The Hate You Give

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Starr is trying to figure out how she fits onto the world. She lives in a black neighborhood, where she doesn’t feel quite cool enough. And she goes to school at a private school where she is clearly the minority. She may be “cool” there without even trying, but she feels like she has to censor what she does and says so she won’t come across as “ghetto”. When her childhood friend gets shot and killed by a policeman in front of her, her two worlds collide, making her examine what it is to be Black in America, and how to be true to herself and her culture. It’s a timely issue and well written. It’s a perfect illustration of how social pressures can make (especially) teens feel they must fit into a box. Although it does have quite a bit of swearing, I thought it is one of the best portrayals of the racial tension in this country I’ve read.

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