still been exposed to high levels of lead throughout their lives. Dr. Hanna-Attisha noted how beaten down Grace looked and thought about how much the Flint community had gone through, leaving them suffering from what she calls a community-wide case of post-traumatic stress disorder. She reflects on the idea that there are two Americas: the one that she experienced growing up, with opportunity and support, and the America that she sees in her clinic every day. Life forces the people living in this America to struggle, and they never have an opportunity to achieve the American dream; this is occurring all over the United States, not just in Flint.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha responded to Grace, telling her to keep loving her children and encouraging her to give them healthy meals and read to them regularly. She made sure that Grace had the contact information for different resources that would help her children. She observed that Grace’s children were growing fast and said that “no matter what badness they may have been exposed to, we can overcome it with all this goodness.” She suggests that the strongest prescription for such a community is hope.

Epilogue

One night, Elliot, Bebe, and Dr. Hanna-Attisha were putting Layla and Nina to bed. Bebe told the girls the story of Haji and the birds. She reminded them that Haji was a kind and compassionate man and that he loved children. In fact, he had five children himself. He also loved birds: their freedom of flight and their songs. He would feed the birds every morning in his garden, and some would even eat out of his hand. One day, while picking dates, Haji fell out of a tree and broke his leg. According to Bebe, the birds that he cared for surrounded him, picked him up, and flew him to the hospital, where a doctor fixed his leg.

When Bebe was finished telling the story, Dr. Hanna-Attisha thought about how every time someone tells the story, it is different. Bebe, for instance, spends time describing Haji’s garden. But when Dr. Hanna-Attisha tells the story, she focuses on the doctor who healed Haji’s leg, making her a woman in the story and drawing out the doctor’s kindness. But however it is told, Dr. Hanna-Attisha always feels uplifted by the magic of the story.

Analysis

In these final chapters, readers see resolution to the entire story; a number of individuals are being held accountable for the water crisis, unlike in the water crisis of DC. Perhaps more importantly, the state and federal government have taken Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s requests to heart, and they are offering millions of dollars in aid to the community of Flint. It is these final chapters that make this a book that is ultimately about hope and the power that one person, or group of people, can have to make change. However, the work is not done. As Dr. Hanna-Attisha notes in chapter 26, there are many toxic communities just like Flint, not because of lead in the water, but because they have histories of poverty, racism, and various other adversities. She mentions this in the same chapter where she speaks to Grace, a woman who is concerned about her daughters’ health. Grace becomes a kind of symbol for the people that Dr. Hanna-Attisha suggests need to be given more attention—people who need to be given a chance at the American dream. She ends the book with a bit of levity: a fable about a real person who ends up in a fantastical situation. In many ways, this tale reflects her own story, and in chapter 25, she mentions that her entire experience with the water crisis seems almost mystical. When people find themselves in similarly surreal or adverse situations, the narrative suggests, what is most important is to continue on with an attitude of hope and kindness.