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The hate u give.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 53 Reviews
Kids Say 184 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Powerful story of police shooting of unarmed Black teen.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including

We see several instances of violence and hear about others. A unarmed teen boy i

There's talk of an affair between two adults. Teens engage in heavy petting, tal

Name brands including Jordans, luxury automobiles, junk food brands, and restaur

Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alc

Any Positive Content?

Strong messages throughout The Hate U Give about community activism and together

Unlike many books aimed at young adults, this novel is full of positive kid and

Explains police brutality from the victims' perspective and shows a broad view o

Conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including "s--t," "f--k," "ass," "bitch," "damn" (and variants), and "nigga."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

We see several instances of violence and hear about others. A unarmed teen boy is shot and killed; we see the blood, and we see him die. There are other reports of shootings and deaths as a result. Another boy is badly beaten. A woman is described as being beaten. An older gentleman is attacked by a group of young men; we don't see the attack but we see the injuries. Many threats are made on the lives of various people. A young girl dies in a drive-by shooting and her blood is described as mingling with the fire hydrant water. There are school fights between girls and boys. Buildings are set on fire during riots.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

There's talk of an affair between two adults. Teens engage in heavy petting, talk about having sex and condoms. A teen girl is described as being on birth control, and there's discussion of teen pregnancy and the assumption that a married couple is having sex when they go to their bedroom and turn the television up loud. A woman is revealed to be a sex worker.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Name brands including Jordans, luxury automobiles, junk food brands, and restaurants such as Taco Bell are mentioned for scene setting or to show the disparity between lifestyles.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alcoholics. Adults are described as being addicted to drugs, addiction to crack cocaine is discussed, and both teens and adults are described as selling drugs. We don't actually see drugs being sold, but drug dealing is discussed throughout the novel.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Strong messages throughout The Hate U Give about community activism and togetherness, family strength, courage, bravery, and redemption.

Positive Role Models

Unlike many books aimed at young adults, this novel is full of positive kid and adult role models. The adults who reach out to mentor and advise the students not only provide guidance but also show vulnerability, which allows the teens in the story to feel comfortable with their own vulnerability. The teens navigate tough situations but show a willingness to learn from mistakes and make amends.

Educational Value

Explains police brutality from the victims' perspective and shows a broad view of protest strategies, justice, inequality, and the systemic failures that often accompany police shootings.

Parents need to know that Angie Thomas' New York Times best-selling book The Hate U Give won a 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Honor, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the Odyssey Award for best audiobook for kids and teens. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, it involves the police shooting of an unarmed black teen. The book covers topics of race, interracial dating, political activism, grief, friendship, wealth disparity, police brutality, addiction, and the media's depiction of African Americans. Parents should be prepared to discuss recent and past instances of police shootings, how they were covered in the media, dealing with grief, and possible reactions to the trauma revealed in the book. There is some conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including "s--t," "f--k," "ass," "bitch," "damn" (and variants), and "nigga." Violence includes an unarmed teen boy shot and killed -- we see the blood and see him die. There are other reports of shootings and deaths as a result. A boy is badly beaten. A woman is described as being beaten. An older gentleman is attacked by a group of young men; we don't see the attack but we see the injuries. A young girl dies in a drive-by shooting and her blood is described as mingling with the fire hydrant water. There are school fights between girls and boys. Buildings are set on fire during riots. Sexual situations include teens engaging in heavy petting, talk about having sex and condoms. There's discussion of teen pregnancy and the assumption that a married couple is having sex when they go to their bedroom and turn the television up loud. A woman is revealed to be a sex worker. Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alcoholics. Adults are described as being addicted to drugs, addiction to crack cocaine is discussed, and both teens and adults are described as selling drugs.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

Parents say (53)
Kids say (184)

Based on 53 parent reviews

R Rated Book

What's the story.

In THE HATE U GIVE, Starr Carter is a teen between two worlds: her school, which is rich, fancy, and white; and her neighborhood, which is poor and black. She navigates this differing terrain every day of her life until her worlds collide when she witnesses the fatal police shooting of her best friend, Khalil, an unarmed black teen. Khalil's death goes viral, and Starr is caught in the middle between the protesters in the street and her friends at school. With the eyes of the world on her, Starr has to decide: Will she say what happened that night? Will it matter?

Is It Any Good?

Wrenching, soul stirring, funny, endearing, painful, and frustratingly familiar, this novel offers a powerful look at a few weeks in a fairly typical teen girl's life -- with one horrific exception. Sure she worries about school, issues with friends, and her secret boyfriend, but she's also the sole witness to the fatal shooting of her best friend by a police officer. In The Hate U Give , author Angie Thomas manages to bring humanity -- deep, emotionally binding, full-bodied humanity -- to the victims of police brutality and the families and friends they leave behind. The scenarios that revolve around the shooting are achingly routine -- unarmed African American, the media's push to blame the victim, a lax investigation, and a lack of charges or convictions. However, set against the backdrop of typical teen life, of community and family life, the consequences of the officer's actions and the actions others take after the tragedy take on a life and power beyond what any think piece or talking points on the subject could achieve.

The characters in the book are rich, complex, and fully developed. They feel like family, friends, and neighbors, and they give those unfamiliar with life in urban centers an understanding that the setting may be specific but the human condition is the universal. The tragedy and triumph of Thomas' stellar work is that it's very real and heartbreakingly familiar. Teens will enjoy the book for its unfiltered look at life, death, grief, and social and political commentary, while parents and teachers will enjoy the book's well-written and thorough approach to a complex social issue.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how The Hate U Give discusses the media's reaction to police shootings of unarmed African Americans vs. how it reports violence against or perpetrated by white Americans. What's the difference in the language used? Whom and what does the media focus on when it reports the story? Is it fair?

How do you talk about race and other social issues with friends and family? How do you deal with friends who tell racist, homophobic, and otherwise offensive jokes? What about family members who say inappropriate things? Is it better to ignore or confront the person? What are the repercussions of each approach? What strategies could you use to make the discussion less awkward?

Discuss "the talk" -- the conversation that parents of African American and other minority kids have with their children, particularly their sons, about what to do when confronted by the police. Did your parents give you the talk? How does the conversation differ between what minority children are told and white children are told? (Do white children even have this conversation?) Do you think it's fair that there's a difference in the conversation?

Book Details

Author : Angie Thomas
Genre : Contemporary Fiction
Topics : Activism , Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
Book type : Fiction
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date : February 28, 2017
Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
Number of pages : 464
Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Awards : ALA Best and Notable Books , Coretta Scott King Medal and Honors
Last updated : January 15, 2019

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Social issues YA novels can be terrible. The Hate U Give is a stunning exception.

It’s a smart, warm-hearted book that takes on police shootings and systemic racism.

by Constance Grady

The Hate U Give is a didactic issues novel for teenagers. It is also a good book. Those two categories intersect only rarely, but The Hate U Give — a debut novel by Angie Thomas — manages the balancing act with aplomb.

Sixteen-year-old Starr grew up in a poor black neighborhood, but after she saw her best friend gunned down in a drive-by gang shooting when she was 10, her parents sent her off to a wealthy white private school.

Starr rapidly becomes an expert in code switching, saying “ew” at school and “ill” at home; dancing at school, where she knows everyone will assume she’s cool because she’s black, and observing at home, where she would have to work harder to earn her coolness. At school, she hangs out in a white girls’ clique and laughs about her middle school obsession with the Jonas Brothers. At home, she hangs out at her father’s grocery store and talks about how Drake is her future husband.

But all of Starr’s careful work to keep her two worlds separate falls apart when a police officer shoots her childhood friend, Khalil, in front of her. It’s the latest police shooting of an unarmed black man, and the case becomes a national scandal. Starr is the only witness.

At school, her friends talk about how Khalil was a drug dealer who probably deserved it. At home, gangs use Khalil’s death as an excuse to expand their turf wars. Whenever Starr talks to the police, she has to remember that one of them shot her friend and then held her at gunpoint. It’s a vivid, intimate portrait of how systemic racism works to forbid Starr any truly safe space of her own — and of how she builds one anyway, with the help of her deeply supportive family.

It was probably inevitable that someone would write a YA novel about police shootings, but it was not inevitable that it would be a good book. Whenever a societal problem becomes a national obsession, some adult will write a book about it for teenagers; usually the result is a Go Ask Alice – style stew of fearmongering and breathless sensationalism.

But The Hate U Give is charming and funny and carefully crafted, and Starr’s witty, observant, pop culture–inflected voice is a delight. There’s a scene early on where she’s trying to decide how to play things with her boyfriend after a minor transgression on his part: Does she want to go full-on ’90s R&B breakup song, or should she be gentler, like a Taylor Swift song? (“No shade,” she adds, “I fucks with Tay-Tay, but she doesn’t serve like nineties R&B on the angry-girlfriend scale.”) Then it comes to her, the perfect solution: She’ll Beyoncé him.

The specificity and whimsy of ideas like the anger scale of breakup songs is what keeps The Hate U Give moving so deftly through its heavy subject matter; it stays warm and focused and grounded in character even when it’s dealing with big, amorphous ideas like systemic racism. The result is a book so thoughtful and so fun to read that you’ll want to Bruno Mars it.

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The Hate U Give #1

The hate u give, angie thomas.

454 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2017

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“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”

“A hairbrush is not a gun.”

“You can destroy wood and brick, but you can't destroy a movement.”

☆ ko-fi ★ blog ☆ twitter ★ tumblr ☆

The truth casts a shadow over the kitchen—people like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice. I think we all wait for that one time though, that one time when it ends right. Maybe this can be it.

I’ve seen it happen over and over again: a black person gets killed just for being black, and all hell breaks loose. I’ve Tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr, and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.

Momma reaches her fork onto my plate and breaks off a piece of pancake. “What is Tumblr anyway? Is it like Facebook?” “No, and you’re forbidden to get one. No parents allowed. You guys already took over Facebook.” “You haven’t responded to my friend request yet.” “I know.” “I need Candy Crush lives.” “That’s why I’ll never respond.”

“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”

“I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me?”

“He was more than any bad decision he made.”

“Don’t let them put words in your mouth. God gave you a brain. You don’t need theirs.”

Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.

What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?

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The Hate U Give Enters the Ranks of Great YA Novels

The bestselling young-adult book by Angie Thomas looks at police violence through the eyes of a teen girl.

“They finally put a sheet over Khalil. He can’t breathe under it. I can’t breathe.”

The last words of Eric Garner, adopted and amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement, echo again in the early pages of Angie Thomas’s young-adult novel The Hate U Give. By the time she’s 16, Starr Carter, the protagonist of the book, has lost two of her childhood friends to gun violence: one by a gang drive-by, and one by a cop.

As the sole witness to her friend Khalil’s fatal shooting by a police officer, Starr is overwhelmed by the pressure of testifying before a grand jury and the responsibility of speaking out in Khalil’s memory. The incident also means that the carefully built-up boundary between Starr’s two worlds begins to crumble. For years, she has spent her weekdays at a private, majority-white school, where she explains, “I’m cool by default because I’m one of the only black kids there.” Back at home, she lives with her father “Big Mav,” a former gang-member who wants to make their crime-ridden neighborhood a better place, and her mother Lisa, who wants to move away in order to keep her family safe.

Black-ish and How to Talk to Kids About Police Brutality

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Now in its third consecutive week at number one on The New York Times bestseller list for young-adult novels, Thomas’s debut novel offers an incisive and engrossing perspective of the life of a black teenage girl as Starr’s two worlds converge over questions of police brutality, justice, and activism.

Thomas’s book derives its title from the rapper Tupac Shakur’s philosophy of THUG LIFE—which purportedly stands for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody”—and it’s a motif the novel returns to a few times. The acronym tattooed across Tupac’s abdomen could be read as an embrace of a dangerous lifestyle. But, as Khalil explains to Starr, just minutes before the cop pulls them over, it’s really an indictment of systemic inequality and hostility: “What society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out.”

This question of appearance versus reality recurs throughout The Hate U Give . Starr, familiar with perceptions of her neighborhood, community, and herself, code-switches to adapt to her environment and others’ expectations. After the shooting, a new narrative—one that paints Khalil as a drug dealer threatening a cop—surfaces, but an emboldened Starr challenges this simplistic framing of her friend. The novel goes on to raise cogent and credible counter-arguments to the flattening narratives often presented by authorities and echoed by many media outlets in shooting cases involving young black males.

As a book written for teens, The Hate U Give reminds readers of just how often racialized violence is carried out against that age group (Michael Brown was 18 when he was killed; Trayvon Martin was 17; and not-yet teen Tamir Rice was 12). And it illustrates how young people of color who might speak out to defend their late friends are unfairly criticized, as happened to Rachel Jeantel when she testified against her friend Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Thomas’s novel keenly understands the dangers of defaulting to the cop/vigilante versus “thug” framing device: The deceased get put on trial, rather than their killers.

The Hate U Give has many of the markers of a typical young-adult novel, too: At times, Starr feels judged and out of place in school, she’s navigating a friendship with a “mean girl,” and is a year into her first real romantic relationship. But each of these plotlines is inevitably complicated by race. For example, Starr hides her white boyfriend from her father. “I mean, anytime he finds out a black person is with a white person, suddenly something’s wrong with them,” Starr explains. “I don’t want him looking at me like that.” She’s wary, too, of sharing her role in the investigation at school because she doesn’t trust one of her closest friends to be sympathetic to her situation, and she feels self-conscious about the easy stereotyping of her neighborhood as “the ghetto.”

Thomas’s intimate writing style and the novel’s first-person perspective taps fully into Starr’s shock, pain, and outrage during the shooting and its aftermath. As a result, The Hate U Give allows some readers to see the complexity of their lives mirrored in literature; for others who may be removed from Starr’s experience or haven’t lived through similar tragedies, it can help generate deeper understanding.

In addition to being an engagingly written story, Thomas’s novel is a vital new contribution to the white-dominated publishing industry. Lee and Low Books’s 2015 Diversity survey found that about 80 percent of industry respondents were Caucasian. And while the number of black characters in children’s books has grown over the past decade, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center found that the number of books written by black authors has held relatively steady. In 2016, out of 3,400 new children’s books counted, 278 were about African Americans—a record for 12 years of surveying. But, out of the thousands of books the center receives, the number of African American writers has hovered between 70 and 100 for the same time period.

Appealing to readers across age, not just race, is a goal for Thomas as well. In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan , she explained , “‘Young adult’ is a critical age, and I knew that if I showed Starr going through these types of things, I could provide a mirror for some young adults and a window for adults—a lot of [whom] read young adult books—who might bring open hearts to a story that I told from her perspective, when they might normally look at a topic like this and say, ‘No.’” But thanks to Thomas’s absorbing storytelling, those who read The Hate U Give will be right beside Starr, grappling with understanding entrenched prejudice, where it comes from, and what role she—and those at home—have in exposing and combatting it.

About the Author

THE HATE U GIVE

by Angie Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2017

This story is necessary. This story is important.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is a black girl and an expert at navigating the two worlds she exists in: one at Garden Heights, her black neighborhood, and the other at Williamson Prep, her suburban, mostly white high school.

Walking the line between the two becomes immensely harder when Starr is present at the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, by a white police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Khalil’s death becomes national news, where he’s called a thug and possible drug dealer and gangbanger. His death becomes justified in the eyes of many, including one of Starr’s best friends at school. The police’s lackadaisical attitude sparks anger and then protests in the community, turning it into a war zone. Questions remain about what happened in the moments leading to Khalil’s death, and the only witness is Starr, who must now decide what to say or do, if anything. Thomas cuts to the heart of the matter for Starr and for so many like her, laying bare the systemic racism that undergirds her world, and she does so honestly and inescapably, balancing heartbreak and humor. With smooth but powerful prose delivered in Starr’s natural, emphatic voice, finely nuanced characters, and intricate and realistic relationship dynamics, this novel will have readers rooting for Starr and opening their hearts to her friends and family.

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-06-249853-3

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Angie Thomas ; illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey

by Dhonielle Clayton , Tiffany D. Jackson , Nic Stone , Angie Thomas , Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon

by Dhonielle Clayton & Tiffany D. Jackson & Nic Stone & Angie Thomas & Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon

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Angie Thomas Sponsors New Writing Scholarship

SEEN & HEARD

Angie Thomas Writing Hate U Give Prequel

IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013

There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.

The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.

Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.

Pub Date: April 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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by Laura Nowlin

Sales of Print Books Fall in First Three Quarters

IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.

In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me , three characters tell their sides of the story.

Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781728276229

Page Count: 416

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

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The Hate U Give Book Review

Title: The Hate U Give Author: Angie Thomas Type: Fiction Published: 2017 Pages: 438

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

The Hate U Give is a young adult novel whose protagonist, sixteen-year-old- Starr, witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. She is shocked and deeply heart-broken, but it stirs something inside of her which makes her realise that she needs to use her voice to get Khalil’s story heard. Raising questions about race and police brutality, this book is an important insight into what is unfortunately all too much of a reality. But The Hate U Give uses Starr to make us chillingly wonder, even though Khalil’s death was wrong, what’s the chance of him ever actually receiving justice?

Everything I’d heard about this book had been great, and I knew that reading it would be enjoyable, but I think books with so much hype are always dangerous, because they have an expectation to live up to what everyone’s said. Thomas’ writing was enjoyable from the get-go and I loved Starr as a protagonist – she was realistic, as were her relationships with the other characters in the novel too.

What I also liked about this book is how empowering it felt; Starr obviously has to go through a horrible ordeal, but through it, you can see the way she realises things about the world around her, and about how she should use her experience to help other people, and more importantly, get justice for her friend. Throughout the course of the novel, you see her grow from a young person, into someone who is a force to be reckoned with.

Obviously this book is great for showcasing black culture, but it was also disconcerting to read; when Starr says that at 12-years-old, her parents taught her sex education, and what to do if she’s stopped by the police, as a white reader, this felt unnerving to read when you realise that it’s the reality for black children growing up in America.

Unfortunately, while reading, I couldn’t get away from the feeling that the whole thing just felt quite long. It was 438 pages, and usually YA novels are great for the speed in which you can read them. However, there were unnecessarily long sections of dialogue, and I thought all the scenes were all dragged out slightly, and so overall, it was about 50 pages too long.

This is an important story to read regardless of how much I did or didn’t enjoy the writing style, and for that I think it’s worth picking up. Starr is an interesting character and I like how much it sheds a light on a situation which is all too familiar in real life. I also love how Thomas, like Starr, has used her position to start a conversation and try and make a change, which I think is one of the reasons reading, and books, are so great, so for that, this book is very commendable.

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Book Review: “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give is a timely, character-driven story packed with moments of fear and love, heartbreak and humor set in Garden Heights, its title born from a Tupac quote. Starr Carter has seen more death than her young years should allow, with lives discarded in the crossfire of a messed up social hierarchy. Witnessing another moment of brutality, Starr finds herself forced to confront the systematic racism within law enforcement and the wider culture it serves.

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl’s struggle for justice.

What Charlie thought:

With a sharply honest, heartbreaking, humorous, and engaging writing style, you can’t help but keep turning the page to find out what happens next. It will crack you up and break you down with its razor-sharp insight and clever tongue.

Starr is drawn in a startlingly clear first-person narrative, with code-switching dialogue woven throughout Thomas’s powerful prose to show Starr both at home amidst family and in the halls of the predominantly white school she attends. Starr herself is a multifaceted protagonist who shows a real teenage spirit, at once tender-hearted, sweetly loyal, funny, flawed, justifiedly tired, hurting, smart, fiercely brave, and demanding of justice. Angie Thomas’s fearless narrative offers a steady gaze at white complacency while centering its black protagonist with familiarity and understanding. It interlaces its serious moments with music, excellent kicks, and a tongue click at and a shrewd eye for mainstream pop culture. Looking at Starr’s dad’s take on Potter Houses and gang mentality will change your life. Starr’s final battle will steal the breath from your lungs.

You will be incredibly moved, horrified, enraged, and energized by this much-needed story. It is full of tears and laughter, unfettered fears and furious joy, family and friendship. For fans of All American Boys , Noughts & Crosses , Allegedly , Orangeboy , and Terror Kid. Movie rights have been sold to Fox, with Amandla Stenberg to star. Put it at the top of your 2017 reading list and share it with all.

I asked fellow blogger Sahina to share her thoughts with us as well, for a more in-depth review. Stay alert for spoilers ahead.

What Sahina thought:

Holy mother of feels. This book. This book. THIS BOOK. Can you tell my nose is flaring, I’m breathing hard like my fat-cat-Garfield-like-self? That rarely happens, except for when I finish a book and feel like I’m about to spontaneously combust. But less about my internal emotions and more about this book.

While this may be one book, there are so many stories told within it. So, so many. A story about racism. About stereotyping. About our current social climate. About interracial couples. About friendship and loyalty. Family. (Has the word “about” started to lose all meaning to you too? About time, eh?)

Angie Thomas has written one of the most relevant, moving, and fiercely powerful stories of this year, of many years even. She’s given a solid, authentic, and undeniably moving voice to a movement, to a group of marginalized and hurt people who are being killed in broad daylight at the hands of the system meant to protect and serve – simply because of the color of their skin. As a Muslim woman myself, who wears a hijab, I have had my fair share of verbal abuse, endless streams of stereotyping, and rude comments, but the plight of black people, the plight born and raised in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, is far more dangerous and, horrifically, far too common. There are many, MANY groups of people, races, and faiths, that are marginalized and abused – but in this current day and age, none more so than Muslims and black people. Yet if you put one of each in a car in current-day America, who do you think is more likely to be stopped, stereotyped on the spot as a thug, and shot at for no reason?

There’s so much in this book that makes you sit up and take notice, really hone in on what’s going on, both on the surface and under the radar. Angie takes on a lot of really hot topics, and despite being a debut author, with her flawlessly on-point narrative and honest commentary through her character of Starr, shines (pun intended) light on issues such as the drug industry and the vicious cycle of damage it causes in black neighborhoods. These “thugs” in her story are mostly borne of unfortunate circumstances and poor prospects for their future, which pushes them into this cycle and never lets them leave. The media, its representation of minorities, and the tragic way in which it can distort reality, makes people see and believe what it wants them to, sometimes without even saying a word. Racism, the many faces of it, whether intentional or not – like even a simple comment about fried chicken being thrown out there – is racism. You may not be a racist person, but that sure as hell doesn’t stop you from making racist remarks. Intentional or unintentional, it’s racism, white privilege, and prejudice at its best.

At the heart of it all is the issue of police brutality, how all it takes is one single misinterpreted moment for your life to literally come crashing down around you. For your life to be taken . And all you will hear about it is the race of the person killed, the color of their skin, their age, and their stereotyped persona – in that order. Black teenager, aged 18, killed in connection with suspected drug cartel and in possession of a gun. Often not even a name, no mention at all that they might have been a straight-A student, a kind boy who helped around the neighborhood, unless of course it’s a white person. In which case their name, followed by their many accomplishments and possibilities of a scholarship or promising athletic career, are the first things you’ll hear about. Layers and layers of positives to hide the dirty deeds of rape, or assault, or the fact that they stabbed an unarmed, innocent black person in the back simply because he was black. Can you tell I’m angry? I am. You should be too . We all should be . This story, about unarmed Khalil, is more than just a story, though brilliantly told – it’s the reality of black people in this day and age.

The characters in this story are outstanding . Every single one. Starr, her courage and fear – both go hand in hand in making her an extremely relatable, honest, and raw character to perfectly move this story forward. Her parents and family – whom I simply adored, especially her uncle – were heartwarmingly real, putting the needs and wants and safety of their children first and foremost. Her dad, whom I especially loved, was such an important character – he didn’t coddle Starr but nudged her to be her own person, to be brave, whether or not that meant putting a target on her back, because as her dad, he would always have her back and wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He wanted her safe, but he also wanted her to be honest, unafraid, unashamed, and fierce – for her voice to be heard. Starr’s uncle – a police officer himself, who bruised his knuckles on the man who dared point a gun at her. Her half-brother Seven, who jumps in the middle of a fight to protect his sister in school. These black men aren’t meant to be heroic and glorified, but rather these are what real, normal, black men are. Family men, men who love and protect – not molded to fit the stereotype of thug, gangster, druggie. Starr’s white boyfriend, Chris – though this book wasn’t about the romance, throwing that in there was another great move from the author to highlight not only the differences in Starr’s world versus Chris’s but also how, through understanding and communication, these differences and why they matter to each can strengthen a relationship.

There’s so much to say about this book – the characters, the story, the love and the loss, the feelings it gave me when reading it, and the many, MANY moments I was brought close to tears. This is such an important book that dissects facets of our society – the flaws, the pitfalls, and also the hopes for the future about human resilience and courage. But also, it’s a fantastic book in itself, written with such authenticity, from a black author, weaving together not just some of the most important parts of our history, but also bringing together a book worthy of reading and, weirdly, enjoying, as there was laughter, sadness, and so much more hidden under the many layers of this story. Characters that stand out, events and dialogues that really pack a punch – this was one hell of a debut from Angie Thomas, and I would trade my left arm to read more of her writing in the future. Believe every word of hype about this book and then some – because you will not be disappointed. You will laugh, you will learn, and you will hopefully come out the other side just a little bit more aware, a little bit more attuned, and a little bit more courageous.

You can also find Sahina’s review on her blog, Reading In Between The Lines .

Copies of this book were provided by the publisher for review.

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The Hate U Give – Book Review

Title: the hate u give author: angie thomas pages: 444 publication day: february 28th, 2017 publisher: balzer + bray format: hardcover.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Booktimistic Star Rating:

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

Riveting, emotionally fraught and heartbreakingly honest, The Hate U Give is one of the most powerful YA contemporaries I’ve read till date. You know, all the hype and attention this book has been getting, all those raving reviews, they are all true and well deserved.

Anyone who has read the premise, would know that this book is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The injustice, police brutality and racial bias for the innocent Black community is a very, very important subject that needs to be addressed and Angie Thomas has done so with a fervor that would resonate with the young minds for years to come.

The Hate U Give, written in the first person narrative, is voiced by the innocent, sixteen-year-old Starr. One night, after returning from a party with Khalil, her childhood best friend, a cop pulls them over and Starr witnesses the most distressing event of her life – the murder of non-threatening, unarmed Khalil for doing absolutely nothing wrong. The cop who stopped them, put multiple bullets into Khalil while Starr sat watching helplessly as her best friend lay bleeding and dead on the streets in the middle of the night.

“I’ve seen it happen over and over again: a black person gets killed just for being black, and all hell breaks loose. I’ve Tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr, and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

The gist of the book is how Starr deals with the consequences of this devastating tragedy. How she goes through every stage of grief, never once being able to accept that Khalil is actually gone. Her rage towards her friend’s murderer, her determination to do everything possible to get him justice, and also her unspoken fear that justice won’t be served.

Its an intense read, heavy with emotions, but along with the socio political issue that it takes into account, it is also funny and hopeful. The character dynamics is pure brilliance. Starr’s family is perhaps one of the most realistic, supportive, loving and close knit-family I’ve read about. Its commendable how smartly Angie Thomas has rendered the complex relationships amongst various people in the two worlds that Starr is caught in between – one of the rough, poor, Black neighborhood that she lives in and other of the rich White elite prep school that she attends. All characters in this book feel real and involved rather than clichéd and made up and this story, though a work of fiction is utterly close to reality.

I’d say read it, not only for its significant social message but also because its a fantastic and memorable story that deserved to be told. John Green might be right in his saying that this will be remembered as a classic of our time.

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Author Interviews

'the hate u give' explores racism and police violence.

In Angie Thomas' novel, Starr Carter lives in a gang-ravaged area and goes to a school where she's one of only a few black students. She talks with Lulu Garcia-Navarro about her book The Hate U Give .

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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This review was published in the School Library Journal January 2017 issue.

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The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner Hardcover – February 28, 2017

8 starred reviews · Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best · William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller!

"Absolutely riveting!" —Jason Reynolds

"Stunning." —John Green

"This story is necessary. This story is important." — Kirkus (starred review)

"Heartbreakingly topical." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A marvel of verisimilitude." — Booklist (starred review)

"A powerful, in-your-face novel." — Horn Book (starred review)

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Want more of Garden Heights? Catch Maverick and Seven’s story in Concrete Rose , Angie Thomas's powerful prequel to The Hate U Give.

Book 1 of 2 The Hate U Give
Print length 464 pages
Language English
Grade level 9 - 12
Lexile measure HL590L
Dimensions 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
Publisher Balzer + Bray
Publication date February 28, 2017
ISBN-10 0062498533
ISBN-13 978-0062498533
See all details

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From the Publisher

The Hate U Give

8 Starred Reviews
Junior Library Guild Selection
New York Magazine - 11 Young-Adult Books for Stoking the Feminist Fire
The Fader - 7 Writers of Color You Should be Reading in 2017
Teen Vogue - 10 Diverse Books by YA Authors of Color to Read in 2017
Entertainment Weekly - 20 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2017
Bustle - 16 Young Adult Novels to Read in 2017, According to YA Authors
Featured in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Essence, and more!

Meet the Author

Angie thomas.




Customer Reviews
Read the whole series!	Angie Thomas’s #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning debut inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, about a teen girl who is the only witness to her friend’s fatal shooting by a police officer.	The highly anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas is about a teen girl whose dreams of a career in rap music turn into a desperate necessity when her family home burns down.	Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.	Two stories, one remarkable family saga—the paperback box set of the #1 New York Times bestselling novels The Hate U Give and Concrete Rose.	An illustrated, guided journal that takes aspiring writers from idea to draft, featuring writing prompts, tips, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From school library journal.

“As we continue to fight the battle against police brutality and systemic racism in America, THE HATE U GIVE serves as a much needed literary ramrod. Absolutely riveting!” — Jason Reynolds, bestselling coauthor of ALL AMERICAN BOYS

“Angie Thomas has written a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time.” — John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

“Fearlessly honest and heartbreakingly human. Everyone should read this book.” — Becky Albertalli, William C. Morris Award-winning author of SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA

“This is tragically timely, hard-hitting, and an ultimate prayer for change. Don’t look away from this searing battle for justice. Rally with Starr.” — Adam Silvera, New York Times bestselling author of MORE HAPPY THAN NOT

“With smooth but powerful prose delivered in Starr’s natural, emphatic voice, finely nuanced characters, and intricate and realistic relationship dynamics, this novel will have readers rooting for Starr and opening their hearts to her friends and family. This story is necessary. This story is important.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Though Thomas’s story is heartbreakingly topical, its greatest strength is in its authentic depiction of a teenage girl, her loving family, and her attempts to reconcile what she knows to be true about their lives with the way those lives are depicted—and completely undervalued—by society at large.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Beautifully written in Starr’s authentic first-person voice, this is a marvel of verisimilitude as it insightfully examines two worlds in collision. An inarguably important book that demands the widest possible readership.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Pair this powerful debut with Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s ALL AMERICAN BOYS to start a conversation on racism, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“The Hate U Give is an important and timely novel that reflects the world today’s teens inhabit. Starr’s struggles create a complex character, and Thomas boldly tackles topics like racism, gangs, police violence, and interracial dating. This topical, necessary story is highly recommended for all libraries.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review)

“Thomas has penned a powerful, in-your-face novel that will similarly galvanize fans of Kekla Magoon’s How It Went Down and Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s All American Boys.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“Ultimately the book emphasizes the need to speak up about injustice. That’s a message that will resonate with all young people concerned with fairness, and Starr’s experience will speak to readers who know Starr’s life like their own and provide perspective for others.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

“In her debut novel, Angie Thomas creates what might be one of the decade’s most vivid voices in YA fiction. Though the appalling scenario depicted here is sadly familiar, Thomas’s clear and honest writing moves beyond sound bites to represent the real people and communities behind the headlines.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“The story of Starr Carter, a 16-year-old who sees her childhood best friend fatally shot by a police officer, is compelling, thought-provoking, and conversation-enabling. One readers are sure to be talking about for a long time.” — Brightly

From the Back Cover

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD STARR CARTER moves between two worlds: the poor black neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circum-stances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and un-flinching honesty.

This collector’s edition of the acclaimed, award-winning novel contains a letter from the author; the meanings behind the names; a map of Garden Heights; fan art; the full, original story that inspired the book; and an excerpt from On the Come Up .

About the Author

Product details.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Balzer + Bray; 1st edition (February 28, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062498533
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062498533
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 15+ years, from customers
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL590L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
#3 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Peer Pressure
#12 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Prejudice & Racism
#13 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Emotions & Feelings

About the author

Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still resides in Jackson, Mississippi as indicated by her accent. She is a former teen rapper whose greatest accomplishment was an article about her in Right-On Magazine with a picture included. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in Hip Hop. She can also still rap if needed. She is an inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2015, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Her debut novel, The Hate U Give, was acquired by Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins in a 13-house auction. Film rights have been optioned by Fox 2000 with George Tillman attached to direct and Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg set to star.

Customer reviews

5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 79% 15% 4% 1% 1% 79%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 79% 15% 4% 1% 1% 15%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 79% 15% 4% 1% 1% 4%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 79% 15% 4% 1% 1% 1%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 79% 15% 4% 1% 1% 1%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the book compelling, powerful, and filled with profound statements. They also say the book is devastatingly genuine, resilient, and entertaining. Readers describe the characters as awesome and the writing style as well-written and accessible. They say the pace is fast yet powerful.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book compelling, great, and important for younger readers. They also say the author did an excellent job creating living, breathing characters. Readers mention that the book is engaging throughout the entire story and very powerful.

"...This is an honest and compelling book that I hope will be around and in people’s minds for many years to come. Definitely a 5-star read for me...." Read more

"...However, Angie Thomas still did an excellent job of creating living , breathing characters and thought-provoking text that made me grab my..." Read more

"...violence will be difficult for some, but it's a well-crafted, enjoyable book that will likely inspire you to examine your own pre-existing opinions...." Read more

"...I don’t think I have a single negative to give about this book. It is wonderful – insightful, accessible, and expressive. I want everyone to read it...." Read more

Customers find the book filled with profound statements that encourage empathy and reflection. They also say the story is harrowing, devastating, and timely. Readers also say it's a great way to educate yourself on police brutality and racism. They mention that the book is riveting, raw in its heartbreak, and a powerful work of activism.

"...the aftermath of the shooting, I felt the author did an excellent job of portraying the fear , confusion, rage, and mistrust that Staar experiences..." Read more

"...Meanwhile, The Hate U Give is filled with the kind of profound statements that I never expected from young adult fiction, but they still felt..." Read more

"...it gave me a perspective I have never considered before, offered insights into a world I am not a part of, and I loved every minute of it...." Read more

"...Thomas also does an excellent job of balancing the heavy topic at the center of her book with lightness...there were parts that literally made me..." Read more

Customers find the writing style well-written, successful, and beautiful. They also say it's accessible and has the rare ability to turn horrible action into beautiful fiction.

"... Starr herself is written perfectly ...." Read more

"...Thomas did such an amazing job of making a horrible action into beautiful fiction that made you feel like you were right there...." Read more

"...It is wonderful – insightful, accessible , and expressive. I want everyone to read it. If I could give it more than five stars I would...." Read more

"...Every f***ing thing. But let me try to be more specific. I love the writing , which is brilliant and absolutely genuine...." Read more

Customers find the humor in the book engaging, joyful, and colloquial. They also say it gives flavor to the book and an authenticity. Readers also say the book is intense, relevant, realistic, powerful, and heartbreaking. They mention that it leaves the door open for a lot of discussion.

"...Also there were so many times when I felt light and joyful , and not just hopeful, but plain happy...." Read more

"...best seller because it discusses cultural conflicts in an informative yet entertaining way that makes you want to never put the book down...." Read more

"...(helping my grandson in school) found Ms Thomas to be a very worthwhile literary person for my own enrichment...." Read more

"...Every relationship is complex, important, and rewarding in its own way ...." Read more

Customers find the book brutally honest, realistic, and gritty. They also say the book is solid, page-turning, and relevant to today.

"...The Hate U Give is phenomenal. This is the brutally honest kind of book that will stay with you for a long time after having read it and perhaps..." Read more

"...the focus on police violence will be difficult for some, but it's a well-crafted , enjoyable book that will likely inspire you to examine your own pre..." Read more

"...I love the characters, who are phenomenal and so real . I love the characters’ dynamics as well, which I think is the shining point of the novel...." Read more

"...There was a lot of drama, along with good characterization , and the sorts of questions and growing up that one expects with YA...." Read more

Customers find the characters in the book awesome and excellent. They also mention that the book has depths and an exciting climax.

"...Angie Thomas still did an excellent job of creating living, breathing characters and thought-provoking text that made me grab my highlighter many..." Read more

"...It is a very rich story that brings these characters beautifully to life ...." Read more

"...I love the characters, who are phenomenal and so real. I love the characters’ dynamics as well, which I think is the shining point of the novel...." Read more

"...Overall, I felt that all of the characters were well developed , and that I saw growth in each of them throughout the book...." Read more

Customers find the book fast-paced, yet powerful. They also say the story is incredibly timely and gives a glimpse into another world.

"...This is a timely book whose importance cannot be overstated...." Read more

"...The Hate U Give is a contemporary like no other. It’s timely , relevant, eye opening, heartbreaking, and most of all: powerful...." Read more

"...This is a timely book and the sociopolitical importance of the Hate U Give cannot be underestimated, but it's more than that...." Read more

"Wow, what a great book! This book is so timely in the wake of all the shootings of young black men and the inability of law enforcement to train..." Read more

Customers find the book good for young people, teens, and BLM activists. They also say it's an amazing coming-of-age story with a strong political voice. Readers also say the book offers hope for children and all the "Gardens" in the United States.

"...She is intelligent, strong, resilient, wise-beyond her years , with a teasing, sarcastic sense of humour...." Read more

"This is a wonderful book... it is young adult fiction but important and interesting enough for adults to read as well...." Read more

"...This novel, in my opinion, is important for most teens --and even many adults--to read. Please do not falsely judge this novel before reading it...." Read more

"...have been covered, but it is for YA, so I guess it is a good book for young people , also it was an important read...." Read more

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The Hate U Give

This is Angie Thomas’ debut novel and was published in 2017. The book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

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But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

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Edgar Allan Poe Award (Mystery Writers of America)

Best young adult nominee, new york times, #1 bestseller, coretta scott king, honor (author), william c. morris, michael l. printz, national book award, boston globe, horn book award.

Ultimately the book emphasizes the need to speak up about injustice. That’s a message that will resonate with all young people concerned with fairness, and Starr’s experience will speak to readers who know Starr’s life like their own and provide perspective for others.

BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS (starred review)

A marvel of verisimilitude.

Booklist (starred review)

John Green, #1 NYT Bestselling Author of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Absolutely riveting!

Jason Reynolds, bestselling co-author of ALL AMERICAN BOYS

Fearlessly honest and heartbreakingly human. Everyone should read this book.

Becky Albertalli, William C. Morris Award-winning author of SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA

This is tragically timely, hard-hitting, and an ultimate prayer for change. Don’t look away from this searing battle for justice. Rally with Starr.

Adam Silvera, New York Times bestselling author of MORE HAPPY THAN NOT

This story is necessary. This story is important.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Heartbreakingly topical.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Pair this powerful debut with Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s All American Boys to start a conversation on racism, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

School Library Journal (starred review)

…An important and timely novel that reflects the world today’s teens inhabit… Thomas delivers an authentic plot with realistic, relatable characters.

VOYA, (starred review)

Thomas has penned a powerful, in-your-face novel.

HORN BOOK, (starred review)

Ordering Facts

Order a signed copy from Lemuria Books . For more information, call (601) 366-7619.

ISBN-10: 0062498533 ISBN-13: 978-0062498533 February 28th, 2017 by Balzer + Bray

United Kingdom : Walker Books
Australia & New Zealand : Walker Books
Germany : CBT
France : Nathan
Spanish Language : Oceano
Sweden : Natur & Kultur
Finland : Otava
Norway : Gyldendal Norsk
Denmark : Gyldendal
Brazil : Galera/Record
Italy : Giunti
Catalan Language : Grup Editorial 62
Hungary : GABO
Israel : Kinneret-Zmora Dvir
Dutch : Moon
Serbia : Urban Reads
Bosnia : BTC Sahinpasic

Collector’s Edition

This special edition includes:

a letter from Angie
the meanings behind the names
a map of Garden Heights
the full, original story that inspired the book
an excerpt from On the Come Up

Movie Tie-In Edition

movie poster art
full-color photos
Angie Thomas in conversation with Amandla Stenberg and director George Tillman Jr.

The acclaimed, award-winning novel is now a major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg, Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie, Issa Rae, and Common. Read More

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The Hate U Give (Book Review)

If I could recommend one book to read in 2021, it would be The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I picked up a copy last summer when the library reopened, and even though the book was published in 2017, it felt like it was written yesterday. It felt like it was about now.

About the Book

The Hate U Give is about a 16-year-old girl named Starr Carter who, at the beginning of the book, is living in a poorer, mostly-black neighborhood while attending a wealthy, mostly-white school. She struggles to navigate the two worlds, trying not to act “too ghetto” at school, and worrying about how her dad will react to her having a white boyfriend.

But near the beginning of the book, something terrible happens that shakes up her life: Starr’s close friend is killed by a policeman. This sparks a national protest, and while Starr is grieving her friend’s death, she also has to deal with the fact that he’s now the face of a movement. Kids at Starr’s school use his death as an excuse to cut class and protest. Gangs that hate each other decide to work together to try to prevent riots in their community. They experience tangible, untamable, community-wide grief, but it turns to anger when nobody seems to listen.

And in the middle of it all is Starr, trying to process heavy issues of race, identity, and injustice, while grieving the loss of her friend.

Positive and negative elements

The beauty of the story is that while Starr is wrestling with these issues, we, as the reader, are wrestling with them too. It’s a nuanced story, and it offers plenty of food for thought, but no easy answers.

For instance, in the book, a policeman kills Starr’s friend. When she tries to get justice, she runs up against deep flaws in the criminal justice system. But at the same time, Starr’s beloved uncle, who is also somewhat of a father figure to her, works as a police officer. And so, Starr’s feelings about the police are complicated, and we as readers empathize with that complication.

Now, as with most books, there are some content concerns you should be aware of before deciding whether or not you want to read it. It’s a young adult book, and thus contains some adult themes.

Most notably, this book both depicts racism and discusses it extensively. While this is a timely and necessary topic to explore, it’s also a heavy, hard one. There are also a number of very violent incidents in the book that are hard to read. Finally, there is some foul language and a bit of sexual content that, while not shown and not graphic, is discussed.

Interestingly, The Hate U Give is much more religious than your typical YA book. Starr’s parents have slightly different religious beliefs from each other, and vary a bit in their level of devotion, but the family prays to “black Jesus” together. Starr herself prays, although religion isn’t an enormous part of her life. However, there are side characters in the book who are devout Christians, and Starr’s friend has a religious funeral. I found it very refreshing to see Christianity depicted this way, not as something preachy, not as something evil, but just as a reality.

Overall, The Hate U Give has everything that makes a story good. The characters are interesting and nuanced, and the plot is gripping. As readers, we root for Starr, grieving with her, learning with her, and cheering her on as she finds her voice. But what I loved most about this book is that it talks about important, timely issues, but instead of telling us what to think or giving us pat answers, it shows us a story.

“Young black man killed by police.” We’ve seen this story many times. But what does it look like, not through the lens of the news, not through the lens of the protesters, but from the eyes of a 16-year-old girl who was friends with the victim? The Hate U Give answers this question, telling a beautiful, tragic, hopeful story in the process.

About the author

Emily Smucker

is an author and blogger from Oregon. Her latest book, The Highway and Me and My Earl Grey Tea , is about a year she spent traveling around the United States, living in a different Mennonite community every month. You can visit her blog at emilysmucker.com .

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Covering The Black Girl's Mainstream™

Book Review: “The Hate U Give”

By India Hill

When a gang of publishers clamor for a book and that same book is optioned as a movie — before it’s even finished — you know it’s got to be bomb! That’s exactly what happened with The Hate U Give , its title directly inspired by Tupac’s iconic “THUG LIFE” tatt and his quote, “The hate you give infants…”

Fueled by her feelings following the murder of Oscar Grant, a young, unarmed Black man killed by police in 2010, whose story was told in the film, Fruitvale Station , author Angie Thomas began work on her debut novel. Told from the point of view of 16-year-old Starr Carter, one of just two Black students at her private school, this highly anticipated release centers around the killing of Starr’s best friend Khalil by a white police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Starr, who was in the passenger seat as everything went down, is the sole witness of the shooting. At first, she doesn’t want to say anything, fearing it will put her community and her family at risk, but when Khalil is painted as a thug in the media and even by some of her classmates, she decides to speak out. Witnessing his murder and wrestling with the choice of whether to keep silent or not takes a huge toll on Starr, making her skeptical of her white friends and even her boyfriend, who is also white.

Authentically Black without trying too hard, The Hate U Give illustrates the Black community and the Black family in ways that aren’t often seen in the mainstream. It’s a book that feels at home showing the way Black people interact with each other in private, infusing aspects of African-American Vernacular English and code-switching for a very true-to-life conversational tone. And the characters themselves? All the way real. Instead of cookie-cutter clichés only used as plot devices or place holders, Angie Thomas fills her novel with well-cultivated personas that humanize the people behind the actions and circumstances.

Khalil’s murder, although fictional, is eerily familiar to real life in the way social media involvement, protests, dehumanization, injustice, and even riots are described. While some may be able to read this book in one sitting, others may feel the need to take more time. What happened following Khalil’s murder left me reliving the horror and sorrow I felt after Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, et al. The book, though, tackles the timeline in a way that is realistic but not too somber. Digestible and enjoyable, but also eye-opening.

I teared up. I got angry. I laughed out loud. The Hate U Give tugs at all your emotions and is a read you should not pass up.

This column originally appeared in Sesi’s spring 2017 issue. Subscribe here to get the current issue, on sale now.

The Hate U Give

By angie thomas.

Angie Thomas’ 2017 The Hate U Give, is a profound project that takes the themes of Black Lives Matter, police brutality and black identity and puts them all in the limelight.

Article written by Ugo Juliet

Former Lecturer. Author of multiple books. Degree from University Of Nigeria, Nsukka.

‘ The Hate U Give ’ by Angie Thomas is a gripping novel of conscience and doing what’s right in society. It follows the story of Starr, who witnessed her unarmed friend killed by a police officer on their way home from a party.

This novel is Angie’s first and best-known work . It won the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction and has since been made into a well-known film.

Spoiler-free Summary

Angie Thomas’ 2017 young-adult novel is a profoundly affecting project that takes the themes of Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and black identity and puts them in the limelight . She told the thought-provoking story of an African-American girl stuck between cultures and trying to understand whether she should keep silent or talk. However, ‘The Hate U Give’ manages to go deeper into where we are in the world today, where racism and police brutality still pervades. It emphasizes youth activism and making a hard decision to speak out whenever it is necessary.

16 year Starr Carter, the protagonist of the novel , moves between two worlds. The first is the poor black neighborhood where she lives in Greater Heights, and the fancy suburban prep school she attends at Williamson Prep. Her world shattered when her friend was shot and killed by a police officer.

Soon after that, his death became a national headline. Some people referred to him as a thug, some said he is a drug dealer and while others called him a gangbanger. Protesters took to the streets in Khalil’s name. While all this was going on, some cops and the local drug lord tried to intimidate Starr and her family into silence. But the question on everyone’s lips is this: what really happened that night?

But whatever Starr says or does not say has the potential to elevate or scatter her community. ‘The Hate U Give’ deals with a lot of societal issues but the main story is on the unlawful killing of Starr’s friend Khalil by a police officer. It also deals with the social issues and processes in which Starr and others who loved Khalil had to go through seeking justice. The plot is of great importance to the news that is usually coming out of America and the Black Lives Matter movement. This book is Young Adult Fiction, but, honestly, this novel is a must-read, and it can teach everyone so much about racism and speaking out.

Plot Summary

Spoiler alert: important details of the novel are revealed below.

A 16-year-old girl, Starr Carter attends a party in Garden Heights, an African American community where she lives. At the party, she reconnects with an old friend Khalil. When they hear some shots, Khalil flees with Starr. During the drive home, Khalil is pulled over after an unexpected turn at the traffic, and the officer, One-Fifteen, shoots and kills him. Starr is so shaken by what she has witnessed, as Khalil was unarmed.

Starr begins to have nightmares about what happened and her world is turned upside down. Nevertheless, she agrees to make a witness statement to the police. During her interrogation, Starr felt like the police wanted to justify One-Fifteen’s actions instead of punishing him for murdering an unarmed youth. This suspicion is confirmed at Khalil’s funeral when Starr learns that One-Fifteen will not be arrested which leads to violent protests.

Later on, Starr is exasperated by her white Williamson Prep friends when they stage a fake protest just to get out of class. Starr argues with her friend Hailey, who was siding the police officer, claiming that his life also matters. This happened after One-Fifteen’s father gives an interview claiming his son is the real victim. Hailey goes so far as to insinuate that maybe Khalil deserved it because he was a drug dealer.

Starr’s boyfriend, Chris, and her other friend, Maya, support her, but they still do not know she is the witness to Khalil’s murder. Starr’s father, Maverick, and Uncle Carlos work together to protect a Garden Heights teen named DeVante, whose plight reminds them of how they failed Khalil. King, the King Lords gang leader, claims Khalil as a member, but DeVante tells Starr that Khalil never joined and was selling drugs only to protect his drug addict mother from the gang.

Starr agrees to give a television interview with her face blurred out. She explained what made Khalil deal on drugs which is to protect his mother, and denies that he was a gang member. She also confesses that One-Fifteen pointed his gun at her and she wonders if he thinks he ought to have shot her as well.

Chris confronts Starr at the prom, revealing that he could tell she was the witness and asking why she could not confide in him. Starr admits that she is scared to be her true self around him, but he assures her that she is safe with him. Despite violent attempts to silence her by police or by gang members, Starr testifies in front of a grand jury in the hopes that they will indict One-Fifteen.

While they wait for the grand jury’s verdict, tensions are high. Hailey demands an apology from Starr for her poor behavior and suggests Khalil deserved to die because he was a drug dealer. Several weeks later, Starr and Chris help Seven and Kenya rescue DeVante from King’s house, where he lies beaten on the floor. Iesha, Seven and Kenya’s mother, creates a distraction to help them escape. They listen to the verdict in the car shortly after: the grand jury will not indict One-Fifteen.

Full of rage, Starr and her friends take to the streets. Starr speaks to the rioting crowd with a megaphone and throws tear gas at the police. Later, the teens end up at Maverick’s store and get trapped while it was burning. Maverick arrives in time to help get them out, and police arrest King for arson. DeVante reveals the location of King’s drug stash and agrees to testify against him so the neighborhood no longer has to live under his thumb. Starr deletes Hailey’s phone number and vows to continue using her voice to push for justice and change.

Overall there are so many different types of characters in ‘The Hate U Give’ each dealing with different issues from their background or reality such as Starr’s dad – Big Mav.

Big Mav is extremely caring, protective, funny, and just all-around lovable throughout ‘ The Hate U Give ’ and he has a story himself. He wasn’t there for Starr at the beginning of her life because he was in prison, but he turned his life around for his family. Big Mav is right in the center of it and does not want to leave his home but build it back up and regain it from the gangs whereas Starr’s uncle is on the outside having left that neighborhood and seeing any violence from a police officers point of view.

‘The Hate U Give’ is without a doubt a great book that deserves all the great reviews it’s getting. The book has so much to teach and the lessons in it have been found to be so relevant and emotional. It’s so interesting to read a Young Adult fiction book that is so relevant and hard-hitting. This book is definitely one to check out and add to your library. It’s easy to get into, blunt and you would not want to put it down.

What happened in chapter 11 of ‘The Hate U Give’ ?

In Chapter 11 of the book, Hailey’s brother, Remy, plans to protest Khalil’s death as an excuse to play hooky. Hailey is excited, even though she wasn’t happy they’re revolting because of a drug dealer. Starr was angry when finds out. She left them as she was furious that her classmates are using Khalil’s death as a break from school.

What are the main events in ‘The Hate U Give’ ?

The main events in ‘The Hate U Give’ are when Khalil gets shot by a police officer and Starr gets interviewed by the cops. Another major event is when Starr haves another interview and they ask her if Khalil was a drug dealer and when the students of garden high star protesting because of Khalil’s death.

What does Mr. Lewis do at the end of the novel?

Mr. Lewis snitches on King, the drug lord, on live television. He was later beaten up by King Lords. At the end of the story, though, he retires and gives his store to Maverick, Starr’s father, so that Maverick can continue to be a good influence on Garden Heights.

What does Starr discover about Khalil’s gun?

Starr was worried about answering the District Attorney’s questions, especially those relating to Khalil’s gun. This is because she didn’t know if Khalil had a gun in the car. However, Ms. Ofrah assured her that he didn’t have a gun, rather, it was a hairbrush that One-Fifteen claims he mistook for a gun.

Why does Kenya apologize to Starr?

Kenya apologizes because she always calls Seven her brother instead of their brother. She was concerned that Seven was a brother to her out of obligation, instead of out of love of her in the case of Starr. She believed that Seven was ashamed of her same as Starr and Garden Heights.

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“The Hate U Give,” Reviewed: An Empathetic, Nuanced Portrait of a Teen’s Political Awakening

There’s no special merit to films that address subjects of urgent political concern, nor to ones that advocate progressive views. Sometimes such movies offer little more than fan service, of a sort that hardly differs from canonical interpretations of superhero stories designed to please hardcore followers. In skewing their drama and characters in order to stoke viewers’ responses in favor of one particular outcome, some political movies dull the emotional experience of watching. Far from advancing and reinforcing the desired view, such numbing movies suggest that the view exacts a price in vitality; viewers will decide for themselves whether the trade-off is worth it. What’s certain is that a narrow view of advocacy and a narrowed emotional range go hand in hand, and that filmmakers, in the grip of their own persuasion, often miss that connection.

“The Hate U Give,” which is in wide release this Friday, does not fall into this trap. It’s an explicitly political movie that advocates a manifestly progressive view of its subjects, but it does so with a varied emotional energy, a set of complex characters in uncertain situations, and a perspective that emphasizes the drama’s open-ended, trouble-filled engagement with society at large. It does so with a sense of balance, of heads-up alertness that suggests a dramatic type of peripheral vision—the director, George Tillman, Jr., seems to know, and to convey that when the camera is on one character or several others are present and potent, whether just out of frame or somewhere out of view but clearly exerting an unseen influence.

It’s the story of a black family living in the predominantly black Georgia neighborhood of Garden Heights and confronting, directly and personally, legally enforced and socially reinforced norms of racism—which is to say, they’re a perfectly ordinary black American family, working and living under circumstances that, as is clear from the start, would be inconceivable for a white family to face. The central character, Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), a sixteen-year-old high-school student, is also the movie’s central consciousness—her presence, her conflicts, and her voice (in the form of a retrospective voice-over) dominate the film from beginning to end. The movie, based on a novel by Angie Thomas , with a screenplay by Audrey Wells (who died earlier this month), opens with Starr’s recollection of “the talk” that her father, Maverick (Russell Hornsby), gave her and her two siblings—about how to behave if stopped by a police officer, in order not to give the officer any excuse to shoot them.

Starr was nine at the time. Her half brother was ten, and his very name, Seven, is relevant to the story’s premise: he was named by Maverick in reference to point No. 7 of the Black Panthers’ Ten-Point Program, which demanded “an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people,” and it’s precisely the police murder of a black person on which the drama of “The Hate U Give” pivots. Maverick, who owns a convenience store, and Starr’s mother, Lisa (Regina Hall), a nurse at a local hospital, arrange for Starr to attend a well-funded, predominantly white high school in a nearby community. (Starr describes the “two versions” of herself—Version One, which is her in her own neighborhood, and Version Two, which she puts forward in her school in order not to be considered “ghetto.”)

Starr Version One goes to a party with black friends in her neighborhood; when shots ring out, one of them, a young man named Khalil (Algee Smith), a lifelong friend, brings her to safety and drives her home. But during a routine traffic stop—ostensibly for a failure to signal a lane change but actually a case of a white cop catching Khalil “driving while black”—he reaches for his hairbrush, which the officer claims to believe is a gun, and shoots Khalil dead. Starr, the only witness, had started recording the arrest on her phone; ordered to put it away, she nonetheless is able to identify the officer by his badge number.

When a grand jury is convened to consider charges against the officer, Starr is asked by an attorney for Khalil’s family named April Ofrah (Issa Rae) to testify. But, as Starr knows, Khalil had been a newbie small-time drug dealer (because his family faced a catastrophic failure of the safety net) and was working for a local kingpin named King (Anthony Mackie), who pressures—and threatens—her not to testify. What’s more, Starr also faces pressure from the local police and their allies not to testify. To complicate matters, Maverick is King’s former “right-hand man.” He served three years in jail for a crime committed by King—the deal being that, after his release, he’d be released from the gang. Maverick wants Starr to testify; Lisa, however, who fears King’s gang (the King Lords), as well as the police, wants to protect Starr above all, and to keep her from testifying.

The drama is sharply delineated, the conflict clearly drawn—but Wells’s script sets them in motion by means of a wide array of complicating subplots and contextualizing incidents, which Tillman balances nimbly, energetically, and perceptively. There’s Starr’s relationship with Chris (K. J. Apa), her boyfriend, a white classmate; her friendships with other classmates, white and Asian; her relationships with her younger brother, Sekani (TJ Wright), with Seven (Lamar Johnson), and with Seven’s other half sister, Kenya (Dominque Fishback); her relationship with her uncle, Carlos (Common), who’s a police officer; and there’s the media factor, which plays a role in all of these relationships. The killing of Khalil is major local news, widely reported on television—though, because she is a minor, Starr’s identity is concealed, including from her friends.

What’s more, these media accounts are themselves a defining aspect of the movie’s societal landscape: the depiction of Khalil, the obsession with his criminal behavior, the depiction of his family, the depiction of protests that erupt after his killing, the representation of the Garden Heights community, the questions posed in interviews by a Barbie-like TV reporter are all implicated in the story. Similarly, attempts by the police to prevent residents from recording officers’ actions are also elements of the drama; so is the oppressive prevalence of gun violence on the part of the drug-dealing gang and the endemic, menacing presence of guns in the homes of law-abiding citizens as well; so is local activism, the urgency of protest, and police repression of it.

There’s also a plethora of social context in the film, regarding both Starr’s personal and familial backstory and the political framework within which Maverick is raising the family. (He instills his children with political ideals by way of a quasi-military but nonthreatening discipline.) Lisa—who nonetheless shares Maverick’s larger ideals—inculcates in the children a practical and fundamentally apolitical route to success. Despite Starr’s painful efforts to meet the unfair expectations of her white classmates, she meets with a wide range of uncomprehending judgments ranging from oblivious to insidious. The vectors of frustration, rage, and despair that rack the black residents of Garden Heights are echoed, wrongly and prejudicially, in the media in ways that only aggravate the hostility that the residents face.

The very title of the film, borrowed from the late Tupac Shakur’s explanation of his album titled “Thug Life”—The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody—highlights the cycle of damage caused by racism. The phrase, like the film, unambiguously asserts that racist practices and attitudes, whether official or merely habitual, are the underlying engine of the movie’s very action. The movie isn’t a bold or bracing work of stylistic originality; rather, it’s one in which a familiar manner is expanded and elevated by way of insight and sensibility. “The Hate U Give” is the rare movie that puts the background into the foreground—that integrates its characters’ personal struggles and dreams with a wide and clearly observed political and historical environment. Its unstinting vigor and empathetic but unsentimental nuance mark it as a distinctive and exceptional political film.

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The Hate U Give Is an Incredibly Powerful Contemporary Epic

The Hate U Give opens with a father giving his children The Talk — not the birds and the bees, but the heartbreaking one parents of black children eventually must have about how not to get killed by the police. It’s a scene we’ve seen a few versions of at the movies this year, and a scene we will likely see many more times in the coming years, and isn’t any less emotionally charged for that. But the fact that The Hate U Give , based on the novel by Angie Thomas, opens with it rather than building up to it, tells you something about how much it’s ready to unpack over its dense, almost consistently compelling two-plus hours. At its heart, it’s the story of one girl internalizing the threat of racial violence that shapes every aspect of her life. The Talk is the ground floor, and director George Tillman Jr. and writers Audrey Wells and Tina Mabry let a hundred more questions and debates grow out of it.

The father is Maverick Carter (a mighty and heartfelt Russell Hornsby), and the middle child is Starr (Amandla Stenberg), who we catch up with some seven years later as a teenager. She lives with her parents and two siblings in Garden Heights, a poor black neighborhood in an unspecified city in the southern United States. Maverick is a reformed drug dealer who now runs a local corner shop; her mother Lisa (Regina Hall) works at the hospital. In a heavily voiced-over opening act that I suspect is largely lifted from Thomas’s novel, Starr introduces us to her world, and the different forces that operate within it: the local businesses and characters, the gangbangers (led by a stony, menacing Anthony Mackie), and the kids she’s grown up with since she was a baby.

Contrasting — quite literally — with all this is Starr’s school life. Due to an incident at her local high school that is not immediately made clear to us, Maverick and Lisa have sent their children to a largely white, affluent private high school. She’s seen stuffing her hoodie in her bag and kissing her white boyfriend (K.J. Apa) and deflecting her classmates efforts to be “down” with her. Starr’s code-switching could provide plenty of material for a novel on its own, but it’s very internal stuff for a mainstream film to tackle, and the narration Wells and Mabry depend on in this section borders on overkill. There are visual cues, as well: When Starr is at school, the light temperature goes almost comically cool, as if the rich neighborhood isn’t merely on the other side of town but in a different weather system altogether. The effect is that of an environment devoid of warm-blooded empathy; it also has the side effect of making everyone, including Starr, look whiter.

Starr is more or less able to reconcile these two modes of her life, albeit with some uneasiness. But everything is turned upside down when, after a party that turns violent, she and her childhood friend and crush Khalil (Algee Smith) are stopped in his car by a police officer. Starr has had this situation drilled into her from childhood, but Khalil is less willing to put his head down and hands on the dash. Tillman’s direction here is so crisp and effective and heartbreaking, a barrage of life-or-death moments that flash by with utter clarity in the rush of adrenaline. And the unbearably tense scene ends in tragedy.

The rest of the film deals with the aftermath of Khalil’s killing — in her two communities, and in Starr’s own heart. There are many moments that seek to underline the increasing differences in the two worlds Starr inhabits, but the one that I found most haunting comes well along in her radicalization, after she has posted an image of Emmett Till on her Tumblr page. (While other films use social media as shorthand for a mob energy either for good or ill will, The Hate U Give is better at fleshing out the ways in which a thing someone posts or likes can be incredibly formative, especially during adolescence.) Starr gets a call from her boyfriend, and as she picks up her phone, the focus shifts and K.J. Apa’s CW smile shines from the caller ID over Till’s bloated, disfigured face. There are images that are simply foreign to her classmates, no matter how much of a good, not-all-white-boys boy Chris is.

Amandla Stenberg in real life has been a forceful young voice for social justice, which is why her performance as Starr is surprising at first: methodical and withdrawn throughout so much of the grieving and thinking process, taking in everything around her, measuring it against her own feelings and experience. For much of the film, Starr is a person that watches things, not a person that makes things happen, or that things really directly happen to. But when she finally decides to invest herself in the fight for justice for Khalil, Stenberg becomes a force of nature, and the film has done such a good job of emphasizing all that is at stake for her that her performance is all the more earned and real.

Again, there are so many movies that have tackled the territory that The Hate U Give deals with — “same story, another name,” says Issa Rae’s activist lawyer during the memorial service for Khalil. There will likely be many more, but the how of Tillman, Mabry, and Wells’s telling distinguishes their story. The Hate U Give should be an epic, and it is: Yes, it’s a teen melodrama, but it’s also an elegantly constructed piece of world-building, a love story, a family history, a sociological spiderweb of cause and effect of the hate referenced in the Tupac-coined titled. If this is what the next wave of YA adaptation will feel like, we are in a good place.

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COMMENTS

The Hate U Give Book Review
Parents need to know that Angie Thomas' New York Times best-selling book The Hate U Give won a 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Honor, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the Odyssey Award for best audiobook for kids and teens. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, it involves the police shooting of an unarmed black teen.
The Hate U Give book review: Angie Thomas's debut stuns
The Hate U Give is a didactic issues novel for teenagers. It is also a good book. Those two categories intersect only rarely, but The Hate U Give — a debut novel by Angie Thomas — manages the ...
The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1) by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
The Hate U Give Enters the Ranks of Great YA Novels
Thomas's intimate writing style taps fully into Starr's shock, pain, and outrage during the shooting and its aftermath. The Hate U Give has many of the markers of a typical young-adult novel ...
The Hate U Give Review: An Engaging and Strong Plotline
The Hate U Give Review 'The Hate U Give' is a book that you're going to love. From its opening lines to the struggles Starr Carter had in the book, a reader is met with constant twists and turns. The issue of police brutality and racism is widely addressed. Other contemporary issues like racial profiles were widely discussed in the book.
THE HATE U GIVE
Kirkus Prize. finalist. New York Times Bestseller. IndieBound Bestseller. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is a black girl and an expert at navigating the two worlds she exists in: one at Garden Heights, her black neighborhood, and the other at Williamson Prep, her suburban, mostly white high school. Walking the line between the two becomes ...
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give. by Angie Thomas. Publication Date: September 4, 2018. Genres: Fiction. Hardcover: 512 pages. Publisher: Balzer + Bray. ISBN-10: 0062872346. ISBN-13: 9780062872340. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends.
All Book Marks reviews for The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Read Full Review >>. Rave Constance Grady, Vox. The Hate U Give is a didactic issues novel for teenagers. It is also a good book. Those two categories intersect only rarely, but The Hate U Give — a debut novel by Angie Thomas — manages the balancing act with aplomb ... It was probably inevitable that someone would write a YA novel about ...
The Hate U Give Book Review
The Hate U Give Book Review. "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.". The Hate U Give is a young adult novel whose protagonist, sixteen-year-old- Starr, witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. She is shocked and deeply heart-broken, but ...
Book Review: "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give is set to become a modern classic, a stunning contemporary read that captures with unflinching insight the current climate for growing up young and black in America, from the creative voice of an author who has lived and breathed what she writes. The most highly anticipated book of 2017, the debut YA novel from author Angie ...
The Hate U Give
Review: "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.". Riveting, emotionally fraught and heartbreakingly honest, The Hate U Give is one of the most powerful YA contemporaries I've read till date. You know, all the hype and attention this book has been getting, all those ...
'The Hate U Give' Explores Racism And Police Violence
The book is called "The Hate U Give." It's a hotly anticipated book. It's gotten rave reviews, and it's Angie Thomas' debut novel. She joins us now from Jackson, Miss. Welcome to the program.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
THOMAS, Angie. The Hate U Give. 464p. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray. Feb. 2017. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780062498533. Gr 8 Up -After Starr and her childhood friend Khalil, both black, leave a party together, they are pulled over by a white police officer, who kills Khalil. The sole witness to the homicide, Starr must testify before a grand jury that will decide whether to indict the cop, and she's ...
The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner
Amazon.com: The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner: 9780062498533: Thomas, Angie, Stenberg, ... — Horn Book (starred review) "Ultimately the book emphasizes the need to speak up about injustice. That's a message that will resonate with all young people concerned with fairness, and Starr's experience will speak to readers who know Starr ...
The Hate U Give
Summary. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
The Hate U Give (Book Review)
Overall, The Hate U Give has everything that makes a story good. The characters are interesting and nuanced, and the plot is gripping. As readers, we root for Starr, grieving with her, learning with her, and cheering her on as she finds her voice. But what I loved most about this book is that it talks about important, timely issues, but instead ...
Book Review: "The Hate U Give"
The book, though, tackles the timeline in a way that is realistic but not too somber. Digestible and enjoyable, but also eye-opening. I teared up. I got angry. I laughed out loud. The Hate U Give tugs at all your emotions and is a read you should not pass up. This column originally appeared in Sesi's spring 2017 issue.
Book Review: "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give follows the flawed character Starr, a 16-year-old black girl dealing with real black girl problems. Not only does she live in an inner-city American neighbourhood that is both poor ...
The Hate U Give Summary
Author of multiple books. Degree from University Of Nigeria, Nsukka. ' The Hate U Give ' by Angie Thomas is a gripping novel of conscience and doing what's right in society. It follows the story of Starr, who witnessed her unarmed friend killed by a police officer on their way home from a party. This novel is Angie's first and best ...
"The Hate U Give," Reviewed: An Empathetic ...
Richard Brody reviews "The Hate U Give,"directed by George Tillman, Jr., and starring Amandla Sternberg, an explicitly political movie that advocates a manifestly progressive view of its subjects.
'The Hate U Give'
The story starts with Starr going to a party in her neighborhood with her half brother, Seven's sister Kenya. Starr feels isolated at the party and ends up reconnecting with her childhood best ...
The Hate U Give Review
There will likely be many more, but the how of Tillman, Mabry, and Wells's telling distinguishes their story. The Hate U Give should be an epic, and it is: Yes, it's a teen melodrama, but it ...

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