“Protestors have a right to be there, same as the dump, Nathan. Unless people stop making it, garbage has to go somewhere,” Dad says. “It’s always gonna be in someone’s backyard.”
You know that old saying don't judge a book by its cover? Well in the case of this book I totally misjudged the book by the title. YES there is a landslide but not of the kind involving huge mountains and perhaps catastrophic damage to a small town or village below the disaster. In this case the landslide is a huge or I should say enormous pile of rubbish or garbage that is piled up at the local dump on the edge of town. Perhaps no will notice the pile getting bigger or the pile actually beginning to move but one boy does notice because he lives right across the street!
How did that happen? Where I live the local dump is no not near any houses but Nathan does live there:
Our house on Route 4 in Crawley, Maine, is right across the road from the dump. There wasn’t always a dump there. It used to be the other half of my grandparents’ land, and in the summer we’d look out our front windows and see a big field full of tall grass and wildflowers. In the winter we’d watch deer and foxes. Mom doesn’t blame her sister for selling it. Aunt Del had no idea what would happen. But now it’s the place for everyone’s trash.
And the complication is Nathan's dad works for the dump company called on Route 4 in Crawley, Maine, is right across the road from the dump. There wasn’t always a dump there. It used to be the other half of my grandparents’ land, and in the summer we’d look out our front windows and see a big field full of tall grass and wildflowers. In the winter we’d watch deer and foxes. Mom doesn’t blame her sister for selling it. Aunt Del had no idea what would happen. But now it’s the place for everyone’s trash. Last week protestors started gathering at the entrance, under the metal sign that says Homefront Municipal Waste Management.
Nathan begins to read about the way these huge mountains of trash have begun to collapse in other places even leading to a death. Nathan needs a way to gather evidence and also he desperately needs to keep his dad safe. His dad's job is right on top of the pile - he works on huge equipment which tries to flatten the pile as more and more refuse is added each day. And this refuse is not just household waste.
Sometimes trucks from down south start lining up as early as six a.m. with special waste, solid waste, sludge, demolition debris, oily debris, asbestos, fly ash, dirty dirt. ... thing—dirty dirt means contaminated soil.
Luckily Nathan is a very observant boy (he calls this his I-sight) and he also has a terrific tool - a phone that he can use to take photos and timelapse videos. He also has a new friend - a boy names Wilder Bacon who needs a friend as much as Nathan needs someone to help him with this urgent issue.
He told more glacier facts. Glaciers get so big the pressure of their own tremendous weight causes them to move. Glaciers are solids that flow like a liquid. That’s when I realized the garbage hill doesn’t move like a baseball or a hockey puck or a zip line. What it moves like the most is a glacier. Sometimes it moves fast and other times slow. Check. A glacier is constantly being topped off by fresh snowfall that keeps it flowing downhill, and the landfill always has more garbage being added. Check. If these things make the landfill like a glacier, then the other thing I learned might be true, too—that it is unstoppable.
I have good news and bad news about this book - yes it one I highly recommend and yes it is available here in Australia. It was published this year - 2026 BUT because it is from the US and because so far it is only available in hardcover it is way too expensive for a school library at AUS$35. If you can find this book in a library, I am certain readers aged 10+ will be hooked - Nathan is a kid who has real concerns, he loves his dad, he cares about his community and friendships and his activism as a kid is wonderful to witness.
Adding to the power of this story the end notes explain the actual real-life situation that led to Betty Cully researching and writing this book.
“This book has a lot of information about garbage, landfills, trash removal, and the impact of a landfill on the environment, but it’s also a story of friendship, family, and kindness. The characters are interesting and well developed and are portrayed as loving people who want to do the best for their families as well as the community. . . An excellent choice for libraries needing realistic middle grade fiction, particularly with environmental or social emotional themes.” —School Library Journal, starred review
I found Landslide on a shelf at my public library earlier this week. I’m so glad I did! It’s about a boy named Nathan that lives across the street from the landfill that his dad works at. As you can image, living right next to a landfill comes with some challenges. The characters in this one are easy to root for. Great book! Colby Sharp
Here is a longer review with comments about the writing of this book by the author. Here is the web page for Betty Cully - she lives in Maine.
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