The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Jackson, Tiffany D. The Weight of Blood. Harper Collins, 2022.

The Weight of Blood is Tiffany D. Jackson’s young adult horror novel set in 2014 in a small town and centers around protagonist, Maddy Washington. Maddy is different from the rest of the kids, as no one sees her until she is 12 years old because her father hides her away. At 12 years old, she enters the school system, but kids see her as different because she dresses in an old-fashioned manner having only been allowed to watch vintage television shows. Maddy is optimistic and excited about school, but her classmates make her life miserable and constantly set her up for rejection.

Maddy’s father does not want anyone to know that Maddy’s mother is Black. He makes Maddy put on many layers of sunscreen, and he straightens her hair every day. One day her class is required to run in the rain, and as her hair gets wet, it poofs up. This draws attention from bullies in her class, primarily Jules Marshall, who realize that she is really Black. Jules taunts Maddy and throws a pencil in her hair. Nobody knows that this is recorded. A few days later, Jules comes to their school’s Halloween in May show dressed in blackface pretending to be Maddy. A girl named Kali sends this to the media, and Jules becomes notorious, and she also has her acceptance to Texas A&M revoked. She was supposed to be on their cheer team next year.

The town of Springville where the novel is set still has segregated proms at their high school. This is legal because the school does not throw the prom itself. A girl named Wendy Quinn wants to rehabilitate the reputation of her school, so she suggests that they combine proms into what is called an All Together Prom. The seniors vote, and they decide on the All Together Prom. One boy’s father decides to pay for another prom at the country club for any white students who want to attend.

People accuse Wendy of only starting the All Together Prom because she wants to go to the prom with her Black boyfriend, football star Kendrick (Kenny) Scott. Kendrick is supposed to play on the football team at the University of Alabama the following year. Wendy gets a full ride to Brown, but even though her family has no money, she secretly decides to go to Alabama with Kenny so they can stay together. He does not know this, but she looks to him to give her her own rich family. She asks Kenny to invite Maddy to the prom so she will look selfless. He reluctantly agrees.

At first Maddy suspects that the kids are just playing a trick on her, but eventually she believes Kenny and agrees to go to the prom. She and Kenny get to know each other, and they develop feelings for each other. As all of this happens, Maddy begins to realize that she has the power to control fire and to move things. This makes her feel powerful. Maddy tells her father that she wants to go to prom with Kenny, but he beats her and is adamant that she does not go. For the first time, she demonstrates her power to her dad, and she refuses to be locked in her prayer closet. She decides she will go to prom, and when she goes to shop for a dress, she runs into Kali who helps her find one.

Prom night comes, but no one knows that Jules will rig the prom queen and king election, and that she and Brady have rigged paint cans to fall on top of Kenny and Maddy when they are crowned. Maddy’s father begs her not to go to prom, but she leaves anyway. Kenny tells her that he will protect her, and they have a good time at prom. There is, however, a small and peaceful protest outside of the country club where the white prom is held because Black kids are not allowed in. Maddy and Kenny are crowned king and queen, and two gallons of white paint fall on Maddy. Kenny takes Maddy away and tries to get into the country club to confront the perpetrators, but a police officer will not let him pass the protestors. A girl trips into Kenny causing him to trip into a police officer, and the officer beats Kenny.

Maddy believes that Kenny is dead, and she causes mass chaos and hundreds of fatalities. This happens through fires and the rising and dropping police cars on people. Other students are injured in fires, and Maddy sets the whole downtown on fire. She returns home and does not really know what has happened. Her father tries to shoot her, knowing all along that she had this within her, but when she stops the second bullet he shoots, he turns the gun on himself and kills himself. Kenny is not dead, and he encourages Wendy to go help Maddy. Wendy helps Maddy escape to her mother’s house once they find out where she lives, and Jackson hints that Kenny escaped with Maddy making everyone think he is dead. Wendy has to change her name and leave the country because she is blamed for most of the violence because the All Together Prom was her idea, and people think she was involved in the bullying on Maddy.