By Jewell Parker Rhodes, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021
Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes knows no bounds. She is the Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University. Rhodes is also winner of the 2003 American Book Award for Douglass’ Women, a work of adult historical fiction. But she may be best known as the author of several award-winning middle grade novels, including Ghost Boys (2018) and Black Brother, Black Brother (2021). On the heels of these New York Times bestsellers, Rhodes released Paradise on Fire, a gripping survival story that clenched the 2022 Green Earth Book Award.
Inspired by the deadly 2018 Camp Fire in California (which took 85 lives, burned through 150,000 acres, and destroyed the town of Paradise), the novel tells the story of six Black “city kids” who go to California for a summer wilderness program. They know little about nature. But over the course of the summer, they learn to hike, ride horses, set up and break down campsites properly, and appreciate the great outdoors.
At the story’s center is Addy, short for “Adaugo,” meaning “Daughter of an eagle” (p. 10). She’s a Bronx girl of Nigerian descent, and like Rhodes’ protagonist in Ninth Ward, Addy is an orphan and an only child. After losing her parents in a fire, she’s left in the care of her grandmother Bibi who eventually signs her up for Wilderness Adventures. Bibi tells her, “To know yourself, you need to journey, Adaugo” (p. 7). So Addy heads out West—begrudgingly. Equipped with a knack for drawing maps and mazes, and haunted by her experience with the fire, Addy scans every new environment, planning her escape. Little does she know that her natural geographic gifts will come in handy after a forest fire sweeps through the area, trapping Addy and her friends.
What works?
Rhodes knows how to craft a page-turner. The story unfolds across eight sections, and the action is swift. The young characters meet unexpected challenges at every turn, but Addy is built for this. The Bronx-girl-turned-environmentalist takes the reins to lead her friends. She makes life-or-death decisions based on vision, instinct, and collective thinking. In one scene, Addy stands in her power, and just a few pages later, she questions herself in moments of relatable vulnerability. The novel is a wild adventure. Readers will be in knots as they wait to see if Addy and her friends make it out the fiery maze.
What doesn’t work?
Addy is the heroine, and a likeable one at that. She’s smart, witty and a deep thinker who’s attuned to her surroundings. Though five other kids grace the pages, I wished for greater development. We get glimpses of them all, but Rhodes leaves some things for the readers’ imaginations.
Pass it or Grab it?
Grab it. Paradise on Fire is a beautiful book—visually and thematically. Rhodes is at her best immersing characters in majestic landscapes that the characters and readers feel. And it is refreshing to see Black kids unwind and find their footing outdoors. Like Kelvin (one of the Philly kids) says, the kids come to understand that “Nature’s amazing. It’s better than a park. Way better than my apartment building surrounded by gravel and weeds” (p. 52). They discover how to just be in nature. Mostly, the kids (and Rhodes’ readers) learn to tread lightly on Earth and be conscientious stewards of the land. We all learn the importance of being in community with one other and with the natural world.
In an interview about the novel, Rhodes asks, “How do kids learn how to care for the planet if they don’t experience it?” Ultimately, her book invites us all to reflect on how our actions impact climate change and our world. Paradise on Fire should find space in public libraries as well as middle school classrooms and media centers. I especially recommend it for kids and families who don’t yet “know they [belong] in the wild” (p. 27) and that the Earth belongs to them too.
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