Down Came the Rain
“I want to explode. Jump up and scream at my father. Yell at him until he understands that he‘s complicit in the death of our planet. How can he forgive himself? […] The earth is being destroyed and humanity is dying. We are literally running out of time and no one around me seems to grasp the urgency.”
Eliza and Javier meet when their two high schools, opposite in wealth and culture, are forced to share the same building after Hurricane Harvey devastates Houston, Texas. Eliza’s father has a lucrative job in Big Oil, while Javier’s family is working-class. Both Eliza and Javier are deeply affected by the hurricane and struggle with their mental health as a result. As they work together in an environmental club, their mutual attraction grows. Then, overwhelmed after a fight with Javier, Eliza vandalizes some buses as symbols of fossil fuel use. Ultimately, her activism affects others and herself in ways she doesn’t expect.
Down Came the Rain helps young people consider different ways of dealing with eco-anxiety and climate grief. Javier and Eliza demonstrate two contrasting approaches that educators can use as prompting for student debate. After her home is gutted in the floods, Eliza channels her anger and anxiety into an intense focus on action, including combative exhortations for those around her to do more, which demonstrates how perfectionism damages relationships. Javier, quiet and introverted, focuses on understanding and dealing with his anxiety about the changing environment, which shows the importance of connection and care. As Javier and Eliza listen to each other’s perspectives and develop an appreciation for their differences, the book portrays each of their approaches as valuable but insufficient in isolation. Teachers may consider asking: how can those who care about the environment reconcile the push for urgent action with the need for emotional exploration and care?
Another important thread in this book is the challenge of acting in ways that serve the whole community, not just the individual: in other words, environmental justice. Driving an electric car has become a moral principle for Eliza, but it is an unattainable fantasy to Javier, who does not own a car at all. Similarly, Eliza faces conflict with the parents and teachers in her life, who do not seem to feel as urgently about climate change as she does. However, dealing with her anxiety allows her to listen more productively to that older generation’s hopes and concerns, and begin to gauge the weight of the economic systems that create inertia. The book introduces the idea that fighting climate change must go beyond individual actions to systemic change—and that youth climate activists’ actions must always be grounded in awareness of their own needs and of the needs of the community.
©2026 ClimateLit (Sarah Outterson-Murphy)
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2023
ISBN: 9781250232670
Pages: 279
Lexile Score: 830
Format: Novels
Topics: Big Oil, Climate Change, Climate Emotions, Climate Grief, Eco-anxiety, Environmental Justice, Flood, Hurricanes, Individual Action, Oil, System Change, Youth Climate Activism
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