n Stine’s novels, things are not going great for Mother Earth. Spring never arrives, thanks to an approaching ice, and last year’s imagines coastlines flooded by rising oceans. But Stine, who moved to Denver from rural Ohio during the pandemic, has a way of shining light through bleak worlds, an act of magic that’s particularly reassuring right now. Part of that spell is creating characters who seem to never run out of hope. ’s Wylodine has a talent for making plants grow despite the frost, and her resilience bonds together the family she makes along her journey to find her mom. In , a young mother scavenges plastic and prays for the return of her son, who was kidnapped and forced to work in recycling factories. Yet she injects beauty into her world, crafting sculptures from trash and hiding them in the forest for others to find. This most recent effort was nominated for a Reading the West Book Award, which celebrates the work of regional authors—a group we’re thrilled Stine now belongs to.
