Fall 2025

Ultrawild

An Audacious Plan for Rewilding Every City on Earth

  • Interest Level: Grade 5 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 6

Join maverick inventor Steve Mushin as he tackles climate change with an avalanche of mind-bending and scientifically plausible inventions to rewild cities and save the planet. Jump into his brain as he designs habitat-printing robot birds and water-filtering sewer submarines, calculates how far compost cannons can blast seed bombs (over half a mile), brainstorms biomaterials with scientists and engineers, studies ecosystems, and develops a deadly serious plan for cities of the future. Ultrawild is a tour de force of extreme problem-solving for kids and teens (and anyone else) who love big ideas.

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979-8-7656-4706-6
$22.99
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Available at all major wholesalers and distributors. Save 25% off list price on library bound hardcovers and all eBook and eBook with Audio editions when you buy direct! Digital purchases will be accessed on Lerner Digital Bookshelf. An account will be created for you after purchase.
Interest Level Grade 5 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 6
Genre Graphic Novels, Science
Category Animals, SEL: C Social Awareness, SEL: E Responsible Decision-Making, Social Emotional Learning, STEM, STEM: Earth Science, STEM: Engineering, STEM: Life Science/Animals, STEM: Life Science/Plants, STEM: Technology
Copyright 2025
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Graphic Universe ™
Language English
Number of Pages 80
Publication Date 2025-09-09
Text Type Informational/Explanatory
BISACS JNF062030, JNF065000, JNF037020
Dimensions 10.875 x 13
Guided Reading Level Z
Features Afterword, Awards, Bibliography/further reading, Charts/Graphs/Diagrams, Foreword, Glossary, Index, Maps, Original artwork, Primary source quotations/images, Reviewed, Starred Reviews, and Table of contents

Author, Illustrator: Steve Mushin

Steve Mushin is an industrial designer, artist, and inventor who collaborates with scientists and engineers to solve perplexing problems. Steve has exhibited large-scale design drawings and models around Australia and in Japan. He works between Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. He has won several awards for his work including the British Council’s Big Green Idea Award and an Australian Design Honours award for his work in sustainable futures thinking. Ultrawild is Steve’s debut book.

Awards

  • Booklist Editor's Choice Graphic Novel List, Winner, 2025

Reviews

Shelf Awareness

“This densely packed and hilarious graphic novel about the power of rewilding to fight climate change should delight science-minded kids who love informational, humorous books.”—Shelf Awareness

IGN

A humorous, thought-provoking blueprint for a better future… It’s easy to be pessimistic about the future, what with climate change and a host of other problems hanging over civilization’s head. But with his new book Ultrawild: An Audacious Plan for Rewilding Every City on Earth, inventor Steve Mushin aims to present a series of hilarious yet oddly plausible solutions to society’s woes.”—IGN

AIPT Comics

“Like a futuristic Where’s Waldo for the inner scientist in all of us, Ultrawild is a fantastic read. It manages to be both a dazzling art book and a manifesto for radical thinking, reminding us that solutions to the climate crisis may only come if we allow imagination to guide our understanding of science. Mushin’s work is about proving that dreaming outrageously might be the first step toward surviving the future.”—AIPT Comics

School Library Journal

“The author does not talk down to young readers, who will be drawn in by the intricate illustrations of contraptions and the occasionally gross and gory elements of the inventions. Rather, the book invites readers to join the STEAM design process, encouraging ideas that seem out of this world. . . An essential addition to middle and high school libraries, this graphic novel is a green how-to manual for 2025.”—starred, School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

“Silly fun with a serious purpose.”—Kirkus Reviews

Booklist

“Each page is filled to the brim with meticulously drawn cityscapes, mechanical designs, animals of all shapes and sizes, and lengthy text explanations. . . Ultrawild is a brilliantly designed comic that will have wide appeal beyond its target audience, even for adults.”—starred, Booklist