Book Review: Reproduction in a Changing World

As part of my work experience for PET (the Progress Educational Trust), I was asked to review a comic book, Reproduction in a Changing World, aimed to inform young adults of the environmental impact on reproductive biology.

The comic style is used to engage its younger audience through exciting illustrations and concise, informative text bubbles, which provide the majority of the information. Each textbox, being two sentences or less, maintains a relaxed theme throughout, which is ideal for younger readers. This relaxed theme, however, does not take away from the importance of the message, and I believe the authors do a good job of reminding the reader of this.

The artwork throughout the book was provided by Dr Imogen Harris, a scientific illustrator with a PhD in environmental and reproductive sciences. Her beautiful drawings do a fantastic job of reminding the reader of the severity of climate change and its effects on reproductive biology through her repeated use of dark tones. The contrast of her child-friendly illustrations creates a feeling of vulnerability to show the serious effects of climate change while remaining an enjoyable reading experience.

The comic starts with a brief description of the reasons for climate change. This is useful for the target audience as this could be their first exposure to the reasons for the climate crisis. At around age 11, most children will only have heard of climate change and won't actually understand the reasons for it, so this introduction provides useful information before the next section of the comic.

In the next section, basic information on the reproductive system is provided. This is achieved through a balance of text and illustration-style diagrams keeping the content age appropriate and enjoyable.

I do believe that some of the words will not be understood by the target audience, such as children just a few years younger than me, which is a slight issue, however, there is ample opportunity to infer the meaning of such words through the diagram or surrounding words.

After this brief introduction to the topic, certain reproductive issues were described. This helped me become aware of certain problems that can come about due to climate change. This theme of informing the reader before going into detail was repetitive throughout and is very useful when writing for a younger audience, as it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed or losing confidence while reading. Also it allows the audience to become properly informed rather than them skipping over concepts they are unsure of.

I found the small section at the end very informative and useful to those of all ages. It told the reader different methods to help stop infertility among all animals. The authors made me feel a sense of urgency and desire to contribute to stopping the climate disaster.

This section, despite its simplicity and limited nature, acts as a reminder about what we can do as a collective. I believe these actions are fundamental for our long-term future on Earth and transcend the issue of infertility.

This comic is part of a necessary wider group that works to prevent climate change and maintain life on Earth. It is important that this message reaches everyone in an impactful manner, and I believe this was achieved. I think the comic has the power to affect the younger generation to make a change, and does so in a way that they will remember for many years.

Overall, I think the comic achieved its goal of raising awareness of environmental impacts on reproductive biology for young adults. I believe that the key part of this was through its simplicity, and ability to keep the reader engaged. The authors used simplicity to share a breadth of information.

When I first read this book, I did not feel as if I was reading for a long time, however, at the end I felt I had gained far more knowledge than I initially imagined I would. Each sentence had great meaning and was easily understood. The authors gave the impression that they didn't want to add irrelevant information or to over complicate the issue. This could be a symbol for how we, as a society, also need to reduce waste in order to prevent climate change and protect our planet.