LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
Awarded the Amnesty CILIP Honour commendation from the Carnegie shortlist 2018 | Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2018 | One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award | April 2017 Debut of the Month |
Stunning, vital wake-up call of a novel about racism, social inequality and not giving up told through the eyes of an incredible, unforgettable sixteen-year-old.
Starr straddles two very different worlds. She has one foot in Garden Heights, a rough neighbourhood ruled by gangs, guns and dealers, and the other in an exclusive school with an overwhelmingly wealthy white student population. One night she’s at a party when gunshots are fired and Khalil, her friend since childhood, takes her to his car for safety. Khalil is unarmed and poses no threat, but he’s shot dead by an officer right in front of her. It will take a lot of courage to speak to the police, and to face the media who choose to highlight that Khalil was a “suspected drug dealer”, while omitting to mention that he was unarmed. But, with their neighbourhood under curfew and a tank on the streets, Starr risks going public. Danger escalates as the hearing approaches (and beyond), but Starr isn’t about to give up fighting for Khalil, and for what’s right.
Alongside the intense struggles and conflicts faced by Starr’s family and community, there are some truly heart-melting moments between Starr and her white boyfriend Chris (their shared love of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is super cute), and also between Starr and her parents. Complex, gripping, stirring and so, so important – I can’t recommend this remarkable debut enough.
Joanne Owen
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About
The Hate U Give Synopsis
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 novel about one girl's struggle for justice.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781406387933 |
| Publication date: |
9th August 2018 |
| Author: |
Angie Thomas |
| Publisher: |
Walker Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
437 pages |
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Press Reviews
Angie Thomas Press Reviews
Angie Thomas has written a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time... even if you don’t love books you are going to love this book. John Green
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. Publisher's 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)
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. This story is necessary. This story is important. Kirkus (starred review)
The Hate U Give 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
Author
About Angie Thomas
Angie Thomas was born and raised in a tough neighbourhood in Jackson, Mississippi where gunshots were a frequent refrain. The library became her sanctuary; a place where she could escape into fantastical, magical worlds.
“I still remember the first time I travelled to Narnia, the first time I met Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which; the first time I rode a broom with the boy with the lightning scar.”
Yet these magical worlds never included girls who looked like her; or reflected her culture. It led her to believe that books weren’t for kids like her. She knew then that she didn’t want any other child to feel that way. She pursued a writing career and was the first Black teenager to graduate from her creative writing course at Belhaven University. Struggling to secure an agent with her work-in-progress, Angie turned her pen to YA and contemporary stories inspired by true events.
Her debut novel The Hate U Give was published to critical and commercial acclaim around the globe – it launched straight to No.1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has remained on the list since the book’s publication in 2017. In the UK, it was an Amazon No.1 bestseller, and was awarded the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, British Book Awards’ Children’s Book of the Year and the Amnesty CILIP Honour for the Carnegie Medal. An award-winning film adaptation was released in 2018, starring Amandla Stenberg. Her second novel On The Come Up was inspired by her time as a teen rapper, and is also a New York Times bestseller and film, released in 2022 and available to stream on Paramount+.
Angie founded A Tough ACT Productions to bring Black Girl Magic and Black Boy Joy to screens and was a producer on both The Hate U Give and On The Come Up adaptations. She is also the author of Concrete Rose (2021), a prequel to The Hate U Give, and Blackout (2021), co-authored with Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon.
Find her on Instagram @angiethomas
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