- Dystopia
- Chapter Books
- Ages 9–12
The shape of it
The shape of this universe.
Nicola Penfold's tense, big-hearted eco-dystopian adventure, set in a grey walled city where nature has been outlawed since a man-made, tick-borne plague drove people behind the walls. Siblings Juniper and Bear, born in the wild and carrying a resistance to the disease in their blood, flee the city's scientists into the overgrown, wolf-haunted wilderness beyond the Buffer Zone in search of the mother they barely remember. Across two books, wonder and peril run side by side as the story asks what we lose when we lock ourselves away from the living world. Thought-provoking and gripping, it weaves survival, ecological hope and quiet courage into an adventure for readers drawn to nature, freedom and a world turned wild.
A gripping eco-dystopian adventure — two siblings fleeing a city that has outlawed nature, out into a rewilded, wolf-haunted wild in search of their mother.
Primary themes
Tone palette
- Exciting
- Suspenseful
- Thought provoking
- Adventurous
The series
One way in.
Cultural footprint
A shelf of evidence.
Cultural ubiquity
2/ 5A working classic for readers in the know.
Sensitivity
Moderate, and collection-wide.
Content notes
- Absent parent
- Illness or disability
- Violence
Across the collection
All 2 books.
About the creator