First Light by Rebecca Stead

  • First Light tells the story of middle-grade Peter and Thea and their adventures in Greenland. 
    • Peter travels to Greenland with his mother and father, scientists studying mitochondrial DNA and global warming, respectively. While in Greenland, Peter has a series of strange visions that cause him to go searching for answers. 
    • Thea lives in a civilization beneath the ice cap, where her people have retreated due to accusations of witchcraft and being driven to near extinction. Thea has never seen the sun and dreams of a path to the ice’s surface. 

Published by Yearling (2008).

How is this related to climate?

  • The civilization that Thea belongs to lives in spaces carved into the Greenland ice cap. The safety and survival of the civilization relies on the existence of the ice, which is possible because of the cold climate. Global warming and the melting of ice caps would make the future of this fictional civilization uncertain.

References and additional resources