The Cliff Case

Lynn Manuel writes mystery novels for young adults and is the author of
Return to Cranberry Farm.

When 10-year-old Will and his 13-year-old sister Julie go to the woods
to collect leaves for a class project, they come upon a strange truck
with a tank stuck in the mud on the old logging road. They suspect
something, and their suspicions increase when Will sees a truck just
like it at the recycling plant. They then come across a wounded
peregrine falcon and learn that these birds have almost completely
disappeared in their region because of pollution. Their discovery of an
orange liquid on the surface of the swamp leads to a rousing finale: the
source of the pollution is traced to the recycling plant, where wastes
are being dumped instead of being properly stored.

This novel is part of Quintin’s Junior Nature series, but other than
as a teaching device for a unit on the hazards of chemical wastes, there
is little to recommend it. The characters are one-dimensional and the
plot is contrived, relying upon the characters’ stumbling from one
discovery to the next. And it is a rather episodic and choppy read,
which could be attributed to a less-than-stellar translation of the
original French version. Not recommended.