Dig Too Deep - Hardcover

Allgeyer, Amy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807515809 ISBN 13: 9780807515808

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2016

Synopsis

2017 Green Earth Book Award, Young Adult Fiction
2017 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (SONWA), Young Adult Notable Book

With her mother facing prison time for a violent political protest, seventeen-year-old Liberty Briscoe has no choice but to leave her Washington, DC, apartment and take a bus to Ebbottsville, Kentucky, to live with her granny. There she can at least finish high school and put some distance between herself and her mother―or her former mother, as she calls her. But Ebbottsville isn't the same as Liberty remembers, and it's not just because the top of Tanner's Peak has been blown away to mine for coal. Half the county is out of work, an awful lot of people in town seem to be sick, and the tap water is bright orange―the same water that officials claim is safe. And when Granny's lingering cold turns out to be something much worse, Liberty wonders if somebody at the mine is hiding the truth about the water. She starts to investigate and is soon plunged into a world of secrets, lies, threats, and danger. Her searches for answers and justice lead to even tougher questions―should she turn to violence and end up like her mother? Give up her quest for the sake of keeping the peace? Or keep fighting until the mine is shut down for good?

About this title

About the Author

Amy Allgeyer is a writer and architect. She is a graduate of the Institute for Children's Literature and an alumnus of the Nevada Mentor Program for Children's Writing. She lives in Idaho.

Reviews

Gr 8 Up—Liberty Briscoe has to move from Washington, DC, to the outskirts of Ebbotsville, KY, because her single mom is in jail for a protest gone wrong. Liberty has to go to a new school during her junior year, and she knows no one her age. However, she is looking forward to living with her grandmother. Life in Ebbotsville is an adjustment. Granny is sick, there's a mountaintop removal mine nearby, and the water coming from the faucets is orange. Liberty struggles with taking care of Granny, keeping up in school, and living on food stamps. She is convinced the mine is the reason why Granny and most of the people living on the mountain are sick, no matter who says the water is safe for drinking. As she starts to battle the mine, which provides jobs for the people living in town, she finds that drinking the water is not the only dangerous thing she could be doing. Told from Liberty's point of view, the story starts slow but picks up the pace as the teen starts to take action against the mine. The secondary characters are distinct from one another, but the focus is on Liberty and her family. The author brings important environmental issues to light without being didactic. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Carl Hiassen.—Natalie Struecker, Atlantic Public Library, IA

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807515809
• ISBN 13: 9780807515808
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272