Paradise on Fire

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Adventure, survival and environmentalism collide in this action-packed new story from Jewell Parker Rhodes. Years after Addy’s parents pass away in a fire, her grandmother sends her to a wilderness program out west. As she starts to make new friends, the unthinkable happens when a wildfire breaks out nearby, and it’s up to Addy to lead the group to safety. This page-turning tale is not to be missed.

From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.​
 
Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Years later, Addy’s grandmother has enrolled her in a summer wilderness program. There, Addy joins five other Black city kids—each with their own troubles—to spend a summer out west.
 
Deep in the forest the kids learn new (and to them) strange skills: camping, hiking, rock climbing, and how to start and safely put out campfires. Most important, they learn to depend upon each other for companionship and survival. 
But then comes a devastating forest fire…
 
Addy is face-to-face with her destiny and haunting past. Developing her courage and resiliency against the raging fire, it’s up to Addy to lead her friends to safety. Not all are saved. But remembering her origins and grandmother’s teachings, she’s able to use street smarts, wilderness skills, and her spiritual intuition to survive.

BCALA 2021 Best of the Best Book
A Cadmus Children’s Fiction Award for the Green Earth Book Award winner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316493857
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	82,633
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	10 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of Ninth Ward, winner of a Coretta Scott King Honor; Sugar, winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award; and the New York Times-bestselling Ghost Boys; as well as Bayou Magic; Towers Falling; Black Brother, Black Brother; and Paradise on Fire. She has written many award-novels for adults, including, MAGIC CITY, a novel about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Jewell is the Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Jewell Parker Rhodes

Winner of the 2022 Green Earth Book Award

"A classic sports story."—BCCB

"This novel offers a solid story, with relatable, three-dimensional characters considering identity, that will teach readers about colorism's effects."
—Publishers Weekly

“The book is sparsely written, poetic in its style. Despite the destruction, the narrative is fundamentally optimistic, rooted in the power of nature and community to bring us back to ourselves when we fear all is lost.” —The Los Angeles Times

"...an exciting page-turner."—School Library Connection

"This page-turning tale is not to be missed."—B&N Reads

"Lyrical in tone, the first-person narration brings home Addy’s love of nature as well as her urgency to protect it."—Horn Book

"Paradise on Fire is a brilliant melding of captivating storytelling and crucial teaching moments."—Shelf Awareness

"People of color have not historically featured in wilderness stories, which makes this title refreshing, especially in light of national conversations around racial equity in outdoor spaces. A strong read-alike for Gary Paulsen fans or older kids who have graduated from the I Survived series but are still seeking a thrilling survival story."
 
 —Booklist

"Addy is a heroine any reader might aspire to be, a teenager who learns to trust her own voice and instincts, who realizes that fire can live within someone, too."—New York Times

"Readers will love the mix of suspense, action, and emotion in this book.”—Time for Kids

"...simply a brilliant book"—Bloomberg

From the Publisher

08/02/2021

Inspired by real events, Parker Rhodes (Black Brother, Black Brother) makes her entrée into climate fiction with the story of narrator Adaugo (Addy), a Black 15-year-old from the Bronx. Living with an overwhelming fear of fire after losing her parents to one at the age of four, Addy copes by constantly drawing maps and plotting escape routes in case of emergency. When Addy’s Nigerian Grandma Bibi signs her up for Wilderness Adventures in California, Addy expects to be the odd one out; instead, though, she makes friends and falls in love with nature. But a wildfire soon endangers the woods and the people she has come to cherish, and Addy must count on her maps and newfound survival skills to save everyone she can. Addy’s character-driven narrative offers a broad picture of her motivations—including a post-traumatic mindset that’s focused on survival—yet leaves little room for the explicit development of relationships on which the story’s emotional heft eventually relies. If the negative impact of human activity on the environment sometimes dominates the story, Parker Rhodes believably explores one Black city girl’s discovery of the wilderness around her. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2021

Gr 4–8—Plagued by memories of the fire that killed her parents years ago, Addy always maps her city surroundings. But a chance to experience a wilderness camp leads Addy away from her comfort zone, along with five other kids, and across the country to Paradise Ranch. Out in the California forest, Addy has the opportunity to learn essential wilderness skills. However, her worst nightmare occurs when a deadly forest fire leaves Addy and her friends fighting for their lives in the woods. Now it's up to Addy to take all that she's learned at camp to survive. Rhodes delivers another gripping story about loss, resilience, and healing. Addy's anxiety over her parents' deaths is handled beautifully through her transition from mapper of escape routes to proper wilderness cartographer. Addy's restorative journey is realistically bumpy as she fights to accept that she can't live her life waiting for the worst to happen; rather, she can act wisely, embracing hope. While the environmental message may seem heavy-handed at first, it plays its part well by the end, aiding the final note that humans impact the Earth greatly and need to take this responsibility seriously. Addy and the five other city kids are Black. Camp owner Leo and the two counselors are cued white. An afterword provides the historical inspiration for the story. VERDICT Perfect for reluctant readers and fans of Dusti Bowling's The Canyon's Edge, this is a tale of survival and hope that doesn't disappoint.—Emily Walker, Lisle Lib. Dist., IL

School Library Journal

Narrator Tyla Collier’s youthful timbre and reflective tone are an ideal fit for Addy, a young teen who is embarking on a life-changing summer in the California wilderness. Addy is one of several city kids in the outdoor program, and Collier makes use of various tones and pitches to devise unique age-appropriate voices for the teens, who band together when a forest fire rages. Listeners will be haunted by the way Collier captures the teens’ fear as they rely on their wits to escape. Collier keeps her narration steadfast as Addy learns to trust herself and leads her friends to safety. Collier’s gripping performance heightens the harrowing survival story in this short but impactful listen. J.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile

Narrator Tyla Collier’s youthful timbre and reflective tone are an ideal fit for Addy, a young teen who is embarking on a life-changing summer in the California wilderness. Addy is one of several city kids in the outdoor program, and Collier makes use of various tones and pitches to devise unique age-appropriate voices for the teens, who band together when a forest fire rages. Listeners will be haunted by the way Collier captures the teens’ fear as they rely on their wits to escape. Collier keeps her narration steadfast as Addy learns to trust herself and leads her friends to safety. Collier’s gripping performance heightens the harrowing survival story in this short but impactful listen. J.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile

2021-07-01
Fire can change everything.

Adaugo, whose name means “daughter of an eagle,” leaves Bibi, her Nigerian grandmother and surrogate mother, to travel from New York to California with Wilderness Adventures for a three-week outdoor experience. Leo, the White owner of Wilderness Adventures, and two White college-age counselors, seek to teach Addy and five other urban Black kids enough outdoor skills to conclude their stay with a several-night backpacking trip. Tormented by nightmares of the fire that killed her parents, Addy obsesses over maps, mazes, and escape routes. Stylistically varied and impressively detailed, her sketches throughout the book highlight her talent and observational skills. She learns topographical mapping to understand the wooded landscape, and she quickly falls in love with nature. Leaving Leo, the only skilled woodsman, at base camp, the group encounters a wildfire the first night of their culminating trip, and the counselors ignore Addy’s informed advice—based on Leo’s mentorship and her focus on cultivating her navigation skills—to their peril. Inspired by California’s 2018 Camp Fire, this novel teaches about nature and climate change but centers Whiteness since Leo imparts most of the wisdom. He also relies on the leadership of the counselors, neither of whom demonstrates the passion or cultural competence to work effectively with Addy and her peers. Those who know the woods may sense this habitat is less familiar to Rhodes than the settings of her previous books.

A heart-pounding read that imparts both a healthy fear and a deep appreciation of nature’s power. (afterword) (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews