October 6, 2026 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
It's 1980, and Katy would rather spend her August days hanging out with her best friend Joel in a tent in his yard, listening to baseball on the radio and playing DiceBall. She's not a fan of back to school shopping or heading off to fifth grade, because growing up is scary, and her mother is pushing her to use deodorant. There are bigger issues in her community: Love Canal is making the news, and James Piper, who has bought some of her family's farm land, is known to have a "secret gross landfill". This, along with sinkholes he's filling with toxic waste, is causing horrible smells that are making people sick and contaminating the water, some of which ends up overflowing into her grandmother's basement. When the creek starts looking murky and is filled with dead fish, Katy and Joel start investigating. Over the summer, Katy worked on an assignment for Ms. G., and researched how the world would be different in 100 years. She found out a lot of alarming environmental issues out, and also reported on women's rights as well as other social issues. Her dream is to one day work at the EPA, so Operation Proof that she is working on with Joel using a Super 8 film camera as well as an Instamatic, is very important to her, especially since much of the pollution is happening on former family land. When new houses are set to be built in the area, will things get even worse?
Strengths: I appreciated the author's note that Katy was a younger, slightly different version of Obe's mother from the 2017 Me and Marvin Gardens. The setting seemed familiar, and I thought we saw a glimpse of one of Marvin's ancestors. There are lots of good details about 1980: straight legged corduroys, Battle of the Network Stars, and boys thinking they can exclude girls from playing kickball. In between chapters of the story, we do see Katy's school reports, which cover a lot of problems that still have relevance today; there is even a mention of Artificial Intelligence. King has a knack for addressing topical issues that resonate with gatekeepers; her Attack of the Black Rectangles is frequently used as a class novel.
Weaknesses: I am a big, big supportive of both environmental and feminist issues, but this was a bit didactic in tone, which took away some of the emotional impact of Katy's plight.
What I really think: This is a good choice for fans of King's work or environmentally themed books like Helget's 2017 The End of Wild, Cline's Bridge to Bat City, Culley's Landslide, or Baron's Spark.
Strengths: I appreciated the author's note that Katy was a younger, slightly different version of Obe's mother from the 2017 Me and Marvin Gardens. The setting seemed familiar, and I thought we saw a glimpse of one of Marvin's ancestors. There are lots of good details about 1980: straight legged corduroys, Battle of the Network Stars, and boys thinking they can exclude girls from playing kickball. In between chapters of the story, we do see Katy's school reports, which cover a lot of problems that still have relevance today; there is even a mention of Artificial Intelligence. King has a knack for addressing topical issues that resonate with gatekeepers; her Attack of the Black Rectangles is frequently used as a class novel.
Weaknesses: I am a big, big supportive of both environmental and feminist issues, but this was a bit didactic in tone, which took away some of the emotional impact of Katy's plight.
What I really think: This is a good choice for fans of King's work or environmentally themed books like Helget's 2017 The End of Wild, Cline's Bridge to Bat City, Culley's Landslide, or Baron's Spark.
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