Starred ReviewStarred Review Out of Darkness
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book
“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”
New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.
Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.
“[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes down like it should, with pain and fascination, like a mix of sugary medicine and artisanal moonshine.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Pérez deftly weaves [an] unflinchingly intense narrative….A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism.”―starred, Kirkus Reviews
“This book presents a range of human nature, from kindness and love to acts of racial and sexual violence. The work resonates with fear, hope, love, and the importance of memory….Set against the backdrop of an actual historical event, Pérez…gives voice to many long-omitted facets of U.S. history.”―starred, School Library Journal
| Format | Your Price | Add |
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978-1-4677-4202-3
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$15.74 | |
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978-1-4677-7676-9
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$25.99 |
Awards
- Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Master List
- Virginia Readers' Choice Award Reading List Selection
- Garden State Teen Book Award Nominee
- Notable AwardNotable Award Booklist’s 50 Best YA Books of All Time
- Notable AwardNotable Award Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
- Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices
- Tomás Rivera Book Award
- Notable AwardNotable Award YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
- Notable AwardNotable Award Michael L. Printz Honor Book
- Writers' League of Texas Discovery Prize
- Notable AwardNotable Award Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist
- ACL Distinguished Book
- Notable AwardNotable Award Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year
- Notable AwardNotable Award School Library Journal Best Book
- Tayshas Reading List
Reviews
The New York Times Book Review
“[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes down like it should, with pain and fascination, like a mix of sugary medicine and artisanal moonshine.”—The New York Times Book Review
Booklist
“Elegant prose and gently escalating action will leave readers gasping for breath at the tragic climax and moving conclusion.”—Booklist
Starred ReviewStarred Review Kirkus Reviews
“Pérez deftly weaves [an] unflinchingly intense narrative….A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism.”―starred, Kirkus Reviews
Starred ReviewStarred Review School Library Journal
“This book presents a range of human nature, from kindness and love to acts of racial and sexual violence. The work resonates with fear, hope, love, and the importance of memory….Set against the backdrop of an actual historical event, Pérez…gives voice to many long-omitted facets of U.S. history.”―starred, School Library Journal
Elizabeth Wein
“The beauty of Perez’s prose and her surefooted navigation through the dangerous landscape of the East Texas oil field in the late 1930s redeem the fact that anyone who dares read this agonizing star-crossed love story will end up in about six billion numb and tiny pieces. Absolutely stunning.” —Elizabeth Wein, author of Code Name Verity and Michael L. Printz Award Honoree