Thursday, July 9, 2020

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U GiveAngie Thomas' debut novel, was published in 2017, and although I'd heard many good things about this book, I'd put off reading it. This book is a Coretta Scott King and a Michael L Printz Honor book.

The Hate U Give is incredibly well written. Starr Carter, the main character, witnesses the fatal shooting of one of her friends at the hands of a police officer, and the subsequent criminalizing of her friend is terrible. They call him a Thug - thus the title.

Starr lives in a poor black neighborhood, but she attends a suburban prep school. She feels pulled by both sides, and her attempts to keep her worlds from colliding don't work out they way she hopes.

This story shows the aftermath of this shooting. Thomas puts the reader right in the situation. I felt anger, I cried, and I worried about the characters.

Thomas writes about race relations in a way that is easy to relate to. She talks about poverty, about colorism, police brutality, police fear of those of color, criminalizing the victim, and bigotry.

I thought this book would be more polarizing, but it is a well written story that builds bridges. There are so many talking points. I would love to teach this book in the classroom. Kudos to Angie Thomas.


James and Wyatt Frandsen from CJF sent books for our NICU book project. Thank you both so very much. 

Link to our NICU book registry to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 




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