Future Hopes

by Eli Brown, L R Lam, M G Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisin McGann, Tọlá Okogwu, Neal Shusterman, Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani
Edited by Lauren James

Interest age: 9 to 14
Reading age: 9+

Published by Walker Books, 2024

  • Around the world
  • Short stories

About this book

What if, in the future, everyone had an allocated carbon footprint, and you had to work off anything extra you create? What might happen if someone discovered a bacteria that could eat all our plastic waste? Or what if everyone had to grow their own food?

These ideas and more are explored in this diverse and exciting collection of short stories from a group of exceptional authors. Every story here is different: some feel a little younger, some a little older; some stories are funny, others more scary; some deal with difficult emotions while others are more slapstick.

Each story is inspired by an environmental conservation idea, but the collection encompasses a surprising variety of different interpretations of this environmental theme, using different genres and perspectives. And while the environmental theme is clear, the real heart of each of these tales are young people and their everyday desires, dreams and worries.

Short stories themselves offer a fresh reading experience, as you can potentially read a whole story in one sitting. Packed full of intriguing ideas with the potential to spark lots of inspiration and interesting conversations, the stories in this collection are all compulsively readable and will stay with you.

About the authors

Tọlá Okogwu is a British-Nigerian author, journalist and hair care educator. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, but raised in London, England, she holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism. Having spent several years exploring the world of blogging, hair care and freelance writing, she finally returned to her first love: fiction. Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun was her first middle-grade book. Tọlá now lives in Kent with her husband and two daughters. An avid reader and lover of music, she's also a sucker for melted cheese.

Louie Stowell started her career writing carefully-researched books about space, ancient Egypt, politics and science but eventually lapsed into just making stuff up. Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good is her first project as both author and illustrator, inspired by her research into Norse myths.

She lives – and always has lived – in London and likes to draw cartoons in her spare time. She likes reading comics and thinks Asterix has the best puns of any book ever (especially the two Roman soldiers called Sendervictorius and Appianglorius).

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