• Published: February 28, 2017 by Balzer + Bray
• Page Count: 444
• Format: Standalone
• Genre: Young Adult, Race, Social Issues, Family
• My Rating: ★★★★★
• Link to Buy

[Tupac] said Thug Life stood for ‘The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody’… Meaning what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out. Get it?

This phrase becomes sixteen-year-old Starr Carter’s mantra after witnessing the fatal police shooting of her unarmed childhood best friend, Khalil Harris. In addition to processing the loss of Khalil, Starr works to balance home life in a gang-filled neighborhood and school life in a predominantly white area. Starr struggles to share all of herself with her white boyfriend, Chris, and discovers that her longtime best friend may be ignorant of her own racism. These individual conflicts are uniquely affected by the trauma Starr endures with the aftermath of Khalil’s murder and create a figurative minefield Starr navigates to keep everyone in her life happy.

When the media paints Khalil as a simple drug dealing gang member to justify his murder, Starr must decide whether to stay silent and safe or to stand up and use her voice to share the truth. Speaking out will mean further judgement and alienation from her white friends, as well as possible retaliation from the neighborhood gangs for snitching. Despite this, Starr is not sure she can remain quiet while the media and those around her say Khalil got what he deserved and make officer one-fifteen out as the victim.

With The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas begins her published career with a bang. Thomas draws from personal experience, having grown up in Jackson, Mississippi, home to many historical civil rights conflicts. At age six, Thomas witnessed a shootout. The next day, her mother brought her to the library to show that there was more to the world than what she had seen, inspiring Angie’s passion for writing. Because of this Thomas writes with authority and authenticity, giving Starr the charming yet believable voice of a girl who loves The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Harry Potter, and her Jordans. The reader mourns, laughs, and finds their voice alongside Starr.

While marketed as young adult fiction, The Hate U Give shares a timely lesson to be learned by all. Stories just like that of Starr and Khalil are in the news so often that this novel becomes almost real, allowing those who have not experienced Starr’s pain to empathize.

It would be easy to quit if it was just about me, Khalil, that night, and that cop. It’s about way more than that though. It’s about Seven. Sekani. Kenya. DeVante. It’s also about Oscar. Aiyana. Trayvon. Rekia. Michael. Eric. Tamir. John. Ezell. Sandra. Freddie. Alton. Philando. It’s even about that little boy in 1955 who nobody recognized at first— Emmett. The messed-up part? There are so many more.

In this novel, Angie Thomas presents us with the ugly truth of racism today, and we must then decide what we will do about it: remain complicit in the spread of hatred or speak up.

Keep reading!

Elizabeth