The Hate U Give

A powerful young adult book that has never been more relevant. Starr Carter too black for her white school and too white for her black neighborhood. She's constantly in the middle, afraid to let be too this or too that in front of certain people. That all begins to change one day when she and her friend are leaving a party and get pulled over. What happens next will haunt Starr forever, the white cop shoots her friend dead AND GETS AWAY WITH IT. Obviously this kind of injustice is in the media a lot which makes this book more timely then ever. Words can't describe how much I love this book and it's empowering message. Starr starts to find her voice not only to the media, but to her friends, family, white boyfriend, and classmates. This should be required reading. It's timely, impossible to put down (I read the book from cover to cover yesterday morning), and gives the disenfranchised youth a voice. Beautiful, haunting, and riveting.

Concrete Rose

I wasn't sure how well I would like a prequel to The Hate U Give - but I was dead wrong. Concrete Rose is the back story for Maverick, Starr Carters father, and boy he had a complicated life as a teenager. He found out that a girl he hooked up with ONE TIME while he and his girlfriend were on the outs has had a baby and the baby is his. Worse than that - she just dropped the baby off and ran - so Maverick has to figure out the whole fatherhood thing really quick. How can he support a baby and focus on school without running drugs? He doesn't want to do it - but he thinks he needs to man up and be more like his father (who is in prison) to use the gang to make his life better. Thankfully he's got a girlfriend with a good head on her shoulders and her eyes set towards the future - only she might not be in the picture long when she finds out that Maverick has a baby with another woman. Teen street fiction at it's finest. Lots of issues: drugs, unsafe sex, teenage pregnancy, gang affiliations, male emotions, sexuality, and more. Angie Thompson is on top of the game. 

The Hate U Give

A powerful young adult book that has never been more relevant. Starr Carter too black for her white school and too white for her black neighborhood. She's constantly in the middle, afraid to let be too this or too that in front of certain people. That all begins to change one day when she and her friend are leaving a party and get pulled over. What happens next will haunt Starr forever, the white cop shoots her friend dead AND GETS AWAY WITH IT. Obviously this kind of injustice is in the media a lot which makes this book more timely then ever. Words can't describe how much I love this book and it's empowering message. Starr starts to find her voice not only to the media, but to her friends, family, white boyfriend, and classmates. This should be required reading. It's timely, impossible to put down (I read the book from cover to cover yesterday morning), and gives the disenfranchised youth a voice. Beautiful, haunting, and riveting.