THE BURNING SEASON, By Caroline Starr Rose, Nancy Paulsen Books, May 13, 2025, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 10 and up)
A 12-year-old a fire lookout-in-training must find her courage when a wildfire breaks out on her watch in The Burning Season, by Caroline Starr Rose.
Twelve-year-old Opal has a secret: she’s deathly afraid of fire. Still Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation lookout on Wolf Mountain, deep in the New Mexico wilderness. She, Mom, and Gran live at ten thousand feet in a single room at the top of a fire tower. They are responsible for spotting any hint of smoke before it becomes an uncontrollable blaze.
Instead of training for the lonely life of a lookout, Opal wishes she could be starting seventh grade in Silver City, attending real classes with kids her own age and even going to afterschool clubs like FFA. But Wolf Mountain has other ideas. When Mom makes the long trek to town for supplies and Gran goes missing, Opal is the only one to spot a tell-tale spiral of smoke moving up the mountainside. She’ll have to be braver than she’s ever been as she heads into the woods, beyond Wolf Ridge’s old blackened burn scar, to face down a fire on her own. But when a fire is what took her father away, and Opal herself knows the sting of smoke and lick of flames, how can she be brave enough when it really counts? —Synopsis provided by Nancy Paulsen Books
Told through verse, The Burning Season explores the often-lonely, stress-filled life of being a fire watcher.
The story is told from Opal’s point of view. At 12, Opal is finally allowed to train as a fire watcher — a job that’s belonged to her family for generations. Opal knows she’s got the skills, but she can’t shake her fear from a previous fire. And she can’t help but dream of a life with neighbors, kids, and school.
Author Caroline Starr Rose captures the beauty and vastness of the landscape as well as the confined space of the watchtower. Rose’s sensitive prose is delivered with care. It’s thoughtful and engaging. In Rose’s deft hands, Opal is not only believable but relatable.
The Burning Season is fast-moving and engaging. It’s a beautiful story of a girl and nature and the tug and pull between the two.
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