
The Mona Lisa Vanishes, brings us a story taken from the archives but seemingly scripted for us today: a tale of climate change and human folly and hope—and what happens when the world suddenly goes wrong.
On sale: September 9, 2025
Age: 10-14 years
Grade: Grades 5-9
Page count: 304 Pages
ISBN: 9780593643877
NICHOLAS DAY is the author of
The Mona Lisa Vanishes, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Award and the
Boston Globe-
Horn Book Award for nonfiction. He is also the author of the picture book Nothing, which received three starred reviews, and the adult narrative nonfiction title,
Baby Meets World. He has written regularly for
Slate; his work has also appeared in the
Atlantic, the
New York Times, and the
Washington Post, among other publications. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his family.
YAS IMAMURA is an Asian American illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. Her works include collaborations with Anthropologie and Sanrio, as well as her growing list of children’s books, including
Love in the Library by Maggie Takuda-Hall, which received four starred reviews. Her preferred materials are gouache and watercolor and often finds herself drawn to projects that are playful, mysterious, and a little offbeat.
"Nicholas Day excels at pointing out connections, ironies and paradoxes to young readers, and in
A World Without Summer he skillfully presents the hard science and long-buried emotions around this disaster....
Sharp and vivid." —
The New York Times"
A cinematic, riveting account of a relatively unknown geological event that changed the course of the world." —
The Washington Post★ "
[A] multifaceted narrative that illustrates how natural disasters affect climate change." —
Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "Each element—Tambora, Shelley, the current climate crisis—is seemingly disparate but brought together
brilliantly, made particularly urgent by the interspersed chapters directly addressing the reader." —
The Bulletin, starred review
★ "
A World Without Summer is
a dramatic, enlightening work of nonfiction." —
Shelf Awareness, starred review
★ "Day crafts
a remarkable nonfiction narrative that jumps forward and backward through time and across the globe." —
The Horn Book, starred review
"
A cautionary tale of what we will all face, climate-wise, if we don’t heed the warning signs." —
Kirkus Reviews
"These stories culminate in a cautionary tale of climate change, with Day occasionally addressing readers directly.
History made engaging and relevant." —
Booklist
