Something Kindred

Gr 9 Up–Jericka Walker’s summer vacation is not what she expected. Hoping to hang out with her friends the summer before senior year, she finds out that she and her mother will be instead taking care of her dying grandmother in Coldwater, MD. Jericka has never met Gram, who abandoned Jericka’s mother and uncle when they were children. The teen is not excited to be spending the summer in the small town, but living with family is also not what she expects. She learns a lot when she visits with her father, stepmom, and half-siblings. Jericka learns about Gram and her mother and their shared tendencies to run away. Then she meets a romantic interest, Kat, also known as the “Ghost Girl” and finds out that she too can see the apparitions or “echoes” that Kat sees. Jericka settles into the town and showcases Coldwater’s people and places in her senior photography portfolio. Burch’s gothic coming-of-age YA debut will appeal to teens with an appetite for the paranormal.