The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose
Twelve-year-old Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation fire lookout on Wolf Mountain in the New Mexico wilderness, where she lives with her mother and grandmother in a single room atop a fire tower at ten thousand feet. Their responsibility: spotting the faintest hint of smoke before it grows into a dangerous blaze.
But Opal has a secret, she is deeply afraid of fire. Instead of training for the solitary life of a lookout, she dreams of starting seventh grade in Silver City alongside kids her own age. When her mother travels to town for supplies and her grandmother goes missing, Opal is the only one to spot a thin spiral of smoke rising from the mountainside. To protect her home, she must confront the flames that once took her father’s life and challenge the fears she has carried for years.
