ARC, 208 pages
Release Date: October 17, 2017Published by: Crown Books for Young Readers
Read from: October 15, 2017Stand-aloneSource: TxLAFor fans of: Contemporary, Family, Diversity, Own Voices, Realistic Fiction, Tear-Jerker, YA
Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.
Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.
Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.
Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I started and deleted my review for this no less than SIX TIMES. I just have no idea what to say about it besides the fact that I was blown away. I had so many expectations and they were all met with the unflinchingly real truth.
Justyce is a model student person who is helping out his girlfriend when things go bad. It shakes him and opens his eyes to a world he tried to look the other way against. He begins writing to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an experiment, to see how he might have handled the situations that they face today. Things that Jus never expected to happen KEEP happening and he has no idea what to do and what is the right way to react.
Someone point me in the direction of where to go to request that this is required reading in schools,because it’s definitely something that needs to be read by everyone. The emotions are real, the reactions (by all parties) are real, but most of all, the characters felt real. So many of the things that went through Jus’ head went through mine once upon a time. So many of the things that happened to him actually happened to me as well. THIS is why Own Voices are important. No, I’m not a black teen boy, but many of the things that he faced, I did too. These stories deserve to be told so that teens like Justyce can see that there are others like them.
I know I loved this book by the way it made me feel. I found myself so into it that I didn’t’ even notice that my husband had sat next to me and was talking to me. I also found myself talking out loud to Jus like he could hear me. I knew it was about as useful as yelling at a horror movie, but that just made me realize how into this book I was. I sat down and shut out the world and read this in a single afternoon. I ended up having cereal for dinner because of it, but I don’t regret it at all.
Nic Stone has so much talent for a debut author. I didn’t want to put this book down. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I wanted to know what happened to Jus or if Stone’s words just hooked me, but whatever it was, I couldn’t put it down until I was finished.
I’m so thankful to Stone for writing this book. I’m happy that teens will get to read this book and love it just like I did. From her obsessive writing style to her realness in writing, I can’t wait to see what else it is that Stone brings to the world!
Overall, I give this
I can easily see this being required reading! I'm hoping to finish this on the plane tonight. <3