The Twenty-One: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U.S. Government Over Climate Change by Elizabeth Rusch
Published by Greenwillow Books on August 8, 2023
ISBN: 9780063220850
Genres: Non-Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

This narrative nonfiction explores the ground breaking case, Juliana v. United States, where 21 young people sued the national government over its actions contributing to climate change. The book introduces readers to the 21 plaintiffs from around the United States who have each been negatively impacted by climate change and walks readers through the legal process of this case. The way this book is structured is exceptional. It is broken into 4 large sections, but each section contains many small chapters. The small chapters allow readers to easily digest the rich amount of content covered. Some of the chapters focus the mindset of the youth and their lawyer at different points throughout the trial. The narrative text reads like fiction, so readers will be familiar with the style as they learn a lot of new information. Other chapters focus on the legal aspects of the case. The author does a great job of explaining the legal process, so while the focus of this book is the environment and the impacts of climate change, readers will also learn some important civics concepts as well.

This young adult nonfiction book would be great for older students who are passionate about helping the environment and are interested in learning about young activists. High school teachers might use this as part of a science or social studies curriculum, but outside of these niche audiences, this book, despite being well written and compelling, probably has limited broad appeal.