The Tear Collector

By: R. M. Romero

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025

Set after the end of the world, this darkly fantastical climate change tale explores hope, memory, and what really makes a monster.



Climate change culminated in the Flood, an enormous wave that wiped out entire countries. Malka and her younger brother Ezra survived and now live with Dr. Jonas Hollman on the Island, the only piece of land left on Earth. Scavenging useful things from the shoreline under the watchful eye of the Island's sinister leader Mr. Gray, Malka and her family get by. Barely.



But an illness called the Sorrow is changing people into monsters when their memories of the Mainland grow too sad...and Ezra is the latest to get sick. Desperate not to lose her brother, Malka throws herself into helping "Uncle" Jonas with his research to find a cure.



Then her family's dismal lives are turned upside down by the mysterious Olivia, who crashes a plane on the beach. More people are out there, she says. The world isn't lost forever. To save Ezra and the other Islanders, Malka will have to uncover the secrets of her flooded world--and the lies even the people she loves have told her about the true nature of the Sorrow.



R.M. Romero tackles our fear and anxiety surrounding climate change and weaves it through with hope in this beautifully told adventure that will resonate with readers young and old.