A Bird on Water Street
Description
"Elizabeth Dulemba seamlessly melds a coming-of-age story to the reality of life in a single-industry town. This is a book that sings." — Betsy Bird, School Library Journal blog A Fuse #8 Production
Living in Coppertown is like living on the moon. Everything is bare—there are no trees, no birds, no signs of nature at all. And while Jack loves his town, he hates the dangerous mines that have ruined the land with years of pollution. When the miners go on strike and the mines are forced to close, Jack's life-long wish comes true: the land has the chance to heal.
But not everyone in town is happy about the change. Without the mines, Jack's dad is out of work and the family might have to leave Coppertown. Just when new life begins to creep back into town, Jack might lose his friends, his home, and everything he's ever known.
Dulemba paints a vivid picture of life in the Appalachia in this beautiful story about a boy looking for new beginnings while struggling to hold on to the things he loves most.
Praise for A Bird on Water Street
"A riveting look at life in a copper-mining Tennessee town where nature has been savaged into a moonscape and the air burns holes through laundry left on the line. Jack leaps off the page as a boy determined to keep his father safe from the mines and bring living things back to his home." — Vicky Alvear Shecter, author of Cleopatra’s Moon and Anubis Speaks!
"Elizabeth Dulemba seamlessly melds a coming-of-age story to the reality of life in a single-industry town. This is a book that sings." — School Library Journal
"A little-known but important chapter in United States history springs to life. As big-hearted and joyful as it is sobering, this book should be required reading for students studying the impact of man upon the environment. I will never take a sparrow—or bug—for granted again." — Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe
"Dulemba expertly weaves the strands of Coppertown’s environmental, economic, and personal relationships and gives a life-affirming portrait of a Southern Appalachian town needing and ready for new life. Jack’s story is set in the late 1980s, but could replicate the experience of countless miners’ children in this country and the world, in the past century and the present." — Anne Broyles, author of Shy Mama’s Halloween
"A Bird on Water Street takes the specific problems of a lesser-known locale and deftly layers universal teenage concerns, such as the question of what kind of person to become, and what path to take. Appropriate for advanced elementary/middle school readers, the book holds crossover appeal for older teens with its attention to setting and culture." — ForeWord
"All in all, this was a book that I simply fell in love with. From an endearing narrator to a simple environmental message that made a strong point without being preachy, A Bird on Water Street was one of the best books I’ve read thus far in 2014." — Tangled Up in Reading
"I whipped through this book in two days. It’s an engaging story that touches on heavy issues with a light hand. ... After reading A Bird on Water Street, I’m more appreciative of the wealth of trees, birds and even bugs(!) in my own neighborhood. I highly recommend this enjoyable read." — Jeanne Ryan, author of NERVE
"Dulemba deftly honors [the Southern Appalachia] and its people and reminds us what it means to be a family." — Kerry Madden-Lunsford, author of Ernestine’s Milky Way and Gentle’s Holler
“” — Yale News
