Holler of the Fireflies

Starred review from August 8, 2022
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.