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The Hate U Give | October 2, 2017

by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins Children's Books/ Balzer + Bray)

It’s been almost seven months since The Hate U Give came out, and it’s been at the top of the New York Times bestseller list ever since. If the impressive reviews, the runaway success, and the extensive marketing campaign haven’t already convinced you to read this book—do it now. It’s high time to read this book especially if, like me, you are a white person in publishing.

Starr Carter is sixteen when she and her childhood friend, Khalil, are pulled over by the police and he is fatally shot, plunging Starr into a conflict that has been broiling since before the founding of this country. As Starr comes to terms with Khalil’s death and confronts the powerlessness she feels, Starr sees that the boy she knew was not the person the media is portraying him to be.

And so, Starr realizes that her days of tidy code-switching are over; that she doesn’t want to pretend in order to fit in with her white classmates, friends, and boyfriend. But she also knows that her choices—to speak out, to protest, to stay silent—have consequences to her community, her family, and her life. It’s a lot for a teenager to handle, and she does it with admirable grace and poise and anger.

For those of us in the publishing community, this book is two stories in one (stunning) package. The first is the text itself—critical reading for those of us who exist in the safety of white bodies. The second is the publishing story, proof that a book about police brutality, by a black woman and with a black woman on the cover, has a broad audience. And, it’s a gripping, deeply empathetic, open-hearted read that is worth every second.

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