Charlie and the Drone Factory
Synopsis: In the near future, the world’s only remaining employer is a manufacturer of military drones. The manufacturer holds a lottery to fill an open position at a factory. Charlie draws the golden ticket! He eagerly accepts the job with hopes of earning enough money to feed his starving family. At first, everything goes according to plan, but then the eccentric factory manager loses his mind and reprograms the drones to randomly carpet-bomb people’s houses. Charlie must now decide between keeping his job and following his conscience.
Excerpt: “I’m so confused, Grandpa Joe. If I quit, we’ll have no income and starve to death. If I don’t somehow stop my boss and shut down the factory, one of the drones might incinerate us in our sleep.”
A is for Arctic Shrinkage
Synopsis: Children can study the alphabet while learning about the causes of global warming and its devastating consequences! It’s important for children to both master the alphabet and understand the horrors awaiting them in this dumpster fire of a planet they’ve inherited.
Excerpt: “A is for Arctic Shrinkage. B is for Boiling Point. C is for Coal Mining. D is for Drilling. E is for Exxon-Mobil. F is for Fracking. G is for Gas. H is for Hellscape.”
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Nuclear Winter
Synopsis: Alexander is not having a great day. He has to endure gum in his hair, no dessert at lunch, railroad pajamas, and the aftermath of nuclear war—all in one day! Maybe he’ll just move to Antarctica.
Excerpt: “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I noticed the power was out and the sky had darkened from soot in the atmosphere and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad nuclear winter.”
Is My Mama a Llama, or Just a Virtual Image?
Synopsis: In this guessing-game picture book, filled with quirky riddles and colorful illustrations, Lloyd the Llama tries to discover whether his Mama is a living being or an elaborate illusion in a maniacal computer simulation. This book will captivate children as they witness Lloyd doubt the very nature of reality and descend into madness.
Excerpt: “What’s with all this llama drama? She’s a fake. She’s not my Mama! No salvation. Such frustration. Free me from this simulation! Nothing’s real. Fabrications. Codes, pixels, computations. Give me, give me, my true Mama! End this horrid, wretched trauma!”
Little Women, Giant Robots
Synopsis: This book follows the growth of four sisters, detailing their passage from childhood to adulthood in a society where thirty-foot-tall robots constantly monitor women and control every aspect of their lives. Follow these lovely sisters as they grow up without the right to attend school or read. Then, watch them as adults who spend every waking minute in their homes cooking and cleaning and raising as many children as possible while towering robots stand outside, waiting to inflict punishment should any of them try to leave.
Excerpt: “My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to respect the strength and authority of your Robot Masters. The more you love and obey Them, the nearer you will feel to Them, and the less you will depend on your own feeble power and wisdom.”
The Story of Dr. Doolittle’s Clones
Synopsis: After losing interest in talking animals, Dr. Doolittle devoted his life to the goal of perfecting his greatest invention: self-replicating clones. Curiously, Dr. Doolittle was obsessed with Seinfeld and Veep and so the clones look exactly like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and act like her characters in these shows. While the Julias are hilarious and highly entertaining, something has gone horribly wrong: they’re rapidly multiplying and consuming the world’s resources.
Excerpt: “I love the Julias, I really do, but they’re everywhere now. This morning, I found nine of them in my kitchen demanding food after they’d eaten everything in my refrigerator and pantry. This planet isn’t big enough to sustain all of us. We have to find a way to reverse this process so that there’s only one Julia, the original one, which would make her more special, anyway.”
Green Eggs and Radioactive Lambs
Synopsis: In this isolated town, the chickens have abruptly died and the few remaining eggs have turned green. Several wandering lambs are the only other animals that survived the nuclear war. Unfortunately, the lambs are sick from radiation poisoning. The townspeople now face an impossible dilemma: eat these pitiful creatures or slowly starve.
Excerpt: “You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may I say. You must eat these toxic lambs. Unless you have a better plan? I want to help you, understand? Eat them! Eat them! Toxic lambs!”