Greta's Story by Valentina Camerini - A Book Review

Read the book “Greta’s Story – the schoolgirl who went on strike to save the planet” by Valentina Camerini. The book will be informative for someone who reads about Greta for the first time. Like how I was aware of Greta Thunberg, but not the details of her campaign against global warming and her life.

Here is the summary of the chapters in the book that track Greta’s life story. The illustrations are from the book.

Chapter 1: On a Friday of August, 2018, 15-year-old Greta skipped school and sat in protest outside the parliament of Sweden in Stockholm. She held a sign that read, "School Strike for the Climate." In a few days, many people who were both young and old joined the strike. Some even brought toddlers along. Daily, Greta was sharing posts about the strike in Instagram and she encouraged others to write in Social Media about the strike. 

The Guardian published an online article about the skolstrejk for klimatet. The headline read, “The Swedish 15-year-old who’s cutting class to fight the climate crisis.” Many people from around the world joined her in the strike. A photograph of a bicycle arrived from Rome. Resting against the bike’s pedals was a sign that read: “Thanks Greta! We’re on your side  too.” Greta was planning to strike till the 7^th of September, which was Election Day in Sweden.

Chapter 2: When very young, at school, Greta saw a documentary about plastic pollution in the oceans. She cried all along as she watched the film. At the age of 11, the doctors diagnosed her with Asperger’s syndrome. People who have Asperger’s syndrome think obsessively about any topic that interests them. Greta was thinking obsessively about the climate crisis. Greta once wrote a well-researched article about climate change for a newspaper competition. She got the first prize and many activists wanted to connect with her and were curious about the school girl who knew so much about the environment.

At the age of 11, Greta stopped talking, reading, and even eating. She stopped going to school. At the same time, her sister Beata also showed signs of depression. Greta convinced her parents Malena and Svante that their unsustainable lifestyle was the source of climate problems. Greta convinced Malena, who was an international singer and dancer, to stop going by aeroplane to concerts around the world. Mr. Thunberg became a vegetarian. They grew vegetables, bought an electric car, and installed solar panels. Greta won her first battle at home. Greta herself rode her bike or took a train.

Chapter 3: The Climate Change conference at Paris, France in 2015 was attended by politicians from 195 countries. Climate changes happen due to greenhouse gases such as carbon-di-oxide.

Chapter 4: Greta speaks at the People’s Climate March which happened all around the world on the same day. Greta then went back to school.  Global warming had to be reduced and the increase in temperature kept below 2 degree Celsius, with the aim of not going over 1.5 degree Celsius. The politicians had signed the Paris Agreement, so why not commit to taking action on it immediately.

Chapter 5: Greta speaks all over Europe about climate and gives a TED talk.

Chapter 6: In December 2018, Greta speaks at COP 24 conference organized by United Nations at Poland.  Representatives from around the world come to this conference to speak about climate change. During the second week of the conference, she recorded a video that spoke about how politicians were not coming up with any concrete solutions. Time Magazine names Greta as one of the most influential teens of 2018.

Chapter 7: Greta refuses speaking opportunities at Panama, New York, San Francisco, and Canada, as she has to travel by plane. She attends the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland after travelling for more than thirty hours by train across Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and then to Switzerland.

At the Forum she said, “Adults keep saying that they must give young people hope. I don’t want hope; I want you to panic, to take action. I want you to believe as if you were in the middle of a crisis, because that’s what it is. Our house is on fire: our house, planet earth, is going up in flames. And the adults, the powerful, must act responsibly and act for the future of young people.

Chapter 8:  At Brussels, Greta says, “ I would like to remind people who say that we are wasting precious time by not going to school, that our politicians have wasted decades in denying there was a problem and doing nothing to fix it.” Greta was inspired by Rosa Parks.

Chapter 9: Greta was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Other chapters in the book are, Explaining global warming to children; What can we do which lists 11 points to prevent global warming; a glossary of important words in the book; Timeline which lists the important dates in the history of human pollution and global warming; Links for further reading.

There is much more interesting information about Greta in the book. The book has 130 pages and was published in the year 2019. This book should be there in the libraries of all schools worldwide. It gives children hope that “You are never too small to make a difference.” Happy Reading!

The author Valentina Camerini worked for Walt Disney comics, before committing herself to write novels and children's books. Greta Thunberg is TIME’s Person of the Year of 2019.