• Holler of the Fireflies

Holler of the Fireflies

Publication Date
September 27, 2022
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  4th − 5th
Language
English
Holler of the Fireflies

Only 1 copies currently available
Description
A boy from the hood in Brooklyn travels to a STEM camp in an Appalachian holler for one epic, life-changing summer.
 
A brilliant new novel from the award-winning author of 
The Stars Beneath Our Feet.


Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good.
 
Javari will learn a lot about science, tech, engineering, and math at camp. And also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it’s Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler—and blow his mind wide open.
 
Javari is about to have that summer. Where everything gets messy and complicated and confusing . . . and you wouldn’t want it any other way.
 
J + C + summer = ∞
Publication date
September 27, 2022
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781524701284
Lexile Measure
670
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
BISAC categories
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
West Virginia
Prejudices
Camps
Self-realization
Racism
Novels

Kirkus

Starred Review
Thoughtful explorations of issues such as corporate greed, the opioid crisis, water rights, and the little-known history of Affrilachians abound in this outstanding novel.

ALA/Booklist

Told through Javari’s first-person perspective, this gentle and informative story seamlessly weaves together topics of racism, white supremacy, and police brutality, and factors in the opioid crisis and environmental issues. Javari’s voice combines humor, vulnerability, pain, and joy, creating a compelling and timely read.

None

Moore packs his narrative with themes and carries it all off with well-rounded characters, lively dialogue and action, and often beautiful sensory prose.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Moore (The Stars Beneath Our Feet) covers timely social issues in this richly wrought fish-out-of-water story that takes a 12-year-old Brooklynite gamer to Appalachia. After Javari Harris's family returns from protesting a local event of police brutality, an eviction notice all but seals the family's ejection from their long-term home in rapidly gentrifying Bushwick. The opportunity to attend a STEM camp at a West Virginia Christian college becomes more appealing when Javari sees an opportunity to win the camp competition's cash prize and help with back rent. Upon arrival, quiet Javari--who doesn't like meeting new people and has an unspecified eye condition--meets an assortment of richly limned characters. But it's Cricket, a light-skinned Black 13-year-old local, who impacts his summer most significantly. Between experiencing Affrilachian culture alongside Cricket and navigating racism at the ethnically diverse camp, Javari encounters ways in which the region's history intersects with his own. Relational segments engage with Javari's former Amtrak porter grandfather and the Appalachian town's local residents, interweaving realities around colorism and racism, corporate ethics and pollution, generational trauma, and opioids in a complex novel that effectively highlights how long-standing histories can connect and divide. Ages 8-12. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
David Barclay Moore
DAVID BARCLAY MOORE is the author of The Stars Beneath Our Feet, which won the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

David was born and raised in Missouri. After studying creative writing at Iowa State University, film at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and language studies at l'Université de Montpellier in France, David moved to New York City, where he has worked in film, journalism, and communications.

David now divides his time between Brooklyn, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and St. Louis, MO.