Parents' Guide to

White Smoke

By Barbara Saunders, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Teen uncovers town secrets in edgy horror story.

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A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

Psychological thriller with a good message

White Smoke is a psychological thriller that explores uses the thriller/horror style to explore teen relationships with parents, drug use (marijuana), and city government corruption. Representation: Black, mixed-race family, addiction, OCD

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

This fun book is full of twists, turns, and surprises. In White Smoke, Tiffany D. Jackson (Monday's Not Coming, Grown, The Awakening of Malcolm X) invokes classic horror of the past, including the Twilight Zone (in her introduction, she credits "The Monsters Are Out on Maple Street" as "the iron spine" of the book) and even Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte. The main character has some elements of Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye; she's troubled and not likable until the end. As she does in her other books, the author builds sympathy for the main character by putting her in grave danger.

Book Details

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