The Weight of Blood
The Weight of Blood
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HarperCollins
Annotation: Contains Mature Material
 
Reviews: 5
Catalog Number: #6782219
Format: Paperback
Special Formats: Adult Language Adult Language
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2023
Edition Date: 2023 Release Date: 09/12/23
Pages: 413 pages
ISBN: 0-06-302915-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-302915-6
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2022931781
Dimensions: 21 cm
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Jackson's latest retells Stephen King's Carrie with electric social commentary.Springville, inspired by real towns in the United States that still have segregated proms, has a lot of learning to do. No one knows this better than Madison Washington, a light-skinned biracial girl who has grown up with her White father and has been passing for White her entire life. At least, until a surprise rainy day during gym class exposes her hair's natural texture and her Black ancestry and she's outed against her will. Her White classmates react by throwing pencils at her hair, and a video of the incident goes viral. White senior Wendy, concerned about looking good to potential colleges, decides to try to reverse the negative press by advocating for Springville's first ever integrated prom. Feeling guilty about her role in Maddy's bullying, she also convinces Kendrick Scott, her Black boyfriend, to ask Maddy to the prom as an act of goodwill. Fans of King's novel and its film adaptations will know this doesn't end well for anyone. Jackson's expert reshaping of this tale highlights the genuine horrors of both internalized and externalized anti-Blackness, as with the way she weaponizes Maddy's father's hot comb as a symbol of terror and subjugation. In this masterwork novel, a teen girl-mistreated from birth by a racist society-finally gets her revenge.Horror done right. (Horror. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Jackson's latest retells Stephen King's Carrie with electric social commentary.Springville, inspired by real towns in the United States that still have segregated proms, has a lot of learning to do. No one knows this better than Madison Washington, a light-skinned biracial girl who has grown up with her White father and has been passing for White her entire life. At least, until a surprise rainy day during gym class exposes her hair's natural texture and her Black ancestry and she's outed against her will. Her White classmates react by throwing pencils at her hair, and a video of the incident goes viral. White senior Wendy, concerned about looking good to potential colleges, decides to try to reverse the negative press by advocating for Springville's first ever integrated prom. Feeling guilty about her role in Maddy's bullying, she also convinces Kendrick Scott, her Black boyfriend, to ask Maddy to the prom as an act of goodwill. Fans of King's novel and its film adaptations will know this doesn't end well for anyone. Jackson's expert reshaping of this tale highlights the genuine horrors of both internalized and externalized anti-Blackness, as with the way she weaponizes Maddy's father's hot comb as a symbol of terror and subjugation. In this masterwork novel, a teen girl-mistreated from birth by a racist society-finally gets her revenge.Horror done right. (Horror. 13-18)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Starred Review ALA Booklist
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)
School Library Journal Starred Review
Horn Book (Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Word Count: 86,104
Reading Level: 5.0
Interest Level: 9-12
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.0 / points: 13.0 / quiz: 517707 / grade: Upper Grades

* AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * INDIE BESTSELLER * JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION * KIDS' INDIE NEXT LIST PICK * NPR BEST PICK * KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *

New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson ramps up the horror and tackles America’s history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom.

When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation . . . Maddy did it.

An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.

After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life.

But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret . . . one that will cost them all their lives.


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