The Burning Season (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780593617953)

In this riveting coming-of-age survival story in verse, a fire lookout-in-training must find her courage when a wildfire breaks out on her watch. Now in paperback.

Twelve-year-old Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation lookout on Wolf Mountain, deep in the New Mexico wilderness. She, Mom, and Gran live at ten thousand feet in a single room at the top of a fire tower. They are responsible for spotting any hint of smoke before it becomes an uncontrollable blaze. But Opal has a secret: she's deathly afraid of fire.

Instead of training for the lonely life of a lookout, Opal wishes she could be starting seventh grade in Silver City, attending classes with kids her own age. But Wolf Mountain has other ideas.

When Mom makes the long trek to town for supplies and Gran goes missing, Opal is the only one to spot a tell-tale spiral of smoke moving up the mountainside. She'll have to be braver than she's ever been as she heads into the woods, beyond Wolf Ridge's old blackened burn scar, to face down a fire on her own. But a fire is what took her father away, and Opal has already felt the sting of smoke and lick of flames. How can she be brave enough to do this on her own?

Author: Caroline Starr Rose
ISBN-10: 0593617959
ISBN-13: 9780593617953
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Language: English
Published: 03/10/2026
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.25lbs

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 3.9
Point Value: 3
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 555467 / Burning Season


Review Citation(s):
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2025 pg. 73