Burning Up - Hardcover

Cooney, Caroline B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385323182 ISBN 13: 9780385323185

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

From bestselling author Caroline B.  Cooney comes a riveting new novel about the destructiveness of hatred, the evil of indifference, and the power of accepting love and responsibility:

Fifteen-year-old Macey Clare was looking forward to the summer, hoping for fun and romance with her neighbor's grandson, Austin.  But when Macey decides to research the burning of a barn in her hometown for a school project, she finds that no one is willing to talk about what really happened that night.  She has always loved this quiet, beautiful town where her grandparents live and her mother was raised.  Will Macey be able to face the past and understand the present?

About this title

About the Author

Caroline B.  Cooney is the author of numerous bestselling books, including The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie?, and The Voice on the Radio.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Burning Up:

"This thought-provoking story has a powerful message, effortlessly woven into the ordinary trappings of a teenager's life. Cooney allows for no cozy ending; as Macey faces what racism has done to her community, readers will question what it has done to theirs."
--Kirkus Reviews

"The picturesque town's desire to avoid the unpleasant facts about its own past is convincingly depicted, and Macey's pursuit of truth is compellingly chronicled."
--The Bulletin

Reviews

Grade 7-10?Researching a local-history project for school, 15-year-old Macey happens upon a 1959 arson case that targeted the first African-American teacher in her privileged Connecticut town. Shocked to learn that her community could have been so racially biased as to tolerate this attempted murder, she is further outraged when she realizes the extent to which her community remains segregated. Using library and Internet resources as well as interviews, Macey and her boyfriend, Austin, gradually uncover enough facts to confront the prejudice they perceive in others and begin to assess their own level of responsibility. This story line is strong. Clever phrasing and likable central characters enliven the story. The emotions are palpable, and the topic is important. Unfortunately, other details detract. Coincidentally, Macey, Austin, and friends are nearly killed by an arsonist while performing a community-service project. Coincidentally, the black girl Macey worked with is soon killed in an altercation with a gang. Macey and Austin live as neighbors with their respective grandparents and their romance is sweetly portrayed. However, it seems unrealistic that Austin would rather go back to Chicago to hope for his parents' reconciliation than finish the last three weeks of school with Macey. Extensive foreshadowing seems melodramatic and overwrought. It rankles that the word "fire" or related terms are present on more than one-third of the pages. Macey's investigation into racism is heartfelt and her personal commitment to action is laudable, but the book is not entirely convincing.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

What does a 1959 barn fire in Macey's affluent Connecticut town have to do with an arsonist's attack on an inner-city church where she and classmates volunteer one day? Nothing, as far as the 15-year-old's friends and family are concerned. But Macey, who narrowly escaped the church fire, senses that there is a connection between the two when she researches local history for a school project. Cooney (The Face on the Milk Carton) has produced another tantalizingly dark secret for her protagonist and readers to unravel together. Macey's rising awareness of hate crimes sharply escalates after Venita, whom Macey met at the church, is murdered when she tries to interrupt a gang fight. Macey is appalled by her parents' and grandparents' apparent callousness and their refusal to let her attend the girl's funeral ("Try not to think about Venita," her mother says. "It's so sad, darling, but there is nothing you can do"). Were her grandparents' hearts as cold 40 years ago when the barn apartment of the town's only black resident went up in smoke? Were they responsible for his near death? By interviewing community members and tracking down Mr. Sibley, the tenant of the barn apartment, Macey finds the ugly answers to her questions. Even though Macey's introduction to prejudice and her unshakable nobility are slightly overdrawn, she remains a sympathetic figure, just stubborn and vulnerable enough to be real. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Cooney (The Voice on the Radio, 1996, etc.), a hard look at the tacit, unacknowledged racism that lurks beneath the surface of an affluent, supposedly enlightened community. Macey loves her Connecticut town. Her grandparents, Papa and Nana, provide a home for her during the frequent absences of her upwardly mobile parents; school and friends are great; and handsome Austin is taking a flattering interest in her. The only thing that worries her is the reaction she gets from everyone she asks about a mysterious fire in 1959 that destroyed a local barn, and a renovated apartment within it, where a black teacher lived. When Macey is assigned community service painting an inner- city church, she is paired with a parishioner, Venita, and they bond, immediately. That day, however, an arsonist sets fire to the church, and they and others are almost killed. Macey is shocked at the viciousness of the act, and more curious about the long-ago fire near her home. When Venita is killed trying to protect a little girl from a gang, Macey grieves and begins to question seriously the chasm of hate between blacks and whites. The truth about the 1959 fire, which was deliberately set and witnessed by those closest to her, nearly destroys her. This thought-provoking story has a powerful message, effortlessly woven into the ordinary trappings of a teenager's life. Cooney allows for no cozy ending; as Macey faces what racism has done to her community, readers will question what it has done to theirs. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

How strange Macey felt around Austin: this lifelong acquaintance she did not know well, this neighbor who had saved her life, this cutie.

You got a crush on that boy? That one named for Texas?

"Nothing special," she said to her mother. "It's just a stick. By the way, Mom, when the Demitroffs' barn burned down, back in 1959, was somebody living in it or not?"

"It's so upsetting when you keep bringing up fire, Macey," said her mother. "Did you tell us everything there is to tell about getting your hair burned?"

"Now that I've felt fire, I'm interested in fire." The word fire wasn't quite right. It was arson that interested her. But she hadn't told her parents about any arson. "I'm doing it for my history paper."

"Oh, Mace," said her mother. "You're going to have to put so many hours into this project. At least choose a topic that matters."

"I'll ask Mrs. Johnson about other topics," Macey said. She might, too, although she'd be asking about topics for Austin. She was staying with the fire. "But I still want to know. Did anybody live in that barn? In 1959?"

"My science teacher. Mr. Sibley."

"There was an apartment then?" said Macey.

"Oh, yes, it was such a sweet place. Everybody oohed and ahhed when they saw it.  Of course, I never saw it when Mr. Sibley was living there, but most years it was rented to a new teacher, and I'd bring a plate of Mother's cookies or a casserole and say hi and welcome to the neighborhood, and I'd wander around and inspect the apartment."

"But you didn't bring cookies to Mr. Sibley?" said Macey.

There was a slight pause. "I don't remember," her mother said.

But you do remember, thought Macey. You remember you were never inside when Mr. Sibley lived there.

Until now, Macey had forgotten the other pause, the faint pause before her grandparents answered questions about that old fire, and once more, the old fire prickled at her.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385323182
• ISBN 13: 9780385323185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240