Burn Baby Burn

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: July 7, 2016

Review

In the summer of 1977 in Queens, NY as serial killer Son of Sam terrorizes the city, Cuban-American Nora yearns for her upcoming eighteenth birthday and the chance to escape. She shares a cramped apartment with her mother and brother, whose increasing violence is often directed at Nora and their mom, who continually makes excuses for him. Nora's intelligent resourcefulness has not escaped the notice of her boss at a neighborhood deli and teachers at her high school, who are clearly rooting for her. Her social activist neighbor Stiller and her best friend Kathleen's caring family also provide some respite, but Nora is still stretched in a difficult position between her desire to make a life for herself and her feelings of responsibility to her family. Medina excels both at developing nuanced, sympathetic characters and creating a detailed setting in time and place in this work of relatively recent historical fiction. The heat and tension of the city are palpable and readers will ache for Nora's struggle and hope that she won't lose her shot at a relationship with a cute co-worker due to the complications that arise with her attempts to keep her family's secrets. This is a smart, multi-layered coming-of-age tale that also explores issues of ethnicity and class that older teens who've enjoyed titles such as Rainbow Rowell's ELEANOR and PARK and Benjamin Alire Saenz's ARISTOTLE and DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE will favor.

Overall Book Score: excellent