2017 book 44

Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give
I saw just last night that this was number one on the NYT bestseller list this week, and that is honestly thrilling, because it deserves to be. Before publication, this was getting a ton of buzz as the "Black Lives Matter" book, and it is certainly a very human look at a teenage girl who gets caught up things after her childhood friend is killed by a cop right in front of her after a traffic stop. But it is also a really amazing story about a girl, about a great family (the relationships between the protagonists and her parents are especially well-done), class issues, white privilege, code-switching, injustice, and so much more. If my only beef if with the overly-positive portrayal of the protagonist's white boyfriend, well, that is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. Everyone should read this book, and especially privileged people should read this book and really try and think about their privilege and maybe how they can try and improve things for everyone. Or just read a good story, whichever. A/A-.