Join Brianna Craft's Mailing List!
You'll receive occasional news and updates.
You can unsubscribe anytime.
We Don't Have Time For This
Two presidents. One club. A sizzling connection.
Isa Brown wishes her life would slow down. She doesn’t want to leave for college. Not now that her dad finally gets to spend some time at home. Not now that she’s finally been in one place for longer than a year. But nothing lasts forever. With wildfires ravaging her community and a new natural gas pipeline threatening her dad’s job, the last thing Isa can do is relax. The school’s environmental justice club seems like a promising way to make real change. If only her annoying co-president Darius would stop being such a control freak.
Darius Freeman can’t stop hustling. If he does, how will he beat the other honors kids to be valedictorian? How will he get into the top schools in the country? How will he launch his political career? No. Darius can’t stop, and the next step in his plan is leading the environmental justice club this year—putting on a policy summit and rounding out his college applications with a leadership role. But then Isa joins the club and becomes co-president. Is she the stumbling block on his road to success?
As Isa and Darius clash over the best way to lead the environmental justice club, deeper feelings emerge. About what’s at stake for their communities if they can’t figure out how to work together. And about the sparks they feel between them.
Will Darius and Isa figure out how to burn brightly together? Or will their flames leave nothing but ashes behind?
Praise
We Don’t Have Time For This is one of twenty-five must-read books by Black authors in 2024!
—NetGalley
“A necessary and inspirational read. Isa and her classmates take real action to have their voices heard, learning the road to change is not easy. Put this in the hands of teens who are ready to take a stand.”
—Booklist
“Craft successfully balances developing believable—and likable—teen characters with powerful messages about community activism and the power of youth voices. And, while the environmental concerns are central to the plot, Craft is never heavy-handed or didactic in her approach and manages to acknowledge the complexity of the issue while still offering a satisfying conclusion. A refreshing romance with substance.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“An upbeat read, despite the serious themes, that will hopefully inspire teens to fight for a cause that affects their own lives.”
—School Library Journal
“One undeniable thing about the climate crisis: we will only solve it if we manage to work together, which this fine novel makes wonderfully clear.”
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
“We Don’t Have Time For This tackles the defining issue for Gen Z, climate change, through the eyes of two high schoolers. Craft hits on all of the things that matter to teenagers today – school, romance, their futures – in a relatable and heartwarming story. It’s a testament to the power of the collective and shows how each one of us can make a difference, no matter our race, class, or age.”
—Hope Reese, journalist for The New York Times and other publications
“This novel is a perfect YA exploration of the concepts of climate justice and all the ways that can look different to different people, and how your views can shift as you meet more people and wind up learning more about yourself and the planet. Highly recommend picking it up for the young people in your life or just for your own younger self. Trust me, you’ll want to make time for this one!”
—Mary Annaïse Heglar, author of Troubled Waters
Acknowledgements
This story belongs to so many. First, to Christine Collins and her team at Disney Hyperion. Thank you for wanting a tale of environmental justice and throwing open the doors to find someone to write it. Thank you to the indomitable Veronica Park Anderson for landing me an audition and coaching me through the prospect of writing fiction. Thank you to Gordon Warnock and his team at Fuse Literary for getting me to the final chapters.
My highest thanks to the climate activists who inspire this tale. Thank you for advocating for the world we need: a kinder, more just place where those in power must protect people over profit. Thank you to the Puyallup Tribe and 350 Tacoma for battling to protect the Salish Sea. For more information on supporting them and their work, please visit www.puyalluptribe-nsn.gov and www.350tacoma.org.
Thank you to Harriet A. Washington, Robert D. Bullard and all those who speak truth to power by documenting ecoracism. May we act to prevent future atrocities and redress previous ones. Thank you to every single person who organizes, teaches, preaches and protests against environmental injustice in the Pacific Northwest and around the world. We need you!
I could not have written this story without Marika Weinhardt, Tom Ottey, Michelle Christopher and Erina Aoyama. Thank you for the FaceTime, teatime and picnic brainstorms. For reading drafts and laughing with me over ideas. Encouraging me when I got stuck and believing in me when I did not. I love you, and so want another fifty years together in a stable climate.
And, ultimately, thank you for reading!