Review by Donna, age 14

What would it be like to have racism rule your life? For 15-year-old Macey Clare, this is her reality. She lives in a quiet Connecticut town which appears unprejudiced on the surface but there's more going on than meets the eye. She discovers tensions and a long buried town secret that make racism an obsession for her.

Macey volunteers to help repaint a church in an African-American neighborhood. There she meets some black teens her age, one of whom is called Venita. They become friends quickly and easily despite their racial differences. During the painting project, an arsonist starts a fire in the church and the teens are nearly killed. Macey's hair is burnt almost totally off her head.

Austin is shy and totally in love with Macey but doesn't know how to tell her.

This experience inspires Macey to do a school history project on a fire that happened nearly 40 years ago on her street right about when African-Americans started moving into town. It's always been unclear how the fire started and there are suspicious questions left unanswered.

Think about it, who was threatened the most? Those people on Shell Road. With all their money and their fine cars and their trips to Europe and their private beaches -- think they wanted a Negro living next door?

Macey and her good friend, Austin, live on Shell Road now, each with their grandparents because their own parents are too busy working to care for them. Austin is shy and totally in love with Macey but doesn't know how to tell her He doesn't know that Macey secretly likes him in return. Even she doesn't realize how much she likes him until Venita tells her, He's your man whether you want him or not.

But when she starts getting answers, it isn't all neat and tidy.

Macey can't help but see the contrast between their comfortable life on Shell Road and Venita's neighboring community with its crumbling houses and school lacking books and even toilet seats. Somehow this drives her mission to solve the mystery of the fire of 1959. But she comes up against barriers when she questions people. No one seems to want to bring up the past.

That isn't history, said Macey Clare's grandfather. That isn't anything. It's just an old building that isn't there anymore.

Macey perseveres, with the help of Austin. She just wants to find out the truth. But when she starts getting answers, it isn't all neat and tidy. Not these answers. I don't want these answers.

I found Burning Up to be a brilliant, compulsive read. It's easy to relate to the characters and you can imagine yourself there. You feel sympathy for the characters like they are your good friends. Apart from being so real, it was a great mystery with a surprising cliffhanger ending. After reading this book (which I did within the day because I couldn't put it down) I tried to find my own mystery to solve, the excitement was so contagious!

Published by Delacorte
230 pages