"I have honestly never felt so seen by a piece of literature. Starr is a character that I wish I’d had growing up. The Hate U Give is the book I wish I’d had in high school when Trayvon Martin was murdered. This book is hard, but it is also cathartic, and full of love. At times it’s even laugh out loud funny, and I appreciate Angie Thomas all the more for giving Starr moments of levity and happiness in the midst of a deeply traumatic event. This book is inspired by #BlackLivesMatter and it is an important addition to our lexicon of writings on police brutality and violence. But even more, it is an important look at what it’s like to grow up as a black girl in America today."
Publisher Balzer + Bray
Publication Date 2017-02-28
Section Young Adult / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions
Format Hardcover
ISBN 9780062498533
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions.
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.
