Synopses & Reviews
In the vein of S. E. Hinton's
The Outsiders, and in eco-warrior fierceness that will recall Erin Brockovich, comes
My Chemical Mountain, a powerful, mesmerizing high-octane drama.
Rocked by his father's recent death and his mother's sudden compulsion to overeat, Jason lashes out by breaking into the abandoned mills and factories that plague his run-down town. Always by his side are his two best friends, Charlie, a fearless thrill junkie, and Cornpup, a geek inventor whose back is covered with cysts. The boys rage against the noxious pollution that suffocates their town and despise those responsible for it; at the same time, they embrace the danger of their industrial wasteland and boast about living on the edge.
Then on a night the boys vandalize one of the mills, Jason makes a costly mistake — and unwittingly becomes a catalyst for change. In a town like his, change should be a good thing. There's only one problem: change is what Jason fears most of all.
Review
“Written in the tradition of such early twentieth-century muckrakers as Upton Sinclair, Frank Norris, and Ida M. Tarbell. Angry and urgent, topical and timely." Booklist
Review
“From Jason’s complex teenage boy perspective, [Vacco] captures both the disheartening helplessness of the situation and the boys’ reckless resistance: ‘We cross a landfill on our way to school. We swim in creek water that smells like nail polish remover....We are not fools. We are brave and brilliant.’ There is power and hope in that kind of statement, and Jason’s coming-of-age tale, though dark, is full of both.” The Horn Book Magazine
Review
“Reminiscent of The Outsiders....Dark and unflinching.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Grim but impressive debut...lyrical prose and strong characters make it worth the read.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“A budding romance and subtle insight into Jason’s changing relationship with his friends guarantee that there’s a little something for all readers in this well-thought-out, well-executed story.” School Library Journal
Review
“Corina Vacco shows us real-life monsters, up close and very personal.” Ellen Klages, author of The Green Glass Sea
Synopsis
The Outsiders meets Erin Brockovich meets
Bridge to Terabithia in this high-octane drama.
Jason and his friends live for the rush of racing their dirt bikes on Chemical Mountain and swimming in orange, chunky Two Mile Creek. But they hate wealthy and powerful Mareno Chem, the company responsible for invading their territory, polluting their town, and killing Jason's father. The boys want to get even. But revenge has a price — and more than one person will pay.
Winner of the Thirtieth Annual Delacorte Press Prize for a First YA Novel
About the Author
The Outsiders meets Erin Brockovich meets Bridge to Terabithia in this high-octane drama. TIM THARP, author of The Spectacular Now, National Book Award finalist, calls My Chemical Mountain “A gritty, surprising story that confronts important personal and social issues head-on.” Jason and his friends live for the rush of racing their dirt bikes on Chemical Mountain and swimming in orange, chunky Two Mile Creek. But they hate wealthy and powerful Mareno Chem, the company responsible for invading their territory, polluting their town, and killing Jason's father. The boys want to get even. But revenge has a price--and more than one person will pay.
Winner of the Thirtieth Annual Delacorte Press Prize for a First YA Novel
“Reminiscent of The Outsiders. . . . Dark and unflinching.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Written in the tradition of such early twentieth-century muckrakers as Upton Sinclair, Frank Norris, and Ida M. Tarbell. Angry and urgent, topical and timely."--Booklist
“From Jason’s complex teenage boy perspective, [Vacco] captures both the disheartening helplessness of the situation and the boys’ reckless resistance: ‘We cross a landfill on our way to school. We swim in creek water that smells like nail polish remover . . . We are not fools. We are brave and brilliant.’ There is power and hope in that kind of statement, and Jason’s coming-of-age tale, though dark, is full of both.” —The Horn Book Magazine
“Grim but impressive debut . . . lyrical prose and strong characters make it worth the read.” —Publishers Weekly
“A budding romance and subtle insight into Jason’s changing relationship with his friends guarantee that there’s a little something for all readers in this well-thought-out, well-executed story.” —School Library Journal
“The scenes, the attitudes, the desperation are brilliantly rendered. . . . My Chemical Mountain offers something of that punch-in-the-gut ethos of hard-boiled detectives, transferred to blue-collar youth living in a cauldron of pollution.” —The Tonawanda News
“Corina Vacco shows us real-life monsters, up close and very personal.” —ELLEN KLAGES, author of The Green Glass Sea