What the Fireflies Knew: A Novel by Kai Harris
In her acknowledgments, Kai Harris states that when she “was a little Black girl growing up in Detroit,” she had a ton of questions all the time and wondered why her life didn’t look like the lives of the people in the stories she read. “For a long time, I thought something was wrong with my life. Now I know that there was something wrong with those stories.” Thank goodness she decided to author her own story, What the Fireflies Knew, published by Tiny Reparations Books. From the cover, through the narrative and including the acknowledgements, it possesses the beauty, the soul, and the heart that we need during these often-discouraging times.
The narrator of the story is a pre-teen named Kenyatta Bernice, KB for short. She is Black, lives in Detroit and is in the process of transitioning from living with her mother, father, and older sister Nia, to living in Lansing Michigan with Nia and her grandfather during the summer of 1995. Kai Harris absolutely nails the voice of KB, making her an authentic and lovable character in which any reader will be totally invested. As young as KB is, she is the one driving the plot, trying to figure out the mysteries within her family and how to navigate her changing world. The story, as she tells it, is present tense and very immediate. Universal truths affecting KB are deftly handled by the author and will ring true for all readers. Two touched me personally: the fact that families can magnify trauma by not talking about its causes and the tendency to ignore the impact of the death of a sibling, which can be every bit as disturbing for a child as losing a parent.
At the beginning of the story, KB relies on the book Anne of Green Gables to help her understand her complex life. I don’t remember reading realistic fiction when I was growing up. My favorites, among them Charlotte’s Web, The Borrowers, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, introduced me to fantasy worlds both unique and magical. Looking back, I now realize that for KB, Anne of Green Gables is as much a fantasy as Charlotte’s Web was for me. It may help her understand the world around her, but it does not fulfill the need for KB to accept herself just as she is and recognize her exceptional gifts. I love the fact that Kai Harris addresses the need for more stories like hers, stories that “show Black girlhood at its best, at its worse, at its most dull and most exciting.”
What the Fireflies Knew represents the best of realistic fiction: mirroring life as some people experience it. At its core, it is about individuals and their joys, relationships, and challenges. All characters are portrayed with sensitivity and grace as in this quote from the narrative where KB describes the change in her feelings toward her grandfather.
I feel the gentle tug of the breeze around my arms and find myself back in the field. “Thank you,” I whisper into the wind. I pretend the words are smoke, watch as they spiral up past the stars to catch a kiss from Daddy, then back to Granddaddy — again rocking and humming in his chair — to graze the soft place on his cheek, just above the chin. I hope, when it lands there, he knows it’s from me. I think back to my Anne book; how I figured Granddaddy was gon’ be like Marilla Cuthbert, who acted like she hated Anne when they first met. But eventually, Marilla loved Anne just as much as Matthew did. Maybe even more. Granddaddy rocks and hums, rocks and hums. Maybe one day he’ll come around, I wish, just like Marilla. [pp. 48, 49]
Thank you to Kai Harris, Phoebe Robinson and Tiny Reparations, and Goodreads Giveaways for gifting me with this lovely and touching novel.
