Stephen King's Firestarter meets Walter Dean Myers' Monster. . . . With its subtle yet timely commentary on police brutality, interracial dating, and LGBT rights, the novel addresses contemporary issues without didacticism. A wildly fulfilling and frightening read.” —starred review, Kirkus Reviews
“Burning is Firestarter for the next generation! Vivid, suspenseful, and tautly-wound, this book reads like a love letter to the modern thriller genre. Teens will relate to the accessible, well-drawn characters and tight pacing.” —Micol Ostow, author of AMITY and THE DEVIL AND WINNIE FLYNN
“Burning is an engaging, fast-paced thriller with a science-fiction twist . . . A blend of Orange Is the New Black, X-Files, and X-Men, Burning has great teen appeal and is highly recommended.” —VOYA
“Everything is creepier when set inside a broken-down institution, and Rollins plays this up, mixing elements of simmering hostility, paranormal abilities, and questionable authority figures all in a confined and unlikable place. She leavens it with small dashes of innocence, friendship, and family love, so that readers come to care about the characters in this suspenseful tale. Give it to fans of Joe Ducie's The Rig (2015), or consider pairing it with Stephen King's film Firestarter for a book and a movie program.” —Booklist
“The story of powerless girls shaping their own power is the heart of this novel, and readers who enjoyed Suma's The Walls around Us (BCCB 6/15) will find similar darkness and thrill here.” —BCCB
“Students will appreciate the diverse characters, the interesting setting, and the mysterious fantasy elements. This is a fast-paced read that will be a hit where Walter Dean Myers' prison fiction is popular.Recommended.” —School Library Connection
“Its strength lies in the personal challenges faced by its teenage protagonist awaiting parole.” —School Library Journal
12/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—When Angela takes the rap for her thieving boyfriend at 15, her sentence is three years in Brunesfield, a juvenile correctional facility in upstate New York. Here, rough girls pick on weak girls, and the few who are "crazy as…" live in Seg Ward, short for segregation, or solitary confinement. While this thriller's coarse language, setting, and ambitious agenda—an evil doctor deceives inmates, who then begin disappearing—vie for readers' attention, it is the portrait of Angela that stands out. Sensitive to her cellmates, she takes solace in their company when offered and steers clear of their rages. Angela is up for parole in three months and desperate to reconnect with her younger brother, Charlie. Typically teenage, she's also pretty hard on herself: dyslexic, she needed three tries to earn a GED, but instead of taking pride in this, Angela feels only embarrassment. With her parole in the balance, she's forced to bodyguard someone new to Seg Ward, a 10-year-old diagnosed pyretic who starts fires telepathically. Angela, realizing Dr. Gruen's manipulations, must weigh her cooperation against the possibility of her release. As this too-twisty plot fizzles, readers will stay with the story of Angela's teen angst instead. When prison guard Ben Mateo asks for her help with a crossword puzzle, it's the start of an attraction that both of them want—and want to avoid. Their forbidden romance is compelling, believable, doomed, and quite fitting, given the novel's gritty context. VERDICT Some readers will find the grisly setting of this overreaching thriller dramatic, but its strength lies in the personal challenges faced by its teenage protagonist awaiting parole.—Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY
★ 2016-01-20
Stephen King's Firestarter meets Walter Dean Myers' Monster. Seventeen-year-old African-American Angela Davis will be released from Brunesfield Correctional Facility in just three months. All she has to do is avoid fights, steer clear of the guards, do her chores…and act as a mentor to Brunesfield's newest evil inmate: 10-year-old Jessica Ward. Angela has seen the little girl's eyes turn completely black, and she's felt the air stiffen and crackle with something ominous when Jessica's angry. So when she's told she must befriend the little white girl, Angela is horrified, especially when dead animals and bodies begin turning up. While trying to survive the terror at Brunesfield, Angela must also tend to emotional scars left behind by her absent father and cruel mother, and she constantly thinks about reuniting with her little brother, Charlie. Rollins reminds readers that, though they are incarcerated for crimes that range from petty to violent, the girls at Brunesfield have emotional depth despite their tough exteriors. And because many of the characters are minority women, which is both necessary and refreshing in the current teen horror/thriller market, the author also lends a voice to an underrepresented demographic. With its subtle yet timely commentary on police brutality, interracial dating, and LGBT rights, the novel addresses contemporary issues without didacticism. A wildly fulfilling and frightening read. (Horror. 13 & up)
.
