KB (short for Kenyatta Bernice) is nearly 11 years old and growing up in Detroit in the mid-1990s. She wants to be treated as older than she is and always wants to know what’s going on around her, but she’s utterly unprepared for the death of her father due to a drug overdose.
Unable to cope, KB’s mother sends her and her teenage sister Nia to spend the summer in Lansing with their estranged grandfather. KB is having trouble making sense of her drastically changed world, from wondering why their mother left and whether she’ll ever come back, to trying to understand her grandfather’s mercurial moods. More than that, she’s losing her connection with Nia, who believes she’s more mature than she is and doesn’t have patience to be saddled with her immature little sister.
At the same time, KB has to deal with the fickle nature of the kids across the street, who often aren’t allowed to play with her, and the unwanted attention of others when she tries to act older. It’s a summer of laughter and tears, fears and victories, a summer of learning things about her mother—and herself—that she never knew.
“In life, we’re going to get hurt. If we stay focused on that hurt, and nothing else, then we won’t ever be able to heal. But if we focus on the healing, well, then we’ll start to notice that hurt disappear. It’s all a matter of what you choose to focus on.”
What the Fireflies Knew was one of my February Book of the Month picks, and I thought it was sweet, sad at times, and inspiring, too. I enjoy coming-of-age novels, and this is a worthy new inclusion to the genre.
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