Poison Town

by Elyssa Campbell

Elyssa Campbell’s debut novel Poison Town tells the story of a fourteen-year-old who becomes an environmental activist - in a company town built around a smelter. She faces a mystery – what is poisoning the town when there has been a successful clean-up. Addie’s town is built around a lead and zinc smelter. The company has done an extensive cleanup of its operations, but the air and water still seem dangerous. Addie decides to find out if the smelter is still poisoning local residents. To do that, she needs help.  This novel allows young readers to confront climate anxieties while finding inspiration in Addie’s believable and realistic actions. Addie is overlooked and treated as a child who wouldn’t understand. Big mistake. She uses adult naivety to her advantage and confronts what most people in her town are too fearful to address. Elyssa Campbell adds an author’s note to her story, pointing to real-life examples which closely parallel the situation and events in her novel.

Genres: Young Adult

128 pages, Library Binding

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Maddison Micetick · Rating 2 out of 5]

not for me, but great for students that aren’t into reading! a quick, easy read with a cute story and message, but feels a little juvenile even for grades 7-8, to me it read like something for grade 4-6 but maybe i have high expectations lol.

[Jennifer L · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover of this book caught my attention as I live in a coal mining, coal powered electricity generating town in Saskatchewan. Due to the federal government policies, our city’s livelihood is on the cusp of change. Many are worried about our future, and many are upset because our power plant has already underwent so many upgrades with its carbon capture technology yet the end of coal fired power generation is coming to and end in a few short years. The air we breathe here IS much cleaner than it was 24 years ago when I first moved here but even back then, it didn’t seem to be a problem. Asthma rates among children were studied for years and were found to be higher in the city I moved from than the energy I now call home. I work in a library and am trying to read more young adult and juvenile fiction books to better be able to recommend reading choices to the kids who are looking for something to read. I thought the kids here in town would appreciate this book. When I requested this book from another library, I was surprised when it came in how small the book was. I guess with it being classified as YA, I figured there would be more to the story than what there was. I would probably consider the book and content to be more geared toward middle schoolers and not teens. I felt that more sub plots should have been developed to add more content to the book. I liked the characters and the town but finished it in a couple of hours wishing there had been more. I think my 13 year old self would have felt the same way. I love Canadian authors and would recommend this book.

[Sam Conwayy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was very interesting. For the younger age, I had to read it for a university course and actually enjoyed reading it!

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid middle school read. It has good activism content that can apply to adults as well. Short sweet and to the point
3.5 🌟