Whenever Casey’s famous mom went on tour, she took her daughter along. But since settling down with a new husband and baby, things have changed. After years of domestic life, Casey’s mom is anxious to go back to her old life-without Casey. Devastated, Casey is left to keep the house running and care for Ginny, her autistic sister, while her step dad withdraws into his own private grief. Who is there to notice when Casey needs attention? To find comfort, Casey begins building fires to send smoke signals to her mother, hoping her mother will see her message.
Casey has been hiding her anger behind a wall of house chores and the impossible job of keeping her sister calm. Soon the ritual fires won’t be able to relieve her growing resentment. One day she won’t be able to build a fire big enough to contain it all.
A powerful free verse novel by the author of Libertad, Burn explores a girl’s desperate attempt to keep her family together, even as her own growing obsessions threaten to destroy them.
