What the Fireflies Knew

September 1, 2021

With her father dead of an overdose and her family in financial extremis owing to his addiction, Black preteen Kenyatta Bernice (KB) is sent with teenage sister Nia from Detroit to her estranged grandfather's home in Lansing, MI. A burdened mother, an irascible grandfather, and a suddenly distant sister (she's growing up), not to mention the only intermittently friendly white kids across the way--KB is having a tumultuous summer indeed. But it's a chance to find herself. From debuter Harris.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2021
A story of Black girlhood from a promising new voice in fiction. It's 1995. Kenyatta Bernice--known as KB--is 10 years old and looking forward to turning 11. Then her father dies, her family loses their house, and KB's mother leaves her and her older sister, Nia, with a grandfather they barely know. The summer that follows is a tumultuous one for KB. She's still grieving the loss of her father when her mother disappears, and Nia is suddenly more interested in boys than in spending time with her little sister. The White kids across the street are eager to play with KB when their mom isn't around, but she soon learns that she can't count on their friendship. A boy KB thinks she can trust hurts her. The only reassuring constant in her life is her well-worn copy of Anne of Green Gables. More than anything, she wants the older people around her to be honest with her, but for the most part, she's left alone to piece together what's happening. Her grandfather reveals that he and her mother had a falling out, but KB knows that he's leaving out important details. She learns that her mother is undergoing some kind of "treatment" from an overheard conversation. The girl figures out all by herself that her father died from a drug overdose. Child narrators can be a challenge, but Harris has crafted a voice for her young protagonist that is both believable and engaging. Early in the narrative, when she first arrives at her grandfather's home, KB reports, "The house is silent and smells like a mix between the old people that kiss my cheeks at church, and the tiny storage unit where all our stuff lives now." There's a lot of information packed into this eloquent sentence as well as a lot of pathos. Quietly powerful.

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February 1, 2022

DEBUT Set in 1995, Harris's debut novel is told from the perspective of Kenyatta (also called KB), a 10-year-old Black girl. After her father dies of a drug overdose and her mother seeks treatment for depression, KB and her 15-year-old sister Nia are left in the care of their grandfather for the summer. In her loneliness and confusion, KB tries to connect with Nia, who is emotionally distant and prefers to go out with friends her age and chase boys. KB spends most of her time reading and occasionally playing with the white boy and girl across the street, whose racist mother has forbidden any friendship. Like her favorite book heroines, KB devises plans to heal her broken family. The healing does occur, though not in the exact way she had planned. VERDICT Harris has chosen to tell the story entirely through a child's eyes, without the imposition of an omniscient narrator or an adult KB looking back. This means that the reader is sometimes several steps ahead of her and frustrated or fearful of where her naivete will lead her. But KB's wide-eyed honesty also helps her more-jaded elders progress toward reconciliation. Appropriate for both YA and adult collections.--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.