Synopsis
Two friends must dig into their town’s forgotten past and uncover the forgotten truth — before their whole town goes up in flames. For fans of Small Spaces and Mary Downing Hahn, a spooky ghost story from the award-winning author of The Forgotten Girl and The Girl in the Lake.
Burn it all down.
Gianna and Carter John are best friends, but they couldn’t be more different. Gianna is small for her age, gets straight A’s, and is the teacher’s favorite. Meanwhile, Carter John gets in trouble no matter what he does, just because he’s tall and his voice is loud.
Then one day while working on a class project in the town library, Carter John gets in trouble yet again and reaches his breaking point. As his anger builds, a stack of books flies off the shelf, hitting the librarian.
Now everywhere he goes, strange things are happening. The smell of smoke hangs in the air. Sparks fly when Carter John gets in trouble. And he hears the voice of a young girl singing a song . . . a song about burning . . .
When fires start breaking out around town, Carter John and Gianna are determined to figure out who’s responsible. They are certain that these are no normal fires . . . Something terrible once happened where the town library now stands, and someone’s trying to send them a message about it.
But who is she―and why is she determined to get revenge?
From the author of The Forgotten Girl and The Girl in the Lake, this is both a bonechilling ghost story, and a book about the history of segregated libraries.
Review
Huge thanks to Scholastic for the physical ARC. I thought the cover had the potential for a super creepy middle-grade read.
Carter John has a problem with getting in trouble. His school teacher doesn’t seem to want to understand that his growing body is just foreign to him. He’s too tall, legs too long for the short school desks, his voice is newly deep and uncontrollable. And even though his best friend, Gianna, defends him and his actions, his teacher just doesn’t seem to care. But then they receive a partner project, and Carter John realizes the chance at an A could be what stands between him dragging Gianna down with him, and proving to his teacher and parents that he’s not a problem. After some brainstorming, the two friends settle on a historical figure that leads them down a path of racial discomfort that even links directly to something similar in their own town and library history.
Right off the bat I was really interested in how the author decided to weave history and historical figures into the narrative itself. What the middle grade reader will receive is this blend of mystery and suspense with a healthy dose of educational history and racial commentary. There is the history of the second black astronaut to go to space, Dr. Ron McNair, which I found incredibly wholesome that Gianna backs her friend’s interest in wholeheartedly, and McNair’s mistreatment at a recently desegregated library in his hometown as a kid. The author ties these factors back into the current narrative by the inclusion of the girl from the ashes. A ghostly girl that shows up only when Carter John is alone and she does nothing but stir up mischief. She’s angry, and that anger has festered until its burning so brightly and hotly that it’s nearly inextinguishable.
While the mystery itself for me was a little on the undeveloped side, I really enjoyed how the author handled this novel. How someone’s desire and will to read led to their almost eternal haunting of a library with a sordid past. How their mistreatment led to deep rooted anger, but also despair. And I thought it was well crafted that the author ties this all back into Carter John’s journey and possible mistreatment. Because it’s okay to say it, he’s the nearly six foot tall black kid—the one that too quickly started to look and sound like a man—and while he may be too gentle to outright see as a threat or “thug,” the implication is certainly there with words like “delinquent” and his teacher only singling him out. At best he’s viewed as the disruptive, loud, joke-cracking wise guy, but it’s so clearly tied to his race as well.
Ultimately, this novel features a deep through line on redemption. Shining a new light on Ron McNair and the tragedy of the Challenger disaster, giving peace and eternal rest to the girl from the ashes, who was wrongfully burned alive in a library fire, and Carter John with his pure heart and super eagerness to learn and explore. The story features strong friendship and understanding, teaches the concept of learning the whole picture before you judge, and displays deep love from concerned parents. It’s highlighting the issue with race in our country, but it’s not condemning us, it’s sharing hope for a road forward, and I think that is a very special message to share with young minds. Empathy and a willingness to learn with always trump anger, bigotry, and hate.
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