Poison Town

by Elyssa Campbell

Overview

Fourteen-year-old Addie's town is built around a lead and zinc smelter.

The company has done an extensive cleanup of its operations, but everything in the town still seems sick; even the crows are having trouble flying. Addie decides to find out if the smelter is still poisoning local residents, and to do that, she needs help.

At first Addie is overlooked and treated as a child who wouldn't understand. She turns the adults' naivety to her advantage and confronts what most people in her town are too fearful to address.

This novel allows young readers to confront climate anxieties while finding inspiration in how Addie takes action that is believable and realistic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459417489
Publisher:	James Lorimer and Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	01/01/2024
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	957,686
Product dimensions:	5.58(w) x 8.08(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	11 - 12 Years

About the Author

Elyssa Campbell's stories have been published in literary magazines in Canada and the United States. She is a teacher and self-identifies as having an ADHD brain. She grew up in a town with a smelter and now lives near Vancouver, Canada.

Editorial Reviews

"An absorbing story of grassroots environmental activism by teens."—Kirkus Reviews

— (1/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher

2023-09-23
Fourteen-year-old Addie is on a mission to raise awareness about pollution in her small town in the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

When Addie Woods and Priya Gill get paired for a science project, neither of them wants to work together. But their teacher forces them to collaborate despite their mutual animosity, and the girls ultimately find common ground in investigating the pollution coming from the smelter that their town’s economy is built on. Both their dads work there monitoring emissions, and Priya trusts the advanced technology is making things safe, while Addie is concerned about the amounts of lead and sulfur dioxide still being emitted. The pair agree to test their conflicting hypotheses, and they find evidence that the pollution from the smelter is indeed harming the local people, flora, and fauna. For Addie, this is no longer just a science project: It’s an important turning point in her activism. As the girls work together, they come to see beyond their earlier impressions of one another. Inspired by the author’s own experiences, this original exploration of the impact of environmental pollution is a quick and accessible read, with consistent, smooth pacing and solid characterization. While some adults seem to change their attitudes unrealistically quickly, this does serve to emphasize the efficacy of the young people’s activism. Indian Canadian Priya and her family live in an otherwise white town.

An absorbing story of grassroots environmental activism by teens. (author’s note, sources and further reading) (Fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews