Drake, Phillip. Indonesia and the Politics of Disaster: Power and Representation in Indonesia’s Mud Volcano.Routledge, 2016.
Named after Lapindo Brantas, a gas exploration company that was drilling at the eruption site, the Lapindo mudflow initially burst in 2006 and continues to flow today, becoming the most expensive disaster in Indonesia’s history. Using this environmental incident in Indonesia as a case study, this book explores representations of disaster in scientific reports, public discourse, literature, and other cultural forms, observing the impact of these portrayals on the ways people both understand and respond to complicated environmental disasters.

Gold, Russell. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
A narrative history, The Boom follows the dramatic development and adoption of fracking technology. It is a thrilling journey filled with colorful characters: the Texas oilman who created the first modern frack; a bare-knuckled Oklahoman natural gas empire-builder who gave the world an enormous new supply of energy and was brought down by his own success and excesses; an environmental leader whose embrace of fracking brought an end to his public career; and an aging fracking pioneer who is now trying to save the industry from itself.

Pisani, Elizabeth. Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation. W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
Declaring Independence in 1945, Indonesia said it would “work out the details of the transfer of power etc. as soon as possible.” With over 300 ethnic groups spread across over 13,500 islands, the world’s fourth most populous nation has been working on that “etc.” ever since. Author Elizabeth Pisani traveled 26,000 miles in search of the links that bind this disparate nation.

Parry, Richard Lloyd. In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos.Grove Press, 2005.
In the last years of the twentieth century, longtime journalist Richard Lloyd Parry found himself in the vast island nation of Indonesia, one of the most alluring, mysterious, and violent countries in the world. For thirty-two years, it had been paralyzed by the grip of the dictator and mystic General Suharto, but now the age of Suharto was coming to an end.

Gilio-Whitaker, Dina. As Long as Grass Grows: the Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock. Beacon Press, 2019.
The story of Native peoples’ resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community’s rich history of activism. Through the unique lens of “Indigenized environmental justice,” Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle. As Long As Grass Grows gives readers an accessible history of Indigenous resistance to government and corporate incursions on their lands and offers new approaches to environmental justice activism and policy.

Hirata, Andrea. The Rainbow Troops. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013.
Ikal is a student at the poorest village school on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a remarkable achievement. His school is under constant threat of closure. In fact, Ikal and his friends—a group nicknamed the Rainbow Troops—face threats from every angle: skeptical government officials, greedy corporations hardly distinguishable from the colonialism they've replaced, deepening poverty and crumbling infrastructure, and their own low self-confidence. But the students also have hope, which comes in the form of two extraordinary teachers, and Ikal's education in and out of the classroom is an uplifting one.

Utami, Ayu. Saman. Jakarta, Indonesia: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2015.
The story of Saman, a pastor who left his priestly duties to become an activist, a choice that gets him on the list of the regime’s fugitives. Although the story is fiction, Ayu Utami’s depiction of the context and settings during one of the nation’s most monumental episodes is sharp and factual.

Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. This Earth of Mankind. 1980. Penguin Books, 1996.
Minke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world.

Madasari, Okky. The Years of the Voiceless. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2013.
Madasari’s portrayal of oppression under Indonesian leader Suharto’s New Order government (1967-1998) centers on mother and daughter Marni and Rahayu, who live in a Javanese village. Marni is illiterate and puts her faith in the traditional gods; Rahayu rejects ancestral beliefs, turning instead to Islam. Neither is able to escape the reach of Suharto’s increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regime. This novel explores the intersection of traditional Javanese culture and beliefs with Islam and New Order politics, all through the lens of two women navigating a system from the bottom of the social ladder.

Tohari, Ahmad. The Dancer. Jakarta: The Lontar Foundation, 2012.
The Dancer, a trilogy, recounts the tumultuous days of mid-1960s Indonesia. It highlights the lives of Srintil, a dancer, and Rasus, a bewildered young man torn between tradition and political progress. Through experience, both learn the concept of shame and sin: Rasus after he leaves their village and journeys into the world and Srintil when the world finally comes crashing into her remote village. The Dancer gives a ground-level view of the political turmoil leading up to and following the coup in 1965.

Mangunwijaya, Y.B. The Weaverbirds. Jakarta: The Lontar Foundation, 2014.
A landmark novel, The Weaverbirds is a tale of physical and spiritual struggles. The story spans from the formative days of Indonesia’s independence to Indonesia’s oil crisis in the mid 1970s. Larasati, the precious daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Antana, and Setadewa, the army-brat son of Capt. And Mrs. Brajabasuki, are childhood friends. But when they are older, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the country’s political spectrum. Even with their many differences, their relationship offers guidance to survival in a chaotic world.

Shone, Rob. Avalanches & Landslides.Rosen Central, 2007.
This book takes a thrilling look at an avalanche in Washington State that buried two trains and killed ninety-six people; a landslide in Peru that sent millions of tons of rock and ice cascading at 60 mph down a mountainside, destroying villages in its path; and a mudslide in the Philippines that destroyed a village on the island of Leyte. The combination of a graphic nonfiction format with the high-interest topic of avalanches is perfect for your reluctant readers.

Rich, Kaelyn. Girls Resist! A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution. Quirk Books, 2018.
Take on the world and make some serious change with this handbook to everything activism, social justice, and resistance. With in-depth guides to everything from picking a cause, planning a protest, and raising money to running dispute-free meetings, promoting awareness on social media, and being an effective ally, Girls Resist! will show you how to go from “mad as heck about the way the world is going” to “effective leader who gets stuff done.”

Rohmer, Harriet, and Julie McLaughlin. Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet. Scholastic, 2009.
This inspiring book presents the true stories of 12 people from across North America who have done great things for the environment. Heroes include a teenage girl who figured out how to remove an industrial pollutant from the Ohio River, a Mexican superstar wrestler who works to protect turtles and whales, and a teenage boy from Rhode Island who helped his community and his state develop effective e-waste recycling programs. Plenty of photographs and illustrations bring each compelling story vividly to life.

Fleischman, Paul. Eyes Wide Open: Going behind the Environmental Headlines. Candlewick Press, 2014.
Paul Fleischman offers teens an environmental wake-up call and a tool kit for decoding the barrage of conflicting information confronting them. We're living in an ah-ha moment. Take 250 years of human ingenuity. Add abundant fossil fuels. The result: a population and lifestyle never before seen. The downsides weren't visible for centuries, but now they are. Suddenly everything needs rethinking - suburbs, cars, fast food, cheap prices. It's a changed world.

Bang, Molly, and Penny Chisholm. Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth. The Blue Sky Press, 2014.
What are fossil fuels, and how did they come to exist? This engaging, stunning book explains how coal, oil, and gas are really "buried sunlight," trapped beneath the surface of our planet for millions and millions of years. Now, in a very short time, we are digging them up and burning them, changing the carbon balance of our planet's air and water. What does this mean, and what should we do about it? Using simple language and breathtaking paintings, Bang and Chisholm present a clear, concise explanation of the fossil-fuel energy cycle that began with the sun and now runs most of our transportation and energy use in our world.

Helget, Nicole Lea. The End of the Wild. Little Brown and Company, 2017.
Eleven-year-old Fern doesn’t have the easiest life. Her stepfather is out of work, and she’s responsible for putting dinner on the table–not to mention keeping her wild younger brothers out of trouble. The woods near their home is her only refuge, where she finds food and plays with her neighbor’s dog. But when a fracking company rolls into town, her special grove could be ripped away, and no one else seems to care.

Suyenaga, Joan. Indonesian Children's Favorite Stories. Tuttle Publishing, 2015.
This colorfully illustrated multicultural children's book presents Indonesian fairy tales and other folk stories—providing insight into a rich oral culture.

Aslan, Austin. The Islands at the End of the World. Ember, 2015.
In this fast-paced survival story set in Hawaii, electronics fail worldwide, the islands become completely isolated, and a strange starscape fills the sky. Leilani and her father embark on a nightmare odyssey from Oahu to their home on the Big Island. Leilani’s epilepsy holds a clue to the disaster, if only they can survive as the islands revert to earlier ways.

Magnason, Andri Snær, et al. The Story of the Blue Planet. Pushkin Children's, 2015.
Brimir and Hulda and best friends enjoying endless playtime under cloudless skies, thanks to the work of businessman Mr. Goodday. During Goodday’s great flying competition, Hulda and Brimir fly too high to the sun and soar to the other side of planet, where they discover it is dark all the time and the children are sickly and pale. Hulda and Brimir know that without their help, the pale children will die, but first they need to get back to their island and convince their friends that Gleesome Goodday is not all that he seems. A fantastical adventure, beautifully told, unfolds in a deceptively simple tale. The Story of the Blue Planet will delight and challenge readers of all ages.