Looking for a good book with an environmental theme for your summer reading?

Snowflake River is an intriguing story with a classic good versus evil theme in a world out of balance.  Written by Ben-Mai Eliahu, the story features teenagers on an adventure to discover what is causing the mysterious body cooling phenomenon.

The underlying spiritual foundation of our world – The Great Spirit – is being abused and damaged…

Can order be restored?
There’s a strange illness suddenly claiming lives all around the world, specifically in prosperous and commercialized nations. It’s being referred to as the Body Cooling Phenomenon, BCP. Doctors, scientists and government officials are all at a loss as to what is causing this illness and nobody has any solutions to offer. All that is known is that its symptoms begin with a drop in body temperature and end with hallucinations and eventually, death. A pair of teenage classmates, Omer and Noa, are given the assignment to conduct research and report on this mysterious illness. Little did they know, however, that this simple school project would have them pitted against a powerful international corporation while travelling through multiple dimensions and planes of consciousness.

I knew I was going to like Snowflake River when it began with a mysterious Rilke poem:

That was the strange mine of souls

As secret ones of silver they passed

like veins through its darkness.

I was immediately drawn into the plot during the first few chapters.  I stayed up later than I should have reading it.  After a few days when I had a chance to pick it up again, I felt a little lost and confused.  The descriptive writing of Eliahu is quite beautiful, but in my confusion it was a little distracting. I think had I not taken a few days break from reading it, or I had been further into the story, it would not have occurred.  It only took a few quick chapters to be back enthralled with the story.

What is body cooling phenomenon?

BCP is a general decline in body temperature over a long period of time. It can include brief, intense cold attacks that include hallucinations. It mostly affects young people in “financially powerful countries”.

This intriguing illness is so opposite one would expect in a modern world of climate change.    As humans, we sometimes experience a warming of our body temperatures with fevers, but a cooling body temperature is unusual.  It is also uncommon to for an illness to afflict wealthy nations.  As Eliahu writes, it “finally pays to be poor”.

There are many characters, twists and turns, and details that Eliahu weaves together. I appreciate the range of age of the characters, especially the teenagers Omar and Noa, who are very relatable. The author does a superb job with character descriptions making them vivid and relevant.

I appreciate the type of this book, as it is large enough that I don’t need my reading glasses to read.  I wish more publishers and authors considered this when producing a book.

There is no evidence the book is printed on eco-friendly, recycled paper.

In the author’s words Snowflake River is:

An adventure story about how delicate nature is and how we must find the right balance between our developing technology and nature. It’s about illuminating well-known environmental issues from completely new angles.

This is a complex issue we are facing currently.  Approaching the topic through literature and adventure, we can thoughtfully consider the consequences of modern life.  The fragile interconnectedness of life on this planet transcends political and religious beliefs.  Thank you Eliahu for writing a book that both entertains and is thought-provoking exploring these ideas.

Photo credit: LadyDragonflyCC – >;< via Foter.com / CC BY