In this gripping, moving and life-affirming middle-grade adventure, survival requires not only smarts but also compassion for others, the planet and oneself.
Jewell Parker Rhodes, award-winning author of Ghost Boys, introduces Addy, a Nigerian American teen girl participating in a summer program for Black city kids to develop wilderness skills. "Escape. Survive."--that's Addy's mantra. Her parents died in a fire when she was four, but she lived. Now, on her flight to Paradise Ranch in California, she maps the exits, preparing for an emergency. At the ranch, she avoids the fireplace, trying not to summon unwanted flashbacks. She misses the Bronx and Grandma Bibi, who left Nigeria to raise Addy and who encouraged this trip: "To know yourself, you need to journey, Adaugo." As events lead to a climactic forest fire, Addy endeavors to follow Bibi's words.
Paradise on Fire is a brilliant melding of captivating storytelling and crucial teaching moments. Every morning, Leo, the ranch boss, takes Addy hiking, acquainting her--and readers--with topography, wildfires and forest health, as well as humanity's role in deforestation and climate change. "Half of Earth's forests are gone," Addy learns, and she wonders how to save them. Rhodes particularly exemplifies how friends can bring out one's latent strengths. While rappelling, Addy prompts DeShon to think of his favorite music to help him brave the climb. A frightened A'leia inspires Addy to lead on the zip lines, and Nessa swears she'd follow Addy if there's trouble, because Addy pays attention. "If the plane fell," Jay tells Addy of their trip, "I wouldn't have been surprised if you grew wings."
Through the kids' candid dialogue and Addy's expressive narration, Rhodes also weaves in issues of race and class. Aware of the opportunities they've lacked as Black city kids, Kelvin jokingly calls s'mores "white people's food" and notes the weirdness of sleeping outside. The ranch dog reminds Addy of how a dog is "one mouth too many to feed." DeShon, cognizant of how "white people's charity" funded the trip, feels like someone's "summer project." Addy's reverent perspective places readers under "towering, magical" trees in "bracing [air], smelling of green, cedar, and smoke." This immersive prose adds urgency to Rhodes's message that 97% of wildfires are caused by humans, a topic cited as the book's inspiration, along with the 2018 Camp Fire, in the afterword. Inspiring both action and hope, Paradise on Fire heralds the importance of believing in one's own power to make a difference. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer
Shelf Talker: A Black teen from the city, who survived the fire that killed her parents, confronts the destructive reality of forest fires in this passionate, galvanizing middle-grade survival adventure.