This book is a Kirkus Reviews and Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year! The author, David Barclay Moore, is an African American native of Missouri now living in New York City. His first book, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, won the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award. The protagonist of this youth novel is twelve-year-old Javari Harris, an African-American youth who lives in Brooklyn and is attending a Summer STEM Camp in West Virginia and becomes friends with Cricket, a local biracial boy. "Thoughtful explorations of issues such as corporate greed, the opioid crisis, water rights, and the little-known history of Affrilachians abound in this outstanding novel. An emotionally resonant narrative skillfully connecting the past, present, and future." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review. "Explores serious and urgent subjects, including gentrification, class, environmental racism, police brutality and sexual identity. Moore’s sophisticated story raises as many questions as it answers, making the point that issues around American history, identity and injustice are neither simple nor straightforward."—The New York Times, "Moore packs his narrative with themes and carries it all off with well-rounded characters, lively dialogue and action, and often beautiful sensory prose." —The Horn Book. “Moore's thoughtful approach to big ideas is honest and his text attends to the topics in a way that allows middle-grade readers to understand and older readers to relate. Holler of the Fireflies is a feel-good book that still manages to go deep into heavy topics." —Shelf Awareness, starred review.
New York: Barzoi Books/Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Children’s Books/Penguin Random House, 2022. 360 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.