The Art Thieves

Gr 7 Up–In the year 2052, Cherokee teenager Stevie is living in Texas and working at an art museum, trying to survive the increasingly volatile weather patterns and look out for her little brother Levi, who has a potentially fatal tree nut allergy. A new arrival at the museum, an Indigenous boy from Costa Rica named Adam who has an ambiguous background, brings with him a dire warning that Stevie doesn’t want to believe at first, though it soon becomes clear that she has no choice. As a dystopian future bears down on them, Stevie must accept that Adam really is from the future; he’s trying to save some Native art from the coming destruction, and she has an important role to play. Rogers adeptly creates an immediately compelling character in Stevie while also incorporating weighty but clear discussions of ethics in museum collections, climate change and its effect on our environment, racism between and within cultural groups, and the exploitation of Indigenous identities, among other themes. An exciting and intense plot combines with wonderfully realistic emotions as the story shifts from one of slow realization and acceptance to dystopia and uncertainty.