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Summary
Summary
"One of the Good Ones is magic." --Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
A shockingly powerful exploration of the lasting impact of prejudice and the indomitable spirit of sisterhood that will have readers questioning what it truly means to be an ally, from sister-writer duo Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, authors of Dear Haiti, Love Alaine.
ISN'T BEING HUMAN ENOUGH?
When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic.
One of the good ones.
Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind--why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?--Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there's a twist to Kezi's story that no one could've ever expected--one that will change everything all over again.
"Astonishing!" --Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of Bone Gap
"Brilliant" --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Thrilling" --SLJ, starred review
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up--On Kezi Smith's 18th birthday, she was excited to attend her first in-person social justice rally after building a large YouTube following from videos sharing her thoughts about social justice. Kezi is arrested at the rally, then dies as a result of police brutality, and the book slowly reveals what happened that day. As they continue to mourn Kezi, her parents reluctantly give their two other daughters, Genny and Happi, permission to travel Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, stopping along the way to visit locations identified by Kezi in the Negro Motorist Green Book and providing updates and historical information for Kezi's YouTube channel. One of the stops is the bridge where their great-grandfather was lynched when his family ran out of gas in a sundown town. Throughout the journey, Happi learns more about her sister and struggles with the distance she had placed between them that she always hoped would be fixed with more time. In addition to Kezi's and Happi's perspectives, readers also hear from the girls' grandmother, Evelyn, and from another young girl in L.A., Shaqueria, who is trying to make it as an actress. Bahni Turpin, Jordan Cobb, and Carolyn Smith narrate the multiple voices in the novel making each one instantly recognizable as they take turns. VERDICT A powerfully engaging read that gives voice to a variety of Black female experiences and provides not only a modern perspective but also the history that influences lives today. Recommendation to purchase both print and audiobook versions.--Courtney Pentland, Omaha, NE
Publisher's Weekly Review
When Kezi, Happi's outspoken older sister, dies in police custody following wrongful arrest at a social justice rally on her 18th birthday, she's immortalized publicly as "One of the Good Ones"--a generous young Black woman who "Was Going to Make a Difference." Following the event, defiant Happi is pressed into a road trip with her oldest sister, Genny; Kezi's secret girlfriend; and Happi's former best friend to commemorate Kezi's life and online activism. Traveling along Route 66 to a series of historical "safe places" for Black motorists listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, Happi learns more about the history of racism in the U.S. and the overprotective sister she always spurned. In nonchronological order and through multiple perspectives, the Moulite sisters (Dear Haiti, Love Alaine) present an emotionally hard-hitting account of police brutality, following martyred activist Kezi, her grieving younger sister, and the siblings' ancestors, nearly a century before, facing a similar racially motivated loss. Though a late-breaking plot twist jars, thrusting the story into a high-octane soap opera that never quite coheres, it's an otherwise riveting story about an all-too-familiar series of tragedies and the all-too-familiar attitudes that surround them. Ages 12--up. Authors' agent: JL Stermer, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
Loved ones face the fallout after a young Black activist dies in police custody in Los Angeles. "She was my sister before she became your martyr," says Happi, the younger sister of Kezi, an activist and influential YouTuber who dies after taking part in a social justice rally on her 18th birthday. In the wake of police brutality, victims' life choices are often brought into question in an attempt to justify their deaths. But Kezi is "one of the good ones," a model student with a promising future. Temperamental Happi, by contrast, skips school, gets drunk at parties, and is now haunted by her last words to Kezi--Kezi, who loved history and was in love with her best friend, Ximena, a secret she kept from her parents, who are pastors. Through brilliant storytelling, sharp dialogue, and flashbacks, the narrative becomes a story within a story as Kezi delves into her family history beginning in the late 1930s. Her research sets the stage for a present-day trek inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide that helped Black American travelers stay safe during the Jim Crow era. This novel, the second collaboration by the sisters behind Dear Haiti, Love Alaine (2019), is an explosive look behind the hashtags at race and history, taking readers on a road trip mapped by love and grief. Close to perfection. (maps, family trees) (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Kezi died in police custody on her eighteenth birthday after attending a peaceful protest in downtown L.A. with her girlfriend, Ximena. Three months later, Kezi's sisters, Happi and Genny, take a road trip along with Ximena and their friend Derek in her memory. Kezi planned the trip for herself, intending to follow Route 66 and to stop at sites in an old Negro Motorist Green Book as a way of sharing her passion for African American history with her devoted YouTube followers. She also planned stops significant to their family history, including the sundown town where their great-grandfather was lynched. Chapters move back and forth between time periods and narrators, highlighting Kezi, Happi, and in the 1940s, Great-Gran Evelyn. A surprising twist toward the end of the novel adds excitement but stretches the plot's credibility. Coincidences and a compulsion to educate stall this sophomore outing by sister authors, but it's propelled by strong characterizations, and its central theme resonates: that the value of a Black life should not depend on being "one of the good ones."
