Read this when
The Hate U Give
For when you're tired of shrinking yourself to be believed. Starr found her voice. You can too. ✊🏾
Who it's for
Starr's first-person account puts the reader beside a teen who witnessed violence and must live with it while everyone else argues about it, validating the specific stress of being disbelieved.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Angie Thomas's 2017 debut young adult novel (Balzer + Bray) follows Starr Carter, a 16-year-old Black girl who lives in Garden Heights, a poor neighbourhood, and attends Williamson Prep, a mostly white private school in a wealthy area. When she sees a white police officer fatally shoot her childhood friend Khalil during a traffic stop, the shooting becomes national news.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla, where held) and as an audiobook. Not public domain. Adapted as a 2018 film.
Before you start
Heads up: Police shooting of a teen; domestic abuse.
Age: Ages 14+
You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Chapter X
