This YA horror book is a retelling of Carrie. In The Weight of Blood, Maddy (Madison) Washington lives with a strict father, who forces her to keep a secret – that she is biracial. He forces her to claim that she is white. One day, an incident causes her classmates, who already bully her, to find out her secret. This sets off a chain of events that eventually causes a dangerous, disastrous, and bloody prom. I loved the extra elements that Tiffany D. Jackson added to this book! I love the original Carrie, but the inclusion of a focus on racism brought out a whole new side to the story. The characters also felt much more fleshed out than in the original book by Stephen King and the movie. This even includes one of the main antagonists Jules (Chris in Carrie). And of course, Maddy has telekinetic powers like Carries does! This is very obviously a retelling, but it also has other characteristics of its own. When everything happens at prom, it very much diverges from the original. There are a few more survivors, and a different event sets Maddy off. The book also has a slight mixed media format; it includes a podcast and excerpts from a book about “the legend of Maddy Washington.” I highly recommend this to readers of YA horror, because it was excellent. And read the rest of Tiffany D. Jackson’s books, too!
Darcy Lepore, Library Director