The best book I read this month is a ghost story written for kids. The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown is a middle grade novel about two girls who feel forgotten, one of whom is alive and one of whom is not.
I bought the book to support the Black Publishing Power campaign, an effort to show publishing that there is a market for Black stories by Black authors. (Children’s publishing, especially, is overwhelmingly white and those authors of color who do break through rarely get the financial and marketing support that white writers get.) The book did not disappoint, and I hope publishing does a better job of publishing stories like this one.
Iris Rose is a Black girl who attends a predominantly white middle school. Despite her leadership in school activities, she is often “forgotten” when it comes to public recognition. One night, Iris and her best friend Daniel sneak out to play in the snow and stumble on a neglected graveyard—specifically the grave of a young girl named Avery Moore. Avery also feels forgotten, and she latches onto Iris, with dangerous consequences.
I am well outside the target age ranges for this book, so I can’t say that I found it scary. (I do think a kid would find it unsettling, at the very least.) I did find the story to be engaging and charming. The story is effective on another level, too. It’s a kid-friendly introduction to racism, both overt and subtle, and to the nation’s history of segregation.
I highly recommend it.