Like Forbidden City (Bell’s YA novel about Tiananmen Square), Zack is historical fiction. The main character delves into the past, but is firmly rooted in the present since that delving inspires a modern-day odyssey.

Zack is a half-black, half-Jewish teenager who has just been dragged unwillingly from the big city to live in rural Ontario. While working in his backyard, Zack uncovers an old box that, fortuitously, provides the subject for a history assignment that just might save his grades and give him a shot at university. While researching the contents of the box, Zack learns about Richard Pierpoint. A real historical figure, Pierpoint was a former slave and War of 1812 soldier, and was the pioneer farmer who cleared the land on which Zack’s house now stands and buried the box beneath his cabin more than a century earlier. Zack learns about slavery and begins to wonder about his mother’s side of the family who live in Mississippi and are never discussed by his parents. When his project is finished and his parents go off to Montreal for a few days, Zack takes his father’s truck and drives to the southern United States to discover his roots.

Zack
On the other hand, some of Zack’s decisions, such as keeping his box secret and not identifying himself to his grandfather, while necessary for dramatic tension, do not ring true, and the ending is a little pat. For readers who, like Zack, are in Grade 12, the writing could have been more complex, but the history is good and Zack’s coming to terms with the past should provide enought interest to pull most readers through.