What the Fireflies Knew: A Novel
An NAACP Image Award Nominee
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize
A Marie Claire Book Club pick
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Teen Vogue* *Buzzfeed* *Essence* *Ms. Magazine* *NBCNews.com* *Bookriot* *Bookbub* and more!
“Harris rewrites the coming-of-age story with Black girlhood at the center.”
—New York Times Book Review
In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, a coming-of-age novel told by almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life with their estranged grandfather in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance
An ode to Black girlhood and adolescence as seen through KB's eyes, What the Fireflies Knew follows KB after her father dies of an overdose and the debts incurred from his addiction cause the loss of the family home in Detroit. Soon thereafter, KB and her teenage sister, Nia, are sent by their overwhelmed mother to live with their estranged grandfather in Lansing, Michigan. Over the course of a single sweltering summer, KB attempts to navigate a world that has turned upside down.
Her father has been labeled a fiend. Her mother's smile no longer reaches her eyes. Her sister, once her best friend, now feels like a stranger. Her grandfather is grumpy and silent. The white kids who live across the street are friendly, but only sometimes. And they're all keeping secrets. As KB vacillates between resentment, abandonment, and loneliness, she is forced to carve out a different identity for herself and find her own voice.
A dazzling and moving novel about family, identity, and race, What the Fireflies Knew poignantly reveals that heartbreaking but necessary component of growing up—the realization that loved ones can be flawed and that the perfect family we all dream of looks different up close.
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize
A Marie Claire Book Club pick
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Teen Vogue* *Buzzfeed* *Essence* *Ms. Magazine* *NBCNews.com* *Bookriot* *Bookbub* and more!
“Harris rewrites the coming-of-age story with Black girlhood at the center.”
—New York Times Book Review
In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, a coming-of-age novel told by almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life with their estranged grandfather in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance
An ode to Black girlhood and adolescence as seen through KB's eyes, What the Fireflies Knew follows KB after her father dies of an overdose and the debts incurred from his addiction cause the loss of the family home in Detroit. Soon thereafter, KB and her teenage sister, Nia, are sent by their overwhelmed mother to live with their estranged grandfather in Lansing, Michigan. Over the course of a single sweltering summer, KB attempts to navigate a world that has turned upside down.
Her father has been labeled a fiend. Her mother's smile no longer reaches her eyes. Her sister, once her best friend, now feels like a stranger. Her grandfather is grumpy and silent. The white kids who live across the street are friendly, but only sometimes. And they're all keeping secrets. As KB vacillates between resentment, abandonment, and loneliness, she is forced to carve out a different identity for herself and find her own voice.
A dazzling and moving novel about family, identity, and race, What the Fireflies Knew poignantly reveals that heartbreaking but necessary component of growing up—the realization that loved ones can be flawed and that the perfect family we all dream of looks different up close.
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"𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 ’𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆."
𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕂𝕟𝕖𝕨 - Kᴀɪ Hᴀᴿᴿɪs
⭐ ( 8 / 10 )
⚠️⚠️ 🆃🆆 : 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝙰𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚋𝚊𝚕, 𝚙𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 ⚠️⚠️
Writing from the point of view of a child is very tricky. You want to engage so the audiences and to do that you have to find that medium of not sounding too childish but not grown up either. Kai did such a great job of this. The balance, for me, was perfect. How KB keeps this innocence about her but is slowly finding her way through the world and having to slowly peel back those layers of naivety that we all eventually lose as we grow up and not too quickly either.
The story is of eleven year old Kenyatta Bernice, KB, who learns her, her mother, and her teenage sister Nia have lost their home and are suffering the death of their father. Their mother sends them off to live with their estranged grandfather for the summer and life unfolds before KB's eyes.
I cannot express how much I adored this book. The events that unfold are great in my opinion. I love that they aren't extreme but they aren't unnecessary either. It's a sweet ride and a great pallet cleanser considering the other books I've been reading. Honestly i appreciated this book so much. Just go pick it up.
Pɪᴄᴋ ᴛʜɪs ᴜᴘ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ: Secret Life of Bees, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, The Five Wounds
𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕦𝕝 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘,
𝘑𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘶𝘵
🍁 What The Fireflies Knew
by Kai Harris
Reviewed by Dee Provost
🍂 “Sometimes when you wanna speed up, you gotta slow down first.”
This quote sums of the premise of this book in my opinion. It had me change the way I read the story. I slowed down.
🍁 What the fireflies knew is written like a middle grade, reads like a young adult novel with adult undertones.
🍂 The main character is 11-year-old “KB” Kenyatta. We follow her journey in coping and understanding the circumstances of her father’s death. “KB” is a watcher of people; she is inquisitive and open to knowledge and loving those in her family circle. “KB” is in search for things going back the way they were. The closeness with her sister, and the smiles of her mother. Throughout this story we watch the ups, downs, and turns as they begin to move forward.
🍁 Kenyatta ‘KB” may read as the main character, I could easily place myself in Nia’s shoes to understand her perspective from Kenyatta’s “KB” eyes.
🍂 I recommend this coming-of-age story to everyone who can take a moment and slow down. The mental aspect and how others view us from the outside had me locked in. I appreciated this story so much I created a 90’s play list to catch the vibe. I really feel this book is one of those important to the culture.
#thisbrownegirlreads #tbgrbookclub
Great nostalgic read. You are sent to those summers spent with relatives for the summer. All the memories of exploration and discovery are captured.
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