The Leaving Room
by Amber McBride
Middle School, High School    Feiwel    224 pp.
10/25    9781250908087    $19.99

Gospel, this verse novel’s protagonist, is a Keeper in the Leaving Room, a space between life and death where she guides recently deceased children through their final transition. Each Leaver transforms her room with small changes: a memory, a crack in the wall, a door. One day, Gospel’s room merges with Melodee’s, another Keeper whose immediate connection with Gospel fundamentally alters both girls’ understanding of their existence. While Gospel clings to her role, Melodee questions what lies beyond their predetermined purpose, and as their rooms blend together, so do the girls. A revelation about Gospel’s charges also uncovers a traumatic experience she is processing and a choice she must make. McBride skillfully employs verse that feels both accessible and challenging, capturing Gospel’s emotional transformation with haunting precision. Through richly imagined settings and imagery evoking Black Southern gothic elements (e.g., Black people in nature, bodies of water, beautiful music), she crafts a speculative narrative that vibrates with trauma and hope. The lyrical verse captures tender moments of grief while celebrating Black joy, queer love, and the transformative power of human connection. Readers journey alongside Gospel in this moving exploration of what it means to fully exist and what it takes to choose a life.

From the November/December 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.