A World Worth Saving

By: Kyle Lukoff

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A trans kid learns just how powerful he can be in the face of dangers both natural and supernatural in this powerful new book from the Newbery Honor-winning author of Too Bright to See.

When A’s friend Yarrow goes missing, he knows it has everything to do with Save our Sons and Daughters. The organization markets themselves as a support group for parents with trans kids, but SOSAD does little more than push fears of a nonexistent “transgender craze," and take every opportunity to turn parents against their children.

While Yarrow's disappearance is shocking, it's not altogether surprising; kids have been disappearing from the group for weeks. Still, A never suspected that there was anything supernatural about it, until he finds himself face-to-face with a real-life golem—a creature brought to life by a rabbinic ritual.

Turns out, Yarrow's disappearance is bigger than SOSAD, A's transphobic parents, or even the rash of anti-trans bills racing through state legislatures across the country. Sheydim—demons from Jewish mythology—who feed on the darkness in the world, are stirring. And the rise in transphobia is serving up an endless buffet.

The golem is convinced that A can help unravel the thread of evil weaving through the world. But how is one trans kid who hasn’t even chosen a full name supposed to save his friend, let alone the whole world?

©2025 Kyle Lukoff (P)2025 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“Kyle Lukoff has given us something rare and beautiful—a novel that combines wondrous fantasy, searing real-world relevance, and a frank empathetic understanding of the adolescent experience that hits so viscerally I can only compare it to the way my generation experienced Judy Blume. The way Lukoff combines these elements in a page-turning adventure is nothing short of magic!”–Rick Riordan, New York Times bestselling author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians