This Town Is on Fire

By highlighting issues of economic disparity, racism, and white privilege, Harris (When You Look Like Us) weaves a nuanced social narrative in which a Black teenager is forced to reckon with her white best friend’s racist actions. Black 17-year-old Naomi Henry has accepted the fact that her Windsor Woods hometown was the kind of place where “my neighbors were going to rock their Confederate flag T-shirts and hug their Black friends at the same damn time.” Despite her peers’ blatant racism, however, Windsor Woods has always been home, and her white best friend Kylie Brooks has always been like family. But when a video of Kylie calling the cops on two Black teens goes viral, tensions between Naomi’s peers begin to boil over. Finding herself caught in the middle, Naomi begins to examine how race plays a part in her relationships with her family, friends, and herself. Harris employs complex depictions of Naomi’s relationship with Kylie, whom her mother used to nanny, alongside Kylie’s parents’ expectation that Naomi will side with them as their community grows more divided, admirably showcasing Naomi’s struggle to balance her perceived loyalties amid tumultuous internal and external conflict. Ages 14–up. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Irene Goodman Literary. (June)