Blood in the Water
by Tiffany D. Jackson
Intermediate, Middle School    Scholastic    272 pp.
7/25    9781338849912    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781338849936    $18.99

Twelve-year-old Kaylani can’t understand why her incarcerated father wants her to go to Martha’s Vineyard with family friends so badly. She’d planned to spend her summer at home in Brooklyn studying up on law so she can help get him out of prison; she knows her dad is innocent of his fraud and embezzlement charges. Though her hosts’ granddaughter London is too snooty to attempt a relationship with her, Kaylani enjoys interacting with some of the kinder people on the island. Then, shockingly, a teen is found dead. The community is stunned to discover that authorities are looking into the death as a murder case, and Kaylani decides to put her investigative and legal skills to use. What she discovers could change the dynamic between her and London, expose hidden history of the island, and change her own future—if she can survive the summer. Kaylani is a protagonist with whom readers will sympathize—intelligent and determined without being two-dimensional. The history of African Americans on Martha’s Vineyard is worked naturally into the story, as are issues of incarceration and classism. This debut middle-grade novel from acclaimed young adult author Jackson (The Weight of Blood, rev. 9/22) is immediately accessible to preteens but maintains the intensity for which Jackson is known.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.