A Bird on Water Street

October 1, 2019
Grades 4-7 With ecological disaster a very present worry, Dulemba's chapter book couldn't be more timely despite its setting in a copper mining region of 1980s Tennessee, where acid rain and industrial pollution leave the area looking like a wrinkled, brown paper bag. Jack, a miner's son, both loves his home (based on the real Copper Basin) and despairs for it, being drawn to the natural world?though he lives in a place with no greenery, insects, or birds. Change comes as the mine shuts down and Jack's family deals with unemployment and swift economic downturn. Paralleling this are the everyday concerns of a growing eighth-grader, from a first crush to the realization that classmates' moving will mean the demise of his baseball team. Still, nature is returning, and Jack delights in finding frog eggs and nurturing a garden. Dulemba rounds out the story with detail based on extensive research of the area's history, weaving in references to regional folk music, folklore, and other traditions. A book deserving of a wide readership, recommended for all libraries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)