Twelve-year-old Xavier Gency’s farming town is under threat – the authorities are building a firebreak around the small community to protect it from extreme weather events.

Still, Xavier has other things on his mind. He’s discovered stand-up comedy and is being sent to boarding school in the city. He’s determined to use the move to say goodbye to Hope, the imaginary friend/sister he has grown up with.

Soon he is elected class president, but he’s horrified to find that Charlotte, his politically aware but abrasive neighbour, is his new vice-president. Before he can settle in, however, the situation in his hometown worsens, and Xavier decides to join forces with Charlotte and his new roommate, Ted’Ki, a happy-go-lucky climate refugee, to take action.

Set in a future where driverless vehicles have taken over, koalas are almost extinct and Fred Again is daggy retro music. The Apocalypse and Other Mild Inconveniences is an ambitious and thoughtful tale, with a fascinating thread about how First Nations harnessed, rather than feared, the destructive power of fire. It’s action-packed, too, with regular mini-cliffhangers to keep readers hooked.

Written with the conviction that comedy and communal action can affect social change, this is for any youngster interested in climate change, leadership and politics.

Reviewed by Daniel Herborn
Age Guide 9+

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After graduating from the University of Melbourne with a Creative Writing degree, Alex Dyson became a co-host of the national Triple J breakfast show when he was just twenty-one years old. In his seven years there he woke up with approximately one million listeners every morning, and has interviewed everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Julia Gillard, as well as almost every up-and-coming musician the country has to offer. Since leaving radio, he has DJ-ed at clubs and music festivals around Australia, hosted MTV Unplugged, opened a bar, run for parliament, and he released his first YA novel Read more on the publisher’s website here. in May 2020.

Follow Alex Dyson on Instagram here.

Read more on the publisher’s website here.