"Nothing ends," she says. "There is only transformation, ugly as it may be."

This was such a fascinating read - a peak into the 70's during one hot summer with a major power outage and a serial killer on the loose. Nora's world is turned upside down as a young teenager with a job and a troubled brother. She's just trying to date and have fun and enjoy her senior year in high school. But a serial killer is on the loose - gunning down couples in their cars. It's hard to date, hard to trust strangers, hard to go out without being afraid and wondering if you're next.

I enjoyed this one and all the twists of Nora's life. The kid has a rough one and the dynamics of her family and her juggling her future were well done. I'v read about Son of Sam killings but never thought of the affect it would have as a young teen dating, finishing high school and dealing with the uncertainly and fear of it. It was an undercurrent through the whole story, that fear, and I enjoyed learning more about that times in the 70's. ( )

Part romance, part family drama, part snapshot of NYC in the summer of 1977.

Nora is about to turn 18 and is trying to find her place in the world where she's scared of things beyond her control like a killer on the loose in NYC but also scared of things close to home like her brother who is hanging with the wrong crowd and is becoming a physical threat to her and her mother.

This is a YA that I wouldn't have picked up if it didn't come in a Book Riot box but I'm really glad I read it.


( )

Well written with a fascinating historical backdrop. ( )

It's the summer of 1977 in New York: the Ramones play CBGB's, people dance to disco all night, an oppressive heatwave settles over the city, the Son of Sam serial killer is at large, and buildings keep burning. Nora is a high school senior, about to graduate into this mess, and, she hopes, out of her family apartment, where she lives with her mother (who refuses to face reality) and younger brother Hector (who is out of control and abusive). Nora knows that Hector starts fires, and that he deals drugs, but her mother refuses to face facts, and their father has started over with a new wife and son, calling only on holidays. Nora has her lifelong best friend Kathleen MacInerny, whose father is a firefighter, but she doesn't tell Kathleen what it's really like at home, and she keeps her distance from handsome new coworker Pablo, too, fearing he won't understand and will judge her. (Pablo's family is from Colombia; Nora's is from Cuba.) Finally, a night of blackout, looting, and even more fires convinces Nora she has to take action; her neighbor, a Black woman called Stiller, encourages her.

Nora feels trapped in large and small ways, but in the end she gets a new beginning, thanks in part to help from teachers, neighbors, her boss, and Kathleen's family.

Quotes

It's no use talking to her about real life, though. She just doesn't participate in it. (31)

Safety precaution, huh? Interesting. Then why is it that having the cops everywhere makes me feel so scared? (122)

And then I wonder: Does the shooter have a mother, too? Does she know he's a monster? Is she afraid to say so and turn him in? (178)

I wonder - if a liar like me can be a true friend? (211)

"But you can also take a stand, even when you're scared. If you think you're powerless, you are." (Stiller to Nora, 230)

How do you rebuild people? How do you help them trust one another again? It seems so much harder than fixing buildings. (263)

What hotline is there for someone like me? How do I turn in my own flesh and blood when it means that everything will be blown apart and I'll lose whatever family I have left? (267)

Maybe the things that scare us seem more powerful than they truly are when we keep them secret. (287)

Until right now, I never considered that maybe Mima couldn't talk about the sad things in her life any more than I could talk about the sad things in mine. (295) ( )

This one was intriguing and I enjoyed reading it, but ultimately found it to be anticlimactic. I enjoyed the characters - Medina did a great job of getting you invested. And setting it during the Summer of Sam was a nice plot point. But ultimately, I was let down with all the build up. ( )

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina is a 2016 Candlewick Press publication.

This book has been on and off my TBR list for a long time. The main reason I waffled on it was the YA label attached to it, but I kept coming back to it because of the era of time the story is set in, and the serial killer theme running in the background.

The story is set in New York in 1977. That summer was insane- boiling hot with blackouts and the infamous 'Son of Sam' serial killer terrorizing the city. It is against this backdrop that seventeen-year-old Nora Lopez navigates her last year of high school, living with a highly dysfunctional family. With her parents now divorced, Nora’s mother, a Cuban immigrant, makes all males into authority figures, even her own son, Hector, who has turned to drug dealing and theft, turning violent towards his own family.

Nora’s father is too busy with his new family to check in and needs to be reminded to send child support.

Meanwhile, Nora spends time with her best friend, begins dating a nice guy, holds down a part-time job and applies to get into college, all while looking out for Hector, and scrounging for her meals, as her mother faces cutbacks at work.

As Hector increasingly spirals out of control, Nora struggles to survive in the gritty, dog eat dog environment of a city in the grips of violence and terror.

While I lived far from New York in 1977, this book reminded me of the news segments I watched which followed the tension of those times. Son of Sam was a truly terrifying killer and had the entire city on edge. But that’s not all that was going on back then and the author did a great job of recreating that atmosphere. I also got a kick out the brand names and music mentioned in the story. Anyone else remember Sassoon jeans?

The story is not really about Son of Sam- for the record. It’s a story of a teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood, who must work to keep herself from falling into a vicious cycle. She must stand up for herself, against those who would rather keep her from succeeding, and fight to make it out of a toxic environment to have a better life for herself. I’m glad I ultimately decided to give the book a chance. While it is a YA novel to the extent that teenage Nora is the main character, it is really a book I feel is just as much, if not more so, for adults. The author still takes pains to keep the book in the right lane without sacrificing the dark and gritty tones.

Overall, this was a good book, with well-drawn characterizations and a positive, inspirational ending.

3.5 rounded up ( )

Very good listen, really enjoyed this recommendation from the librarian at school. ( )

Very good listen, really enjoyed this recommendation from the librarian at school. ( )

RGG: Engaging, honest story about poverty, immigration, divorce, familial abuse, friendship, romance. And the backdrop of the summer of Son of Sam and the NYC blackout doesn't detract--the issues are still current. Reading Interest: YA (small bits about losing / having lost one's virginity).

While violence runs rampant throughout New York, a teenage girl faces danger within her own home in Meg Medina's riveting coming-of-age novel.

Nora Lopez is 17 during the infamous New York summer of 1977, when the city is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam who shoots young women on the streets. Nora's family life isn't going so well either: her bullying brother, Hector, is growing more threatening by the day, her mother is helpless and falling behind on the rent, and her father calls only on holidays. All Nora wants is to turn 17 and be on her own. And while there is a cute new guy who started working with her at the deli, is dating even worth the risk when the killer likes picking off couples who stay out too late? Award-winning author Meg Medina transports us to a time when New York seemed balanced on a knife-edge, with tempers and temperatures running high, to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit - and the hardest to accept. ( )

Summer of 77 in NYC & a Senior girls "best summer ever" is marred by a mix of plagues in NYC - The Son of Sam Killer, heatwaves & black outs, her mom's precarious job situation & her little brother unraveling before her eyes. The book touches on issues around poverty as well as familial violence & battery. The story is pretty well written & gives a pretty accurate feel of NYC at its gritty 1970's self ( )

(From www.pingwings.ca)

I’d heard really good thins about this book, and the cover was so eye-catching. I knew I had to read this one!

I loved the setting – New York City in 1977 – and all of the historical references. And Meg Medina’s writing is so great and descriptive. I could feel the feat and tension from that summer, with the fear caused by the Son of Sam, and the sweltering heat and blackout adding to that sense of tension.

Nora’s relationship with her mother and brother was so tough, and my heart went out to her. She had a lot to handle in her life, and it was sad to see her living in a home where she was afraid and abused by her own brother. That wasn’t something that I can remember reading about before.

I liked the focus on Nora’s friendship with her BFF. I’ve read some really good stories this year featuring female friendships and this was one of them!

Burn Baby Burn was a great read! Recommended – and now I need to track down Meg Medina’s other books! ( )

Always intrigued by a fiction book that integrates a true crime, I was interested in this book from the start, and it did not disappoint. Medina has authored a well-written book that managed to both break my heart (some parts were very difficult to read, but also brought to light a very important issue) and uplift me.

Told through the eyes of a young woman named Nora, readers are brought straight into her difficult world, lightened only by her friends and a young man who enters her life. Also impacting her story is the real-life shootings committed by the Son of Sam, who caused fear among all young women in New York at the time this book is set in. This is a smart, well-written, emotional book that I would recommend. ( )

Set in the summer of 1977, this is a good "historical fiction" (gah, that makes me feel old!) book about a girl coping with family issues amid the backdrop of a steamy and scary New York City. Nora is about to graduate from high school, and while she did fairly well in school, she just wants to move out, get her own place, and start her new life. But her guidance counselor is pushing her to apply to college. Her younger brother Hector is becoming too much for her divorced Cuban-immigrant mom to handle; he is insolent, truant, and violent and Nora thinks he might be dealing drugs. Her remarried dad only pays perfunctory attention to his first family with holiday phone calls and infrequent checks. Nora starts to date cute guy Pablo at the deli where she works, but dating is harder than normal now that "Son of Sam" is randomly killing young couples on the streets of New York. No one wants to be out at night, and tensions are starting to rise in her neighborhood, already full of crime, especially when a series of fires appear to the work of an arsonist. All of this comes to a head on one very hot July night...

I really enjoyed the historical setting, pop culture mentions (Nora goes to see "Carrie" in the theater, for example), and other details that brought Flushing Queens to life. Nora is a realistic teen character, sometimes confident, sometimes not, pulled in many directions and struggling to find her place. Nice cultural details too, such as the use of Spanish in conversations with her mother. I also learned more about the Son of Sam events than I had known before; for some reason I'd thought he was a serial rapist. The book is really just a teen coming-of-age story, though, it's not all about the murders, they just serve as an effectively juicy background detail and do drive some of the plot. ( )

A fast paced read from start to finish, there is a great pay out in the end. ( )

During the summer of 1977 New York City experienced worsening poverty and crime, a massive blackout in all 5 boroughs, a stifling heat wave, and unrelenting fear brought on by the Son of Sam murders. Against this tumultuous background, Medina places the story of seventeen-year-old Nora Lopez.

Her father lives comfortably with his new wife and son in a well-furnished apartment in the City, forgetting about Nora, her mother, and younger brother Hector in their rundown Queens neighborhood where Hector has become a thief and drug addict. Often violent towards his sister and mother, neither wants to admit he’s out of control. On top of everything else her mother lost her job, putting them in danger of eviction. Nora suffers through the lack of food and money, as well as Hector’s abuse and crimes, in silence. Desperate to turn eighteen so she could leave it all behind, she turns a blind eye to everything. However will running away solve her problems or make them worse?

I had a hard time getting through this book, as the plot seemed to drag. I also kept getting annoyed at the poor decisions Nora and her mom continued to make regarding Hector. The book had many historical references to the period. Though some were interesting, it seemed to have too many. In general, “Burn baby burn” failed to ignite a bigger spark of interest in me.

I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it or not.

Book review link: https://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/burn-baby-burn-meg-medina/ ( )

Narrated by Marisol Ramirez. Nora's story is set against the backdrop of the mid-1970s in Queens, New York, a perilous time of city budget cuts, blackouts and the Son of Sam killer on the loose. Nora is a senior in high school with a part-time job at a bodega, has an Irish best friend named Kathleen, and lives with her Cuban single mother and troubled younger brother Hector. Nora is doubtful about pursuing college or deciding where her future lies despite the encouragement of her teachers. She faces greater priorities: managing Hector's angry behavior and dealing with her passive mother. Ramirez is rock solid at portraying Nora and the story's New York vibe; listeners will identify with Nora's predicaments in many ways. ( )

RGG: Engaging, honest story about poverty, immigration, divorce, familial abuse, friendship, romance. And the backdrop of the summer of Son of Sam and the NYC blackout doesn't detract--the issues are still current. Reading Interest: YA (small bits about losing / having lost one's virginity).

RGG: Engaging, honest story about poverty, immigration, divorce, familial abuse, friendship, romance. And the backdrop of the summer of Son of Sam and the NYC blackout doesn't detract--the issues are still current. Reading Interest: YA (small bits about losing / having lost one's virginity).

This book is well written and engaging, although a little dark. It takes us back to the 70s when the Son of Sam serial killer is stalking young couples, buildings are burning, and a massive blackout rocks New York City. We see this time through the eyes of a Cuban-American teenager who is dealing with many issues at home. ( )

I was hoping for something different with this book. I was looking for a lighter glance back at the seventies, but instead this book dealt with a lot of serious subjects. Perhaps I will need to read it again at a different time and I will have a completely different opinion of it. I did find the characters to be realistic and I learned valuable insight into the culture of the character as well as life in the city in the late 1970's. Although I did not enjoy the book, I will recommend it to others who enjoy period fiction. ( )

This book looks at New York City in 1977 through the eyes of teenager Nora as she struggles to finish high school while living with her single, Spanish-speaking mother and abusive younger brother Hector. Her father is absent, living with his new family elsewhere. However, she does have resources and support from her caring staff at school, her boss at the deli, neighbors in her building, her new boyfriend and most importantly, from her childhood best friend and her family. While all of New York deals with impending financial collapse, racial tensions, women’s rights, Son of Sam’s murder spree and the infamous blackout that caused so much destruction, Nora has to navigate not only all of this, but deal with her brother’s criminal behavior while trying to find a future for herself. This is a wonderful look at the stresses of that time while also examining juvenile domestic violence. ( )

BURN BABY BURN by Meg Medina connects the everyday life of a Cuban-American teen with well-known historical events of the seventies.

In the summer of 1977, Nora is a typical teen living in New York City. However, her life is forever changed through a series of events that besiege her city including arson, a blackout, and a serial killer known as Son of Sam on the loose. Like the city, Nora’s brother is about to explode and Nora must survive dangers around every turn.

From domestic violence to societal unrest, Medina brings the late 1977s to life for teen readers. While librarians often find a small audience for historical fiction, the authentic situations and strong, coming-of-age story will appeal to many teen readers. From movie references to disco tunes, both librarians and young adults will enjoy the many references to 70s culture.

Be sure to add this title to your diversity list and your growing collection of history stories set in the 1970s.

To learn more about the author, go to https://megmedina.com/.

Published by Candlewick Press on March 8, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher. ( )

Nora Lopez lives with her brother and mother in a small apartment. Her parents divorced years ago, and support from her father is non-existent. About to graduate high school, she knows she needs to leave home to get away from her violent brother. In the summer of 1977, New York City was in chaos. The serial killer, Son of Sam, was stalking young couples, buildings were being burnt and the murder rate was at an all time high. The city, almost bankrupt, couldn't deal with the issues. The a major blackout brought the chaos in public and in Nora's home life to a crises. ( )

New York is a terrifying place in the summer of 1977 with incidents of arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer known as Son of Sam shooting young women. As if this is not enough, seventeen-year-old Nora Lopez also has to deal with her out of control brother, her mom who may loose her job at any moment, and a landlord who continues to hassle them about the rent. With all this going on, its seems almost too much to have to deal with falling for the hot guy who started working at the grocery store, as well.

The heat and anxiety of living in 1977 New York comes through clearly in Burn Baby Burn. I could practically feel the heat baking through the cement and the growing tension surrounding the ongoing murders created a constant underlying anxiety, which must have been present for so many people at the time.

But for all the dangers out on the streets, the biggest dangers in Burn Baby Burn are the ones that are closest to home. Nora's situation at home is clearly abusive, but it can take a lot of break out of the secrecy and suffering and shame that such a situation creates. Medina does an excellent job balancing the frustrations and fears of being a teenager in a hostile world, while also imbuing the story with a sense of young joy and hope. Nora has a lot to deal with, but all of her problems are real relatable problems and there is little to no angst for angst sake. She's a believable character, one I could easily relate to and sympathize with. Nora's relationships wither her family and friends are well handled, each with their own layers of complexity. ( )