Sixteen year old Starr Carter has to navigate two different worlds that couldn’t be further apart: Garden Heights, the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she and her family live, and Williamson, the pricey, mostly white prep school she attends. She is pulled in one direction by her loving but strict family and culture, and the opposite direction by her wealthy school friends and white boyfriend Chris. “…I never know which Starr I should be. I can use some slang, but not too much slang, some attitude, but not too much attitude, so I’m not a ‘sassy black girl.’ I have to watch what I say and how I say it, but I can’t sound ‘white.’ Shit is exhausting.” Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air character and Tupac Shakur‘s music are her touchstones as she tries to make peace between her two selves, but she often feels totally overwhelmed with the burden of keeping them separate. When her unarmed childhood friend is Khalil is gunned down right in front of her by a white police officer, Starr’s worlds collide in the worst possible way. Suddenly she is in the spotlight, fighting to defend Khalil’s memory and reputation at home and in front of a grand jury, while feeling angry and exposed at school when her clueless classmates stereotype Khalil as a “a drug dealer and a gangbanger” who “was probably gonna end up dead anyway.” The simmering conflict spirals out of control when the police institute a curfew, tanks roll past Starr’s front door, and Garden Heights becomes a battle zone. Tired of trying to unite her double life, Starr finds her true north when she confronts the police who are trying to block her and her friends from protesting with the strongest weapon of all: her voice. “Everybody wants to talk about how Khalil died…But this isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived. His life mattered. Khalil lived! You hear me? Khalil lived!” Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas‘s debut novel is a searingly honest, painfully real examination of racism, police violence, code switching, and the importance of love and family in the face of crisis. Some readers will come away with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what it means to grow up African American in this divided country, while others will find comfort and validation in seeing themselves on the page and being authentically seen. A vital read for all that is coming to a library or bookstore near you February 2017.
Wow finally a YA book that covers more social and psychological issues instead of only quick romances. Good topics for a debut Angie! This definitely sounds like this year’s must-read. Thanks for the intro!