Booklife said about the book, ""Harris’s poignant novel follows April, a fiercely independent teenager growing up in 1960s Texas Hill Country. In a household shaped by instability, April finds steadiness in her copper mare and in her friendship with Ronnie, the lone Black student at Llano High. Later, April encounters Clay, a young ornithologist, who sagely observes, “what makes nature so efficient and, well, bountiful–I can’t think of a better word–is all the incredible variety.” As she navigates adolescence amid the sociocultural tensions of the ‘60s, April’s vivid experiences expose her to questions of race, responsibility, and belonging.

April’s emotional anchor rests with Ronnie, who moves “like a shadow from one class to the next, keeping her head bowed and never looking anyone in the eyes.” Harris uses this quiet presence to illuminate the racial climate of early ‘60s Texas. April’s gradual understanding of segregation and privilege unfolds without sentimentality or easy moral triumph, and the friendship between the two girls becomes the book’s clearest argument about the courage required to see past inherited assumptions. April observes that her mother's racist attitudes were from “fear of getting close to something that she had been told could cause her harm.”

Harris’s depiction of the landscape is striking, with “prickly pear cacti, usually so aggressively forbidding,” appearing almost “sweetly chastened” after rain. Clay’s entrance adds a different dimension...his influence on April is subtle yet significant in shaping her evolution from naively inquisitive to a young woman blossoming with confidence. April eventually realizes that boldness paves the way for justice—and becoming your own hero is the most powerful transformation of all."

Comparable Titles: Jessica Anya Blau’s Mary Jane, Lynda Rutledge’s Mockingbird Summer.