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Review: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

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All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

All American Boys
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Simon & Schuster
Published September 29, 2015

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About All American Boys

Rashad is absent again today.

That’s the sidewalk graffiti that started it all…

Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn’t matter what Rashad said next—that it was an accident, that he wasn’t stealing—the cop just kept pounding him. Over and over, pummeling him into the pavement. So then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again…and again…stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.

And that’s how it started.

And that’s what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend’s older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn’t tell a soul…He’s not even sure he understands it. And does it matter? The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when the school—and nation—start to divide on what happens, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like “racism” and “police brutality.” Quinn realizes he’s got to understand it, because, bystander or not, he’s a part of history. He just has to figure out what side of history that will be.

Rashad and Quinn—one black, one white, both American—face the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn’t die after the civil rights movement. There’s a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.

Cuz that’s how it can end.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for years. I’ve heard so much about it, from the awards that it garnered to the way the story moves readers. In some ways, I feel like I don’t have anything to add to the conversation that hasn’t already been said. It’s an incredible book.

I love that the authors chose to tell this book from two different perspectives: a black boy who experienced brutality at the hands of a police officer and a white boy who bore witness.

Through Rashad’s perspective, we are asked to walk through the physical pain, the shame, and the rage that he feels as a result of his experience. We see his family’s different reactions. His friends.

Then we step into Quinn’s point of view, and we walk through his discomfort. We watch him wrestle with how to respond and what actions to take. We have to sit with the discomfort that he feels. Like Quinn, we go beyond sympathizing with the boy in the hospital. His perspective asks us to do that emotional work for ourselves.

Having point of view characters of two different races also crafts the conversation about race within the story in terms of how racism and privilege impact us all. This is the kind of book that makes you think, and it’s couched in such an accessible story. Both points of view are written conversationally, so it feels like a friend relating what happened directly to you.

I read this book in a single day. It’s the kind of book that you don’t want to put down. Even though I’ve finished, I find myself returning to some moments in the story to think about them again. There’s a lot to think about in these pages.

If you haven’t read All American Boys, add it to your reading list. It’s the kind of book that asks you to listen and bear witness in a really necessary way. Especially now.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity appears in the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to some romantic attraction.

Spiritual Content
References to church service and prayer. Rashad shares his anger at the idea that God watched what happened to him and allowed it to happen. He wonders if he’d feel better if God was looking away or busy instead. He shares these feelings as he’s processing what happened to him and the things that other people say to him about it.

Violent Content
References to police brutality. One scene shows a police officer beating up a teenage boy from the boy’s perspective. Other scenes reference this moment from other perspectives.

Another officer shares an experience in which an unarmed teen was shot.

Police wait at the site of a permitted protest with a tank as if they expect rioting and violence.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol from a flask. One boy convinces a man to buy beer for him and his friends, who are on their way to a party.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Needy Little Things
Channelle Desamours
Wednesday Books
Published February 4, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Needy Little Things

In this debut speculative YA mystery, a Black teen with premonition-like powers must solve her friend’s disappearance before she finds herself in the same danger.

Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need—tangible things, like a pencil, a hair tie, a phone charger—an ability only her family and her best friend, Malcolm, know the truth about. But when she fulfills a need for her friend Deja who vanishes shortly after, Sariyah is left wondering if her ability is more curse than gift. This isn’t the first time one of her friends has landed on the missing persons list, and she’s determined not to let her become yet another forgotten Black girl.

Not trusting the police and media to do enough on their own, Sariyah and her friends work together to figure out what led to Deja’s disappearance. But when Sariyah’s mother loses her job and her little brother faces complications with his sickle cell disease, managing her time, money, and emotions seems impossible. Desperate, Sariyah decides to hustle her need-sensing ability for cash—a choice that may not only lead her to Deja, but put her in the same danger Deja found herself in.

My Review

Sariyah’s younger brother has sickle cell anemia. I think this is the first time I’ve seen that represented on the page. Her mom is also depressed, and Sariyah has ADHD, so there’s quite a bit of representation for those conditions.

The novel’s pace didn’t match what I expected, which isn’t to say that it was bad. Based on the back cover copy, I made assumptions about the story that turned out to be wrong. For example, I thought that Sariyah’s decision to use her gift for money would have been a bigger or longer part of the story.

Sariyah’s ability to hear people’s needs reminded me of the main character in Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. In that book, Lauren, the protagonist, can feel others’ pain, which affects her ability to live her life. Sariyah’s experience isn’t quite so potentially life-threatening. However, it leaves her struggling to balance meeting others’ needs, which gives her internal peace, versus protecting herself and her ability so no one exploits or endangers her. I thought the similarity/difference was interesting. The author used Sariyah’s gift well to drive the story forward and create thought-provoking situations.

I enjoyed the book, especially once I was better attuned to its main theme (finding a missing girl). I’d love to read more by Channelle Desamours, so I’ll be on the lookout for her books.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some swearing, including f-bombs, is used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to an unsolved missing persons case. A woman stabs a man in the neck with a nail file when she perceives him as a threat. Some references to stalking behavior and verbal threats. Kidnapping. Someone attacks a girl and a man.

Drug Content
Characters smoke pot. Reference to a character smoking pot offscene.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Book Review and Content, Memoir, Nonfiction, Parenting, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Spiegel & Grau
Published July 14, 2015

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About Between the World and Me

“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.”

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
 
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

My Review

I listened to an audiobook version of this book that was read by the author. It’s a pretty short book, only about 150 pages divided into three chapters. The first two are much longer than the third chapter.

This is Coates’ letter to his son, and it’s about his experience as a young Black man and his thoughts and experiences about becoming a father to a Black son. While this was published in 2015, it could have been written today. Everything in these pages feels just as relevant today as it did almost ten years ago.

One of the things that the author talks about is his relationship to history and education. Some of the ways he describes his interest in or quest to learn more about history really resonated. He talks about wanting history to have one cohesive narrative in which historians agree, and that instead, he found the opposite: lots of voices with different takes on historical events and their significance.

He also talks about realizing that we simplify historical figures into something that we want them to be. This doesn’t allow room for who they truly were because it removes part of their stories. I want to reread that passage in particular because it’s so true, and he says it so well.

Coates also talks about someone he knew in college whose life was cut short when he was killed by a police officer. He returns to this story several times through the book. Again and again he talks about the idea that in this world, safety means having control of your body. And there are situations in which he does not have a guarantee of that control, including in encounters with police.

He refers to “people who think they are white” many times, which I think comes from a quote attributed to James Baldwin. That gave me some food for thought as well, as it really highlights the made-up-ness of race and the self-assigned value of whiteness. Again, a really concise way to say a big idea, something the author does really well.

Overall, this book delivered a lot of ideas that I want to let percolate. I loved reading this vulnerable, wise letter from a father to his son. It makes sense that this one got the awards and acclaim that it has. It’s definitely worth reading.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Includes use of the N-word very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to falling in love, getting married, and having a child.

Spiritual Content
Coates himself does not believe in God, but he references others that do and the power of that belief in others’ lives.

Violent Content
References to racist comments. Vague references to street fights. References to police violence and death at the hands of a police officer.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig with Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long

Biography, Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

King: A Life (The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bestseller, Adapted for Young Adults)
Jonathan Eig
with Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published January 7, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About King: A Life (The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bestseller, Adapted for Young Adults)

Hailed as “the most compelling account of [Martin Luther] King’s life in a generation” by the Washington Post, the Pulitzer Prize–winning bestseller is now adapted for young adults in this new standard biography of the most famous civil rights activist in American History.

Often regarded as more of a myth and legend than man, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was many things throughout his storied life: student, activist, preacher, dreamer, father, husband. From his Atlanta childhood centered in the historically Black neighborhood of Sweet Auburn to his precipitous rise as a civil rights leader on the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Dr. King would go on to become one of the most recognizable, influential, and controversial persons of the twentieth century.

In this fast-paced and immersive adaptation of Jonathan Eig’s groundbreaking New York Times bestseller readers will meet a Dr. King like no other: a committed radical whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime, a minister wrestling with his human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government.

The inspiring young adult edition of King: A Life highlights the author’s never-before-seen research—including recently declassified FBI documents—while reaffirming and recontextualizing the lasting effects and implications of MLK’s work for the present day. Adapted by National Book Award–nominated authors Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long, this biography for a new generation is a nuanced, unprecedented portrayal of a man who truly shook the world.

My Review

I don’t read a lot of biographies, but I found it hard to put this one down. The detailed portrait of Dr. King allows reader to go far beyond what the national holiday celebrates and the highlights elementary classrooms teach about the famed Civil Rights leader. It not only reveals a more complete picture of his values, beliefs, and political message, but it shows readers his humanity.

The book includes some commonly repeated quotes from a few of Dr. King’s speeches, adding greater context to his message. One chapter details how the FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, tapped Dr. King’s phone before mailing him a recording of some of his conversations along with a letter hinting that the only way out for him was to take his own life.

It’s easy to imagine the moments of glory and the adrenaline rush that must have come from delivering powerful speeches to audiences hungry for his message. The book also shows what his life was like after he walked away from the podium. It reveals his fear as he was arrested and those marching with him faced armed government officials.

The adult version of this biography has already won awards and been hailed as an essential account of Dr. King’s life. I’m really excited that this young adult version makes this information more accessible to younger readers. This is well worth a read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Black American. Eig also focuses on King’s family and other Civil Rights leaders, most of them Black men and women.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to marriage and extramarital affairs. No details given.

Spiritual Content
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was a Christian preacher/pastor who believed that we have a duty to help the poor and disenfranchised and bring justice to all, especially marginalized people. He studied the teachings of Gandhi and strongly believed in nonviolent resistance.

Violent Content
References to Civil Rights protests and marches and violent response by police and government officials, including brief mentions of the use of police dogs, tear gas, and fire hoses to attack people protesting and marching. References to several murders of Black Americans, including Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Emmett Till.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: This Town is On Fire by Pamela N. Harris

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

This Town is On Fire
Pamela N. Harris
Quill Tree Books
Published June 20, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About This Town is On Fire

From the critically acclaimed author of When You Look Like Us comes a page-turning YA contemporary novel about what happens when the latest “Becky” on the internet is your best friend.

A lot is up in the air in Naomi Henry’s her spot as a varsity cheer flier, her classmates’ reaction to the debut of her natural hair, and her crush on the guy who’s always been like a brother to her. With so much uncertainty, she feels lucky to have a best friend like Kylie to keep her grounded. After all, they’re practically sisters—Naomi’s mom took care of Kylie and her twin brother for years. But then a video of Kylie calling the cops on two Black teens in a shopping store parking lot goes viral. Naomi is shaken, and her town is reeling from the publicity.

While Naomi tries to reckon with Kylie, the other Black students in their high school are questioning their friendship, and her former friends are wondering where this new “woke” Naomi came from. Although Naomi wants to stand by her best friend, she now can’t help but see everything in a different light. As tensions in her town escalate, Naomi finds herself engaging in protests that are on the cusp of being illegal. And then a bomb explodes, and someone is found dead.   Will Naomi be caught in the center of the blast? 

Golden Kite Award winner Pamela N. Harris has crafted a taut novel that delves into big issues, and is the perfect next read for fans of I’m Not Dying with You Tonight and The Black Kids.

My Review

My only gripe with this book at all is that it’s over 400 pages long, which is on the long side for a contemporary YA novel.

That said, the book doesn’t really feel that long. It jumps back and forth between the past (the start of Naomi’s senior year of high school) and the present (immediately after rescue workers pulled her from the wreckage caused by a bomb at a bowling alley). This made the story feel really urgent. You’re piecing together what happened from clues in the scenes reflecting the past.

The characters in the book have a lot of depth and layers to them. Kylie’s ignorance goes viral, sure. And she doesn’t truly seem to understand why people react the way they do. Naomi can’t unsee that ignorance. But does it completely erase all the connection there is between the girls? This is something Naomi has to figure out for herself.

She forms connections with other Black students, and for the first time, she feels truly seen. Those relationships energize her in a new way and make her feel unguarded and free in ways she didn’t expect. But those aren’t simple relationships, either. She experiences betrayal among these new friends, too.

Harris does a phenomenal job of showing the complexities of relationships and reminding us that the people involved are the only ones who get to decide what the relationship means to them. The writing is razor-sharp and raw with honesty. This is a story I won’t soon forget.

Content Notes for This Town is On Fire

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
List.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
List.

Romance/Sexual Content
List.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
List.

Drug Content
List.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
First Second
Published September 5, 2006

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About American Born Chinese

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he’s the only Chinese American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl…

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn’t want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god…

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he’s ruining his cousin Danny’s life. Danny’s a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse…

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax–and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for a long time. I haven’t seen the show on Disney, but the preview already looks a lot different in the way it incorporates the storylines from the book. Someone with knowledge about and familiarity with Chinese folklore and culture will have more insight into several elements of this book than I do.

I’m not very familiar with the myths about the Monkey King, so I don’t have other information to compare with the stories from this book. I enjoyed the fables and their larger-than-life feel. There’s a great balance of emotions explored in that thread of the story, from jealousy to sadness to humor.

The second thread of the story follows Jin through school as he tries to form friendships and fit in with his classmates. His first friend is a bully who treats Jin terribly. It’s unclear whether Jin puts up with the treatment because he is just grateful not to be alone or whether he is oblivious. Some of his observations make him seem oblivious, but the clues in the illustrations and some of the dialogue let readers know this is not a real friendship. Later, Jin meets Wei, and the boys develop a close friendship.

The third thread in the book is the hardest to read. This one follows Danny as his cousin Chin-Kee, an overtly stereotyped character, follows him to school. Danny feels embarrassed by his cousin’s behavior and the other students’ reaction to him. What these chapters do so well, though, is highlight Jin’s fears about how he’s perceived by others and his fear about being stereotyped himself in these negative ways.

It’s uncomfortable to read, but the discomfort is the point. One of the things that I thought was brilliant about those scenes is that they read as though they’re some sort of sitcom. As I read the first scene, that’s what I thought it was supposed to be. Whenever Chin-Kee does or says something that aligns with a stereotype, laughter lines the bottom of the panel. It highlighted how people try to use humor to justify harmful statements and stereotypes and how that laughter falls flat and fools no one.

The three unrelated threads connect together at the end, and I am definitely among those whose minds were blown by the connections. It made so much sense and spun the earlier scenes of the story more completely. I’m very glad I read the book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Jin Wang is Chinese American. His friend Wei Chan is Taiwanese. Chin-Kee represents harmful stereotypes perpetrated against Chinese people. In one scene, a boy uses a racist stereotype about Jewish people in a “game.”

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
One of the three threads of the story tells fables of the Monkey King.

Violent Content
The Monkey King fights enemies. White high school students use racist insults against Jin and Wei.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.