Title: The Hate U Give

Author: Angie Thomas

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 444

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Review:

Wow. This book is amazing. I was completely captivated by the story and the characters the entire book, and I didn’t want to put it down!

Starr is a young girl who witnesses the death of her best friend at the hands of a police officer; a person you’re supposed to feel safe around, but unfortunately for Starr, she is taught from a young age to be careful around police. This event traumatized Starr and she has to learn to how to find her voice when she is so scared to speak up against the injustice faced.

This book deals with so many important issues: most importantly, racial issues and how people perceive them. Perspective was one of the important things I took out of this book: it shows the reader such an interesting perspective and digs deep into the issue of why people focused on her friend being a drug dealer, and not on his actual death. You get to see into the mind of a young girl who feels like she has to be two different people because she lives and goes to school in two different worlds. Starr develops so much as a character as we see how she maneuvers her way through these two different worlds, and she learns a lot about herself through the process!

I loved this book so much and I think it is such an important read. Everyone should read this book!!

Happy reading!