India Hill Brown

Aaaaaah, I love it when a book can bring the creep (and boy does this one) and also packs in a great story. Iris sneaks out to play in the snow and brings home terrifying nightmares of a ghost girl who is watching her from the window and trying to lure her out into the cold. Turns out the ghost is from a forgotten segregated cemetery, and Iris must bring attention to the graves to escape the possession. Brings up all kinds of great themes, from Iris' loving Black family, to her best friend's show more struggle after the death of his father, to the way their town has forgotten the Black students who integrated their schools. Lots to work with, here, and deeply creepy. show less

I keep comparing Ms. Brown's books to Mary Downing Hahn in feel, but honestly, she's in her own league. This book is spooky and heart-warming, and did I mention SPOOKY? I love how history is seamlessly interwoven into the story. This book is legit creepy, but it also made me tear up, and usually those two things don't happen with the same book.

India Hill Brown has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I purchased this book after reading "The Girl In the Lake. I love a good ghost story. The difference between other ghost stories and the type that this author writes is the historical message. Her characters are African American. Her ghost stories came about because of an injustice. In the case of this story, Iris and her neighbor and best friend Daniel break the rules and go out the night of the first snow. To make matters show more worse they sneak into the forest across the street so their parents won't see them. What they end up finding while making snow angels is a grave of a young girl named Avery. Now Iris is being haunted. The grave is that of a young girl who was buried in a segregated cemetery. Avery doesn't want to be forgotten. That is why she is haunting Iris.

If you think this is a long gone issue think again. Iris knows what it is like to be forgotten. She is the captain of her middle school's step team. Her mom notices on the TV news her middle school and all the club captains being recognized. That is, all except her and her step team. It seems that they are always being forgotten. Emails just seem to get lost. I know for a lot of people who are white like me they often don't see the big deal in this. I do. I have never understood why people feel they should judge other's worth based on their skin color. I am aware there are many African American Cemeteries that have been run down, forgotten about, or evern worse. bulldozed away to make room for other buildings. I like the fact that this author isn't afraid to to address these issues. If there is one thing I hope her books do for the kids who read them is spur them into noticing these injustices and working toward a solution. I look forward to many more books by this author, and I look forward to putting them into the hands of my students. Awesome book! show less

The best singers come from church! Darren is no exception, but for one reason or another, he's shied away from singing ever again.

The male lead, Darren, is such an overthinker. I thought he was too passive at first, but I realized he just got tired of dealing with unwanted criticism. Very sensitive. His journey to singing again is intertwined with trying to find the perfect confession of his feelings for his longtime crush, Delia. He's his worst critic, but it was nice to have a sweet, show more respectful male lead.

I was surprised that the Black church was such an essential part here, and that it was portrayed positively. Darren’s very involved there and loves music and soul food. The love of 90s R&B (hoo-yeah) and actual singers, who can sing without autotune, is a recurring theme here as well.

The story is very wholesome. I could see this in a Hallmark/Disney adaptation since it had no cursing, vulgarity, or sexual content. Some readers may lose interest due to a lack of edge/greater conflict, so this is better suited for a lighthearted read. Low stakes + Cinderella vibes! show less