–
EXCERPT from pages 102-103, Shaken.
He was her petrichor.
And it smelled, to her,
like the rarest of all things:
freedom.
She’d ask where they were going and he’d look at her as if it was the most preposterous question on earth. “That would ruin the surprise,” he’d say. This was an entirely new way of thinking for Kristy, whose life up to that point had been measured out in teaspoons. She had learned a word recently, petrichor. It described the smell that came with the first rain after a period of dry weather. Or, more simply, petrichor was the smell of rain. But not really. It was more complicated than that. One sleepless night Kristy went down the rabbit hole on her phone, hunting down the science. How do we smell rain? she wondered. She learned there was a bacteria in the earth called geosmin that gets released into the air when it rains—and for some reason humans are really, really good at smelling this particular odor. People smell it and smile and don’t even know why they are smiling. That’s how Kristy thought about Jimbo. He was her petrichor. And it smelled, to her, like the rarest of all things: freedom.
It was the fragrance of a window opening. Of a path untrampled.
Of climbing out into the dark unknown.
SHAKEN was listed by Bank Street Center of Children’s Literature as one of the “Best Children’s Books for 2025.” Ages 10-up.
