White teenage protaganist researches the mystery of town fire. Discovers history of racist violence. Current violence. Where does she stand?

Beautifully crafted story about the continuing issues of race in America. Loved it! ( )

This is a great book that mixed teen life with a serious issue. It kept me interested the whole time.

Macey Clare feels comfortable in her home town, although it isn't always fun being shunted back and forth between her two sets of hovering grandparents, who live near her. But between hanging out with her two good friends, attending annual barbacues on the beach, and getting to know cute classmate Austin better, her life seems fine.

Then, for a school project, Macey starts investigating the story of a barn in town that burned down years back. When she meets with resistance from friends and family, she is surprised and curious. It only makes her more determined to discover the truth, even if it means digging deep. But Macey could never imagine that her small, friendly town hides a shameful secret.

An old science teacher, who was black in a time when it was dangerous to be so. Prejudices long buried become revived. True colors are shown. And Macey will never be able to see her town, her family, or herself the same way ever again.

A mystery, a character study, and a historical fiction rolled into one teen novel, this is a very well-done book. ( )

This is an older children's/YA novel, and I wish there'd been more of this kind of stuff around when I was a kid. Young Macey lives in the swanky Connecticut burb that's been home to her family for generations. As a school project, she decides to delve into the history of a local burnt-out barn . . . and is surprised to run into a wall of adult hostility to the notion. It could have ended there -- why rock the boat? -- but Macey's attitudes mature quite a lot when she and a few classmates visit an inner-city church to do charitable work, see the deprivation of the kids there, and make friends; they mature even more when, soon after, one of those kids is murdered. With her new boyfriend, Macey pushes ahead and discovers why the barn was torched, and the levels of guilt and bigotry buried beneath the genial facades of some of her family members and their friends. The writing's good, the relationships are well handled, and difficult topics are handled more substantively than in many an adult "issues" novel. What's not to like? ( )

this is a good book ( )