In the very near future, Londoner Laura is keeping a journal while Britain begins some radical environmental changes. She now has a Carbon Card, which she must use for anything that leaves a carbon footprint, and global warming has messed up the weather big time. All this is happening while Laura is just trying to live a normal life with her lunatic parents, pass her exams and be the bass player in a totally rockin’ band.

Laura’s diary is very British teen-speak. She’s snarky and brutal, but I liked that you could tell that under that scratchy teenage exterior she cares about her family and is scared by how things can change. The book doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a treatise on global climate change and how probable apocalyptic events could affect the life of just one person. Sometimes it felt a little forced and TOO “look how evil globalization and Big Oil are,” but sometimes it felt very “we can fix this planet,” and I think that’s an important message to give young adults. I laughed out loud a few times but not as much as I was hoping I would. All in all, I think teens might like it better than I did.

Rated: High for 60-plus uses of moderate and mild language.