[1] Its narrative follows the epistolary style of Carrie, while also adding sections of third-person omniscient action sequences in between transcripts of news articles and podcasts about the events of the novel from the future.
[2] Jackson has said that she wanted to honor King's work while at the same time subverting the message it puts first to provoke thought and discussion amongst her readers.
[3] In the present day, a podcast series is released detailing the events of a massive fire at a prom in the small town of Springville, Georgia.
During history class, Maddy's classmates, including Jules and her best friend Wendy Quinn, mock and throw pencils at her, which results in her triggering a then-unknown telekinetic event that causes her to raise the chairs and tables off the ground and destroy the windows of the classroom.
Wendy worries about the video ruining her reputation and suggests having an integrated prom to make it look like the school isn't racist.
Days later, Jules arrives at a senior week rally in blackface pretending to be Maddy, earning the anger of Wendy's Black boyfriend, football star Kendrick "Kenny" Scott.
She also finds a journal that belonged to her mother and learns she may not have died in childbirth as she had always believed and that Maddy shouldn't listen to her father's advice or else she might lose control of her dangerous powers.
Jules, wanting revenge on Maddy, has one of her friends rig the prom queen and king election while she and her boyfriend Brady break into her father's store and steal cans of paint.
Maddy and Kenny are crowned king and queen but when they get onstage, Jules drenches her with white paint before she and Brady leave, running past the protesters.
Madison "Maddy" Washington: A shy, telekinetic biracial girl who has been forced to pass as white by her father for the majority of her life.