Grades 9-12
Burn Baby Burn is Meg Medina’s latest novel. It takes place in 1977 in New York, among Son of Sam, constant arson and a blackout. Nora Lopez and her friend Kathleen MacInerney try to stay out of trouble dying their senior year in high school, because Nora’s single mother surely can’t manage if something happened to Nora in these crazy times, so her curfew is “before dark.” On top of that, Nora’s older brother is spinning out of control and her father is so busy with his new family that he only remembers to call on national holidays (which of course don’t include Nora’s birthday). Medina captures 1977 so that those who grew up in the 70s will be nostalgic and those who were born after will get a clear picture about what life was like then.
The Bookish Librarian 