Poisoned Water

Starred review from April 1, 2020

Gr 6 Up-The water crisis of Flint, MI, came to international attention thanks to a cohort of well-placed whistleblowers, journalists, scientists, and concerned citizens. In 2011, a series of state-appointed Emergency Managers tasked with minimizing costs and maximizing revenues took control of debt-strapped Flint. In April of 2014, the city's water supply switched from the Detroit-treated waters of Lake Huron to the locally pumped, pollutant-laden Flint River. Astute citizens immediately noticed that something was wrong. The water reeked, wasn't transparent, and tasted awful. Those who consumed or even touched it experienced pains, rashes, hair loss, and other mysterious illnesses. Tests revealed it was loaded with toxins, bacteria, and extremely high quantities of lead. Though residents' collective health and pocketbooks suffered, they refused to bear injustice in silence. Thoroughly sourced and meticulously documented, this stomach-churning, blood-boiling, tear-jerking account synthesizes a city's herculean efforts to access safe, clean water. Readers receive a crash course in a century's worth of institutional malfeasance, then join a resident-constructed coalition that crosses every conceivable demographic line, organizing, researching, and protesting alongside them. Flint stands today, not due to proper oversight or intervention, but because the community stands together. Their story should ignite us all-especially the next generation of citizen activists. VERDICT This compulsively readable, must-buy narrative nonfiction serves as the ultimate antidote to civic complacence.-Steven Thompson, Bound Brook Memorial Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2020
Foregrounding the intergenerational activism of community members, this work takes a long view of the Flint water crisis as an indicator of U.S. environmental struggles. The authors begin by highlighting the wisdom of activist, pastor, and lifelong Flint resident Elder Sarah Bailey, who points to the importance of sharing Flint's story while expressing caution about the impact of outsiders coming to study and report on the water crisis. The context is set through an overview of Flint's long history, from its beginnings as a fur trading settlement following land dispossession of Ojibwa citizens to its racially segregated heyday as General Motors' "Vehicle City" up until the dwindling tax revenues of postwar deindustrialization and the organized abandonment of white flight left a heavy burden on the city. The book emphasizes that residents collectively and consistently levied demands against the significant harm caused by enforced austerity, legacies of socio-economic segregation, and environmental negligence long before the highly visible national coverage beginning in 2015. In-depth research and interviews with well-known leaders and ordinary citizens, including many young people, augmented by ample photographs, bring home the tragic outcomes for Flint residents of environmental injustice and the decay of public infrastructure. Readers will understand how this impact will continue to be felt disproportionately by people of color and the poor unless we transform how we govern society. A careful, conscious encapsulation of a consequential U.S. frontier for renewed environmental justice activism. (authors' note, credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 1, 2020
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* People in Flint, Michigan first noticed their tap water turning brown in 2014. This coincided with their state-appointed city manager's decision to save money by using water from the Flint River instead of more expensive water from Lake Huron. Thus began two years of worsening health issues: rashes, infections, and spikes in lead poisoning and Legionnaires' Disease, all compounded by continuing denials from local authorities. It was early 2016 before state and national emergencies were declared and donations of bottled water began to flow into the city. This is a story with heroes, from a mom-turned-investigator to an EPA whistle-blower to a pediatrician who finally caught the attention of the national media. And villains? So far the residents of Flint have seen denials, claims of ignorance, and over $30 million spent on various politicians' legal defenses. Accessible background text fills in Flint's history as a once-thriving city abandoned by General Motors, and poignant personal stories, many featuring teens, put faces on the crisis. This detailed offering, the first specifically intended for young audiences, has multiple curriculum applications (man-made disasters, ecology, racial discrimination, economics, biology, the roles of local and state government). It's also a modern-day horror story, one we can only hope will never be repeated.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from April 20, 2020
Effectively chronicling the Flint water crisis, investigative reporter Cooper and author Aronson (Rising Water) unearth the complex underpinnings of this tragedy. Placing later events in context with a history of Flint’s rise from a trading village established in 1819 to a booming GM factory town in the 1930s, the authors relate how Flint became one of the most segregated cities in America through redlined neighborhood maps and white flight to the suburbs. This, in addition to factory closures and the 1970s economic downturn, changed the city’s nickname from Vehicle City to Murdertown, U.S.A. The narrative gains momentum when it turns to the crisis itself, beginning with the city’s decision to save money by building a new water pipeline to Lake Huron and using water from the heavily polluted Flint River in the meantime; the action left residents, may of whom fell below the poverty level, with astronomical water bills and foul, poisonous water. Cooper and Aronson skillfully characterize the cast of local activists, government bureaucrats, doctors, and victims who fought to unearth and reveal the truth about the poisoned water and its effects, including the various women in the forefront, dubbed “water warriors.” Powerful photographs and primary source material round out the narrative. This hard-hitting journalistic account both explains the water crisis and cautions about how future catastrophes might occur. Ages 10–up.

July 1, 2020
Imagine: a deadly health crisis hits and the government delays, makes light of the risks, and blames the citizens and doctors instead of taking action, making residents fear for their lives and mistrust their own government. Such was �also ed. note] the case in Flint, Michigan, in 2014, when a water crisis hit. But, as the authors carefully delineate, the disaster did not begin that year. Its roots lay in the city's history of racism, corporate greed, and environmental plunder. The immediate crisis, though, began when a new pipeline was being built from Lake Huron to Flint and, in the meantime, the residents had to drink water from the filthy Flint River, with assurances that it would be properly treated and perfectly potable. But people began to experience skin rashes, hair loss, and upper respiratory infections and to be diagnosed with anemia, lead poisoning, and Legionnaires' disease. The book wisely puts the citizens of Flint front and center, letting them tell their stories, while placing those stories into historical context with information about the town and river dating back to Flint's founding in 1819. It's a powerful tale of an "obscene failure of government," but also democracy and a "commingling of racial, ethnic, religious, and income groups working together." Photographs, maps, and charts support the timely account; an appended "Note from the Authors" discusses their research.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2020
Imagine: a deadly health crisis hits and the government delays, makes light of the risks, and blames the citizens and doctors instead of taking action, making residents fear for their lives and mistrust their own government. Such was [also -ed. note] the case in Flint, Michigan, in 2014, when a water crisis hit. But, as the authors carefully delineate, the disaster did not begin that year. Its roots lay in the city's history of racism, corporate greed, and environmental plunder. The immediate crisis, though, began when a new pipeline was being built from Lake Huron to Flint and, in the meantime, the residents had to drink water from the filthy Flint River, with assurances that it would be properly treated and perfectly potable. But people began to experience skin rashes, hair loss, and upper respiratory infections and to be diagnosed with anemia, lead poisoning, and Legionnaires' disease. The book wisely puts the citizens of Flint front and center, letting them tell their stories, while placing those stories into historical context with information about the town and river dating back to Flint's founding in 1819. It's a powerful tale of an "obscene failure of government," but also democracy and a "commingling of racial, ethnic, religious, and income groups working together." Photographs, maps, and charts support the timely account; an appended "Note from the Authors" discusses their research. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)