How to Stop the End of the World by Tom Mitchell
We have a hilarious guest blog from Tom Mitchell to share with you today! We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Fiddling while Rome Burns
At a recent school visit, I was asked by a keen Year 7 what my next novel was about. My response, as it always is, was ‘well, it’s about 300 pages’. When I gave up waiting for a laugh, I answered honestly and gave its title: HOW TO STOP THE END OF THE WORLD.
Once again, there was no laughter. Another kid raised their hand and asked ‘is it about climate change?’ And, if I’m truthful, she sounded disappointed. When I explained, that it was more like an adventure story in the vein of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, she appeared more interested and asked me what Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider were. After this, I was asked whether I preferred Messi or Ronaldo and why none of my books had been adapted by Netflix and whether I was a millionaire.
When I returned home, this question (the one about climate change) troubled me. Is it right to be publishing a book about the end of the world when, arguably, we’re as close as we’ve ever been to actual apocalypse?
Well, obviously, you’ll be unsurprised that my conclusion was a resounding YES. Since my first book, HOW TO ROB A BANK, I’ve wanted to write stories that are both fun and funny. HOW TO STOP THE END OF THE WORLD is the first purely adventure story I’ve written, a combination of Indiana Jones and The Box of Delights. If we want kids to read, we’ve got to provide them with books that they want to read. And, in the same way that I’ll watch Serious (with a capital ‘s’) movies about Serious (with a capital ‘s’) issues, I’ll also enjoy something Fun (with a capital ‘f’).
It also struck me, as, on the sofa, I considered all this, that Col and Lucy, the two protagonists of the new book, actively engage with the fast-approaching end-of-the-world. Unlike many of us, they try to do something about it, even if, at times, it might seem a waste of time. Because the older we get, the accumulated aches of the years we’ve survived, well … it becomes easier to bemoan the state of everything, the powerlessness of the individual, without, you know, actually trying to change the status quo.
In my experience, young people in 2024 aren’t like this. They believe they can change the world, maybe even save it. And, as a teacher, parent, and children’s author, it’s this sentiment that give me hope. This will doubly be true if the youth make HOW TO STOP THE END OF THE WORLD a bestseller. See? I can hope too!