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Summary
Summary
" Powerful, wrenching." -JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down
"Raw and gripping." -JASON REYNOLDS, New York Times bestselling coauthor of All American Boys
"A must-read " -ANGIE THOMAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give
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 New York Times bestselling debut, a William C. Morris Award Finalist.
Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. 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.
"Vivid and powerful." -Booklist, Starred Review
"A visceral portrait of a young man reckoning with the ugly, persistent violence of social injustice." - Publishers Weekly
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Actor Graham delivers a resonant performance of Stone's debut YA novel, which explores the experiences of a black student in a predominantly white high school. Like other teens, Justyce is trying to understand who he is in an age of social media and social inequality. As one of a few African-Americans in an elite high school, he is already familiar with issues of race that permeate education, but an unprovoked run-in with the cops brings home just how different Justyce's experiences are from those of his friends. Stone skillfully weaves recent events and statistics of the violence inflicted upon black men and boys by the police in the novel, which Graham underscores with subtle hints of emotion, emphasizing how teenage people of color must navigate a fundamentally different set of rules than white teenagers. But the highlight of the audiobook is the in the way Graham captures Justyce's frustration and pain in a series of letters that he wrote to his historical role model, Martin Luther King Jr. Together, Stone and Graham deliver an intimate and raw audiobook that will linger in listeners' minds. Ages 14-up. A Crown hardcover. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
I know your kind: punks like you wander the streets of nice neighborhoods searching for prey. Just couldnt resist the pretty white girl whod locked her keys in her car, could ya? So seventeen-year-old Justyce McAllister, who is black, hears after being shoved to the ground by a police officer (CASTILLO [the officers nameplate] reads, though the guy looks like a regular white dude). Thing is, the girl is mixed-race and is Justyces sometime-girlfriend (and drunk), and he was helping her get home. The opening scene is one of several that illustrate Justyces feeling that no matter what I do, the only thing white people will ever see me as is a nig--an n-word. Ranked fourth in his class at exclusive Braselton Preparatory Academy, hes been accepted to Yale, but his classmates assume its only because of affirmative action. In his own neighborhood, people criticize him for being a race-traitor whos gotta stay connected to the white man for the ride to the top. To sort his life out, Justyce begins writing Dear Martin letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Alternating with the main narrative, the letters are an effective device. What would Dr. King think about recent events surrounding Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and the many others who have died and become headlines, the real-life people who inspired this novel? Stone veers away from easy resolutions while allowing hope to reside in unexpected places. dean Schneider (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Perhaps a bright young man who is fourth in his graduating class, captain of the debate team, and on his way to an Ivy League school shouldn't have too many worries. But Justyce McAllister's grades have no influence on the police officer who handcuffs him while he's trying to help his inebriated ex-girlfriend. The African American teen is shocked and angered when the officer is cleared of all charges, and so he turns to the written work of Martin Luther King Jr. for direction, inspiration, and therapy. He presents a simple question to the late civil rights leader: What would you do, Martin? After Justyce witnesses the fatal shooting of his best friend by an off-duty officer, and his name is negatively spread through the media, he begins to withdraw from friends and family, only finding solace in his teacher, new girlfriend, and his continued ruminative letter writing to Dr. King. Stone's debut confronts the reality of police brutality, misconduct, and fatal shootings in the U.S., using an authentic voice to accurately portray the struggle of self-exploration teens like Justyce experience every day. Teens, librarians, and teachers alike will find this book a godsend in assisting discussions about dealing with police, as well as the philosophical underpinnings of King's work. Vivid and powerful.--Boyd, K.C. Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
We've heard all the sayings: Family comes first. Family is forever. You can't choose your family! But the reality isn't always so simple. Benway's unforgettable novel explores the paradoxes and entanglements of unconventional families through the story of three biological half-siblings who don't meet until their teens. When 16-year-old Grace - A.P. chem student, cross-country runner and allaround good girl - gets pregnant and gives up her infant for adoption, it leaves her both emotionally shattered and motivated to find her own biological family, whom she knows nothing about. Enter Maya and Joachim, who have been growing up in neighboring towns but in very different circumstances. Fifteen-year-old Maya was also adopted as a baby, but has always felt the odd one out in her wealthy family. Lately, her mom's drinking is out of control and her parents are splitting up. Seventeen-year-old Joaquin, meanwhile, never even got adopted; still in foster care, he has been bumped around the system "like a set of keys someone had misplaced." As the three gradually bond over shared quirks and feelings of abandonment, Grace convinces the other two that they need to find their birth mother. It's a melodrama, to be sure, but with as much brain as heart. Benway ("Emmy & Oliver") writes with remarkable control and has the rare talent of almost vanishing as an author as she inhabits each character's perspective. Grace, Maya and Joaquin leap off the page as living, breathing teenagers, individual down to their fingerprints. The novel is also a brilliant exercise in empathy: As the siblings share their secret stories, we see them develop outrage, love, tenderness and sympathy for each other. As readers, we can't help doing the same. DEAR MARTIN By Nie Stone 210 pp. Crown Books for Young Readers. $17.99. (Ages 14 and up) As the success of Angie Thomas's "The Hate U Give" makes clear, Y.A. readers have a hunger for stories dramatizing racial profiling and the quest for social justice. Nie Stone's powerful debut about a striving black teenager trying his hardest to play by society's rules introduces Justyce McAllister, a scholarship student at an elite private school in Atlanta. Ranked fourth in his senior class, he's captain of the debate team and a contender for Yale. But when he's roughed up by the police who assume he was trying to steal his ex-girlfriend's Mercedes he realizes that he'll never stop being judged by his skin color. Tensions rise when one classmate accuses him of unfairly benefiting from affirmative action and another dresses as a Klansman for Halloween. (It's a "massive political statement about racial equality and broken barriers," explains the privileged bro.) All hell breaks loose when Justyce and his best friend get into a deadly altercation with an off-duty police officer. Stone packs an impressive spectrum of characters and viewpoints into 210 fastpaced pages: from Manny, the son of wealthy black professionals who tells Justyce he's being overly "sensitive" and confesses that he's "scared of black girls," to SJ, Justyce's civil rights-crusading Jewish debate partner (and guilty crush). While not all the characters are well developed, the smart, soul-searching Justyce is a hero readers will enjoy rooting for. "I thought if I made sure to be an upstanding member of society, I'd be exempt from the stuff THOSE black guys deal with, you know?" he writes. (The novel's title come from his journal entries, which are written in the form of letters to Martin Luther King Jr.) "Really hard to swallow that I was wrong." I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER By Erika L. Sánchez 344 pp. Knopf. $17.99. (Ages 14 and up) Don't be fooled by the dreary title. This gripping debut about a Mexican-American misfit is alive and crackling - a gritty tale wrapped in a page-turner. The story begins when Olga, the seemingly "perfect" older sister of 15-year-old Chicagoan Julia Reyes, is killed in a bus accident. Olga was quiet, modest and infuriatingly devoted to their traditionbound parents - the opposite of Julia, an aspiring writer and rebellious smartmouth whose worst fear is that she'll "end up working in a factory, marry some loser, and have his ugly children." After Julia finds evidence that "Saint Olga" may have had a less-than-holy double life, she becomes obsessed with uncovering her dead sister's secrets. Part detective story, part coming-ofage tale, Sanchez's novel doesn't shy from heavy subject matter. Julia lives in a world where teenagers are no strangers to poverty, sexual assault,, domestic violence and fear of deportation. And Julia's relationship with her mother, who calls her a "huevona" and a "malcriada" (bonus: readers get a crash course in Spanish insults) is a sticky stew of anger, love, guilt and resentment. The story spirals into dark territory when Julia begins to suffer from clinical depression. But she's so blunt, funny and brave that she never becomes an object of our pity. And her moments of joy - as during a visit to her parents' hometown in Mexico, when she sits under the stars while her aunt braids her hair, "her fingers cool against the back of my neck" - are transcendent. LITTLE & LION By Brandy Colbert 327 pp. Little, Brown. $17.99. (Ages 14 and up) Set in the privileged climes of boho Los Angeles, Colbert's novel depicts the type of America that keeps hard-core traditionalists up at night. The central family consists of a black mom (a screenwriter), a white dad (an artisanal woodworker), and their two kids from previous relationships : 15-year-old Suzette and 16-year-old Lionel. Suzette (aka Little) is black and just figuring out she's bisexual. Lionel is white, bipolar and a fan of The New Yorker. And oh yeah, the parents aren't married and the whole family is Jewish. Arriving home for the summer after her first year at boarding school, Suzette is desperate to regain her old closeness with Lion, who's been keeping her at arm's length since his diagnosis. She's also racked with guilt about something that happened back at school between her and Iris, the first girl she's ever slept with. Suzette doesn't even know if she's 100 percent gay; she finds herself equally attracted to a guy (Emil, a half-black, half-Korean childhood pal) and a new girl (Rafaela, a sexy-tough Texan). Adding to the hot mess, Lionel falls for the same girl as his sister. Colbert writes about physical attraction with a real sizzle and she has concocted her bizarre love rectangle so ingeniously, readers will be dying to know - on the most basic level - who will end up with whom. And though its prose can be a bit stilted (Suzette says things like, "We hustle to our respective sides of the car") the book feels urgent and true. NOTHING By Annie Barrows 212 pp. Greenwillow Books. $17.99. (Ages 14 and up) Fans of the beloved middle grade series "Ivy + Bean" may feel a flush of familiarity upon meeting the 15-year-old bestfriend duo at the center of Barrow's first Y.A. novel. Charlotte is light-brownhaired and introspective, with literary aspirations; Frankie is a dark-haired, impulsive go-getter. Think: Ivy and Bean, now with angst and four-letter words. The novel's name comes from Charlotte's assertion that "nothing" happens in their safe, dull lives. And so she decides to write a book called "Nothing," tracing the course of her and Frankie's year: "It'll be, like, a searing document of today's youth and how incredibly boring our lives are!" In chapters that bounce between thirdperson perspective and Charlotte's confessional pages, the best friends gab, text, do homework, get high, buy burritos and mascara, humor their parents and obsess over their love lives (or lack thereof). Frankie considers applying to private school and learns to drive. Charlotte develops an intense textual relationship with a boy she's never met named Sid (she doesn't know what he looks like because Sid has a "no-picture rule"). But just because the stakes are low doesn't mean the book lacks depth. Barrows captures the highs and lows of her characters' emotional lives with remarkable feeling, revealing how even the most joined-at-the-hip BFFs inevitably have secrets and resentments. Best of all is Charlotte's voice, a hyperactive streamof-consciousness gush . Spending time with these two is a lovely, low-key pleasure. CATHERINE HONG, a contributing editor at Elle Decor, blogs about children's books at mrslittle.com.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Justyce McAllister seemed to have it all-Ivy League aspirations, near the top of his class academically at a top-notch boarding school, captain of the debate team-until he is arrested while helping a friend. Feeling that he was racially profiled, he begins a journal of letters to Dr. Martin Luther King and asks himself, "What would Martin do?" when situations arise. And situations do arise, when white classmates make racist comments and dress in KKK robes for Halloween. In class, difficult subjects are discussed, such as the reality of racial equality and the effectiveness of affirmative action. Meanwhile, Jus reluctantly finds himself attracted to his white debate partner, knowing that his mother will disapprove. When tragedy strikes, Jus is forced to take a long look at himself and the life he is leading. Jus's first-person letters to King are interwoven with his third-person experiences. Dion Graham narrates, turning in a performance that is believable and convincing. Often he is soft-spoken, reflecting Jus's quiet nature, but as Jus's anger builds, Graham's narration reveals that as well. VERDICT With appeal to both reluctant readers and avid listeners, this thought-provoking audiobook deserves a place in any audio collection alongside The Hate U Give.-Julie Paladino, formerly at East Chapel Hill High School, NC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this roller-coaster ride of a debut, the author summons the popular legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to respond to the recent tragic violence befalling unarmed black men and boys. Seventeen-year-old black high school senior Justyce McAllister, a full-scholarship student at the virtually all-white Braselton Prep, is the focus. After a bloody run-in with the police when they take his good deed for malice, Justyce seeks meaning in a series of letters with his "homie" Dr. King. He writes, "I thought if I made sure to be an upstanding member of society, I'd be exempt from the stuff THOSE black guys deal with, you know?" While he's ranked fourth in his graduating class and well-positioned for the Ivy League, Justyce is coming to terms with the fact that there's not as much that separates him from "THOSE black guys" as he'd like to believe. Despite this, Stone seems to position Justyce and his best friend as the decidedly well-mannered black children who are deserving of readers' sympathies. They are not those gangsters that can be found in Justyce's neighborhood. There's nuance to be found for sure, but not enough to upset the dominant narrative. What if they weren't the successful kids? While the novel intentionally leaves more questions than it attempts to answer, there are layers that still remain between the lines. Though constrained, the work nevertheless stands apart in a literature that too often finds it hard to look hard truths in the face. Take interest and ask questions. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
chapter 1 From where he's standing across the street, Justyce can see her: Melo Taylor, ex-girlfriend, slumped over beside her Benz on the damp concrete of the FarmFresh parking lot. She's missing a shoe, and the contents of her purse are scattered around her like the guts of a pulled party popper. He knows she's stone drunk, but this is too much, even for her. Jus shakes his head, remembering the judgment all over his best friend Manny's face as he left Manny's house not fifteen minutes ago. The walk symbol appears. As he approaches, she opens her eyes, and he waves and pulls his earbuds out just in time to hear her say, "What the hell are you doing here?" Justyce asks himself the same question as he watches her try--and fail--to shift to her knees. She falls over sideways and hits her face against the car door. He drops down and reaches for her cheek--which is as red as the candy-apple paint job. "Damn, Melo, are you okay?" She pushes his hand away. "What do you care?" Stung, Justyce takes a deep breath. He cares a lot. Obviously. If he didn't, he wouldn't've walked a mile from Manny's house at three in the morning (Manny's of the opinion that Melo's "the worst thing that ever happened" to Jus, so of course he refused to give his boy a ride). All to keep his drunken disaster of an ex from driving. He should walk away right now, Justyce should. But he doesn't. "Jessa called me," he tells her. "That skank--" "Don't be like that, babe. She only called me because she cares about you." Jessa had planned to take Melo home herself, but Mel threatened to call the cops and say she'd been kidnapped if Jessa didn't drop her at her car. Melo can be a little dramatic when she's drunk. "I'm totally unfollowing her," she says (case in point). "In life and online. Nosy bitch." Justyce shakes his head again. "I just came to make sure you get home okay." That's when it hits Justyce that while he might succeed in getting Melo home, he has no idea how he'll get back. He closes his eyes as Manny's words ring through his head: This Captain Save-A-Ho thing is gonna get you in trouble, dawg. He looks Melo over. She's now sitting with her head leaned back against the car door, half-asleep, mouth open. He sighs. Even drunk, Jus can't deny Melo's the finest girl he's ever laid eyes--not to mention hands--on. She starts to tilt, and Justyce catches her by the shoulders to keep her from falling. She startles, looking at him wide-eyed, and Jus can see everything about her that initially caught his attention. Melo's dad is this Hall of Fame NFL linebacker (biiiiig black dude), but her mom is from Norway. She got Mrs. Taylor's milky Norwegian complexion, wavy hair the color of honey, and amazing green eyes that are kind of purple around the edge, but she has really full lips, a small waist, crazy curvy hips, and probably the nicest butt Jus has ever seen in his life. That's part of his problem: he gets too tripped up by how beautiful she is. He never would've dreamed a girl as fine as her would be into him. Now he's got the urge to kiss her even though her eyes are red and her hair's a mess and she smells like vodka and cigarettes and weed. But when he goes to push her hair out of her face, she shoves his hand away again. "Don't touch me, Justyce." She starts shifting her stuff around on the ground--lipstick, Kleenex, tampons, one of those circular thingies with the makeup in one half and a mirror in the other, a flask. "Ugh, where are my keeeeeeeys?" Justyce spots them in front of the back tire and snatches them up. "You're not driving, Melo." "Give 'em." She swipes for the keys but falls into his arms instead. Justyce props her against the car again and gathers the rest of her stuff to put it back in her bag--which is large enough to hold a week's worth of groceries (what is it with girls and purses the size of duffel bags?). He unlocks the car, tosses the bag on the floor of the backseat, and tries to get Melo up off the ground. Then everything goes really wrong, really fast. First, she throws up all over the hoodie Jus is wearing. Which belongs to Manny. Who specifically said, "Don't come back here with throw-up on my hoodie." Perfect. Jus takes off the sweatshirt and tosses it in the backseat. When he tries to pick Melo up again, she slaps him. Hard. "Leave me alone, Justyce," she says. "I can't do that, Mel. There's no way you'll make it home if you try to drive yourself." He tries to lift her by the armpits and she spits in his face. He considers walking away again. He could call her parents, stick her keys in his pocket, and bounce. Oak Ridge is probably the safest neighborhood in Atlanta. She'd be fine for the twenty-five minutes it would take Mr. Taylor to get here. But he can't. Despite Manny's assertion that Melo needs to "suffer some consequences for once," leaving her here all vulnerable doesn't seem like the right thing to do. So he picks her up and tosses her over his shoulder. Melo responds in her usual delicate fashion: she screams and beats him on the back with her fists. Justyce struggles to get the back door open and is lowering her into the car when he hears the WHOOOOP of a short siren and sees the blue lights. In the few seconds it takes the police car to screech to a stop behind him, Justyce settles Melo into the backseat. Now she's gone catatonic. Justyce can hear the approaching footsteps, but he stays focused on getting Melo strapped in. He wants it to be clear to the cop that she wasn't gonna drive so she won't be in even worse trouble. Before he can get his head out of the car, he feels a tug on his shirt and is yanked backward. His head smacks the doorframe just before a hand clamps down on the back of his neck. His upper body slams onto the trunk with so much force, he bites the inside of his cheek, and his mouth fills with blood. Jus swallows, head spinning, unable to get his bearings. The sting of cold metal around his wrists pulls him back to reality. Handcuffs. It hits him: Melo's drunk beyond belief in the backseat of a car she fully intended to drive, yet Jus is the one in handcuffs. The cop shoves him to the ground beside the police cruiser as he asks if Justyce understands his rights. Justyce doesn't remember hearing any rights, but his ears had been ringing from the two blows to the head, so maybe he missed them. He swallows more blood. "Officer, this is a big misundersta--" he starts to say, but he doesn't get to finish because the officer hits him in the face. "Don't you say shit to me, you son of a bitch. I knew your punk ass was up to no good when I saw you walking down the road with that goddamn hood on." So the hood was a bad idea. Earbuds too. Probably would've noticed he was being trailed without them. "But, Officer, I--" "You keep your mouth shut." The cop squats and gets right in Justyce's face. "I know your kind: punks like you wander the streets of nice neighborhoods searching for prey. Just couldn't resist the pretty white girl who'd locked her keys in her car, could ya?" Except that doesn't even make sense. If Mel had locked the keys in the car, Jus wouldn't have been able to get her inside it, would he? Justyce finds the officer's nameplate; castillo, it reads, though the guy looks like a regular white dude. Mama told him how to handle this type of situation, though he must admit he never expected to actually need the advice: Be respectful; keep the anger in check; make sure the police can see your hands (though that's impossible right now). "Officer Castillo, I mean you no disresp--" "I told your punk ass to shut the fuck up!" He wishes he could see Melo. Get her to tell this cop the truth. But the dude is blocking his view. "Now, if you know what's good for you, you won't move or speak. Resistance will only land you in deeper shit. Got it?" Cigarette breath and flecks of spit hit Justyce's face as the cop speaks, but Justyce fixes his gaze on the glowing green F of the FarmFresh sign. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, boy." He grabs Justyce's chin. "I asked you a question." Justyce swallows. Meets the cold blue of Officer Castillo's eyes. Clears his throat. "Yes sir," he says. "I got it." Excerpted from Dear Martin by Nic Stone All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
