A new verse novel coming in 2024!

I have wonderful news! A verse novel I wrote this time last year has sold to my dear editor, Stacey. This will be our fourth novel together. Here’s the official announcement from Publisher’s Weekly:

Stacey Barney at Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin has acquired Caroline Starr Rose’s middle grade novel in verse, FIRE FINDER. When she turns 13, Opal, who lives in a fire tower in New Mexico’s wilderness, will train as the fourth generation female fire lookout in her family, but she’s keeping a secret—she’s afraid of fire. Alone in the tower, Opal spies smoke after a lightning strike and realizes she must face it on her own. Publication is scheduled for Spring 2024. Tracey Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the deal for World rights.

Drafting this book was an absolute joy. Writing in verse felt like coming home. Speaking of home, I’ve wanted (and tried) to sell a New Mexico book for ages. And look! I’ve finally done it!

When I started this manuscript, I knew I wanted to continue to explore nature and solitude, as I had done in May B. All I knew was it would be a “girl in a tower” book. I wasn’t sure if it would have fairy tale elements (update: it doesn’t), but I wanted that separate from the world feel. I wanted this child to grow up away from society. I just wasn’t sure what would have placed her there and what her purpose might be.

At first, I thought she’d live in a lighthouse. That felt mysterious and enchanting…but I’d seen a handful of books with lighthouse settings. It didn’t seem especially unique. Then I read about fire towers in Sunset Magazine (see the picture above that I tore out and glued in a journal), and I knew this was it. This would be my character’s world.

I cannot tell you how fascinating this research was! I was so fired up (pun totally intended) at my writing retreat in 2020, that one member took to calling me Fire Girl. I devoured Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout (see my review here) that was set in the world’s first designated wilderness area — the Gila — right here in my beloved New Mexico. THIS WAS IT! MY SETTING!

There were once thousands of towers across the US, set up after the Big Blowup in 1910 as an early warning system to alert communities to signs of nearby fire. Now only a few hundred are still in operation, mainly in remote areas in the western United States.

It’s no secret in the last thirty years western wildfires have increased in size and frequency. Climate change has played a part. Building in the urban wilderness interface has heightened fires’ effect on humans. But fire is also a natural part of forest renewal. The topic of fire is fraught and complicated, but as difficult as it is, fire is here to stay. How can we learn to live with it?

I love this book, maybe more than anything I’ve ever written. Stay tuned for more!