Description

By (author) Cooper Abby

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Turning Red meets The Giver in this novel about a town where everyone agrees to think positively—but one girl, whose emotions manifest as colors, can’t hide her true feelings.

In Serenity, Minnesota, everyone looks on the bright side, and that’s on purpose: to live in this town, people have to agree to talk positively and only focus on the good things in life. For twelve-year-old Mackenzie Werner, who has the rare gift of her emotions showing up as a colorful haze around her body, this town seems like the perfect place; she’ll never face the embarrassment of a grumbly grapefruit smog if everyone and everything is set up to be happy. But when a documentary maker comes to town and starts asking questions, Mackenzie, overwhelmed with emotion, can’t hold her haze back—and it explodes onto the whole town. Now everyone has their own haze, revealing their real feelings. As Mackenzie learns that emotions go beyond surface level, the whole town must reckon with what it means now that these true colors are on display.

Review quote:

2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List

“Grounding a plot reminiscent of The Giver against a contemporary backdrop, Cooper depicts Mackenzie’s bright emotions and desire to conform via a first-person POV that resounds as vibrantly as the protagonist’s rainbow glow. Insights from the documentary footage and Serenity paraphernalia add nuanced layers to this tale about idealism gone awry.” —
Publishers Weekly

“[A]n intriguing exploration of the effects of conformity and suppressing emotions…The writing is well paced and engaging, and the book ends with helpful grounding techniques as well as resources for helping adults and tweens cope with overwhelming emotions…An absorbing treatise on living fully and truthfully.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Biographical note:

Abby Cooper is the author of three middle-grade novels: Friend or Fiction, Sticks & Stones, and Bubbles, all of which incorporate a speculative element into a contemporary setting. A former school librarian and educator, Abby lives in Minnesota with her husband and son. Visit abbycooperauthor.com.

Excerpt:
IF IWERE A DESSERT, I’D BE A FUNFETTI CAKE.

Somepeople, like my best friend Tabitha, think vanilla isboring. Too basic, too plain, too why would you ever in a million years want vanilla whenthere are so many other more exciting flavors?

Not that she’s calling me boring, basic, or plain. Tab knowsbetter than anyone that I am anything but.
For the record, I think vanilla is melt- in- your- mouth delicious. Anyway, Funfetti isn’t just vanilla. Whatreally makes it special is the way it’s not only covered in rainbow sprinkles on top, but also has them baked right into the batter. It’s bright. It’s bold. It’s a forkful of fun. A slab of satisfaction. A hunk of heck yes.
Basically, it’s happiness on a plate.

And that’s me. Not especially vanilla or rainbow- y (at least, not right now), not even super fun all the time. Just happy. Always. Nomatter what. Even when I get a stomachache from eating too much Funfetti. Though I’d rather not have one ofthose.

I push my plate of cake away and lean back in my tall stool. “Okay, Ireally need to be done now.”

“Tell it to your dad!” Tabitha’s long blonde waves dance as she laughs. My best friend used to remind me of a dandelion (in a good way, not a you- remind- me- of- a- weed way), but now,after a major summer growth spurt, she’s blossomed into the brightest sunflower. “He’s the one who keeps bringing out more.”

She’s right. The number of plates in front of us makes it look like tenpeople are eating at the frontcounter, not four.

“Whoa, let’s not make any rash decisionshere,” our friend Asha