BATTLE TO SAVE THE BAY

In this novel, a teenager joins the fight to save the Chesapeake Bay from pollution.

Recent high school graduate Donna Burgess gets a position helping a nonprofit to—among other things—prove that a large corporation is polluting Chesapeake Bay. At first, it’s just a summer job, but the pollution is having an impact on her neighborhood. After the group collects water samples, the Chesapeake Bay Coalition’s boat nearly capsizes, either because of age or an act of tampering. “We almost drowned out there,” Donna tells a cohort. This is a recurring theme in the tale—no one is sure if the coalition’s resources are just old or if someone is sabotaging them. Donna gets a crash course in the ups and downs of nonprofit work; she is told she’s the special guestat a fundraiser and dresses up for the event only to discover that she’s actually going to be a server. She also attends important meetings in the hopes of preventing the Glendale Corporation from polluting the bay. But at every step of the way, she and her colleagues encounter Glendale employees willing to pay them to go away. Each time this happens, Donna digs in her heels, willing to fight for her neighborhood instead of letting the coalition compromise. This creates a rift between Donna and others in the coalition who want to accept Glendale’s donation of land for a wildlife refuge even if it won’t stop the corporation from polluting the bay. Donna’s conviction hardens when she learns that many of her neighbors, and possibly her own mother, have been diagnosed with cancer. While Chandler’s book is compact at 212 pages, there are plenty of captivating tangents and subplots and rich environmental details. The protagonist copes with a wide array of intense emotions. There are the teenage hijinks and feelings of angst Donna experiences—normal for a recent high school graduate—and her deep passion for her work with the coalition. But a few of the minor threads—including Donna’s crush on her sister’s boyfriend—distract from the main plot. As a result, Donna is both a dreamy teenager and an uptight scold at times. And even with a positive message, the tone of the story is often cynical, which some readers may find off-putting.

An intriguing but uneven tale of environmental activists.