Dig Too Deep

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.