Tomorrow Needs Me: A Story About Saving Tomorrow and Missing Today (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798175925532)

Jackson "Jax" Cramberg is ready for almost anything.

Wildfire. Blackout. Flood. Earthquake. Evacuation.

He knows which roads to take, what supplies to pack, how much water his family will need, and exactly what to do when something goes wrong. His room is filled with maps, emergency plans, checklists, weather reports, and carefully organized supplies. While other kids spend their summer swimming, riding bikes, exploring the woods, and wasting entire afternoons doing absolutely nothing, Jax is preparing.

Because disasters don't make appointments.

And Jax refuses to be caught unprepared.

There is always another possibility to consider. Another route to map. Another problem to solve. Another way tomorrow could go wrong.

But while Jax is busy preparing for the life that might happen, the life already happening around him begins to move on without him.

His best friend gets tired of waiting for Jax to come outside.

His little sister slowly stops asking him to play.

Family dinners become another interruption.

Summer days disappear behind maps, lists, and plans for emergencies that may never come.

Jax tells himself it is worth it. Someday, when something really happens, everyone will understand.

Then smoke appears beyond the hills.

A wildfire is moving toward Cedar Hollow.

Suddenly, the emergency Jax has imagined a hundred times is real.

Roads close. Neighbors panic. Plans change. People need help. And for the first time, Jax's endless preparation might actually make a difference.

This is his moment to prove that all those hours mattered.

But as the fire draws closer, Jax begins to discover something he never included in any of his plans:

There is a difference between being prepared for life and actually living it.

And sometimes, while you are busy trying to save tomorrow, you can lose pieces of today that you will never get back.

Tomorrow Needs Me is a tense and heartfelt middle-grade adventure about courage, anxiety, responsibility, friendship, family, and the pressure of believing the world needs you to hold everything together.

At its heart, it is a story about a boy determined to protect the future who must confront a question bigger than any disaster he has prepared for:

What if tomorrow doesn't need you to save it as much as today needs you to be there?