The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Reviewed by: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson Quinita Balderson Jackson, Tiffany D. The Weight of Blood. Tegen/HarperCollins 2022 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063029149 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063029163 $12.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 8-12 It’s 2014, yet residents of former sundown town Springville, Georgia, continue to cling to a number of racist traditions, including segregated proms. Light-skinned and with straightened hair, high schooler Maddie Washington has been passing as white at the (often violent) demand of her abusive white father, but when she’s caught in the rain, her voluminous hair reveals her long-held secret: she’s Black. Her life becomes a living hell after that, as she is tormented by the overprivileged, racist, she-devil incarnate Jules at school and her sadistic father at home, but Maddie’s pain leads her to the shocking discovery that she is telekinetic. Meanwhile, Wendy, Jules’ tender-hearted but clueless friend decides to plan the town’s first integrated [End Page 88] prom. Tensions rise among residents and classmates unhappy with Wendy’s efforts just as Maddie begins to understand her powers, a combustible situation that comes to a head on prom night. Jackson kills it with this nod to Stephen King’s Carrie, drawing clever and clear connections from our nation’s tragic history (and present) to the horror genre. Third-person chronological relation of events are inter-spliced with newspaper clippings and interviews about prom night and Maddie’s past, creating a haunting uncertainty while lambasting a media that is more willing to exploit moments of racial conflict than interrogate them. Layers of intentional complications speak to racial identity, passing, colorism, and the consequences of misinformation, and this novel is a spirited urge to critically examine traditions and do, as we know we should, better.