What the fireflies knew : a novel
(Book)

"A coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of an eleven-year-old over the course of a single summer, as she tries to make sense of her new life with her estranged grandfather and sister after the death of her father and disappearance of her mother"--,Provided by publisher.

After their father dies of an overdose and the debts incurred from his addiction cause the loss of the family home in Detroit, Kenyatta Bernice (KB) and her sister, Nia, are sent by their overwhelmed mother to live with their estranged grandfather in Lansing. Over the course of the summer, KB attempts to get her bearings in a world that has turned upside down. Pinballing between resentment, abandonment, and loneliness, she is forced to carve out a different identity for herself and find her own voice. While some truths cut deep, a new life--and a new KB-- can be built from the shards. -- adapted from jacket