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Snitchers
Nia Barnes is preparing to enter high school and trying to stay on her mama's good side. Life in their small Midwestern city hasn't been the same since her father was shot down in the middle of the night with no witnesses. The unsolved murder has haunted Nia ever since, driving her love of detective novels and true crime stories. And the violence isn't just where she lives--it's everywhere. Nia can't stand that nothing can stop it.
When the little boy she babysits is caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting, it devastates Nia, her friends, and the community. She and her best friends Dontay and Miracle Ruth want to do more than be sad and afraid. The trio secretly sets out to find who murdered Little Petey and get him justice. They look up police reports and listen to the conversations of their elders; they try to follow suspects the way Nia's favorite teen detectives might. But the search for truth isn't straightforward, especially when you're somewhere between being kids and adults, and people want peace but are afraid to talk. If Nia and her friends solve the crime, more people might end up dead. Is that justice? Should they still try?
Writer and filmmaker Stephane Dunn makes her YA debut with this endearing, heart-wrenching novel about loss, truth, and the reality of violence in communities everywhere.
When the little boy she babysits is caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting, it devastates Nia, her friends, and the community. She and her best friends Dontay and Miracle Ruth want to do more than be sad and afraid. The trio secretly sets out to find who murdered Little Petey and get him justice. They look up police reports and listen to the conversations of their elders; they try to follow suspects the way Nia's favorite teen detectives might. But the search for truth isn't straightforward, especially when you're somewhere between being kids and adults, and people want peace but are afraid to talk. If Nia and her friends solve the crime, more people might end up dead. Is that justice? Should they still try?
Writer and filmmaker Stephane Dunn makes her YA debut with this endearing, heart-wrenching novel about loss, truth, and the reality of violence in communities everywhere.
- GenresMysteryYoung Adult
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 20, 2022
3 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 24, 2025
3.25
this book has some great bones and is worth reading but this book is written like a middle grade and its cover looks middle grade but would have benefited from being firmly young adult. The tone is sometimes far too light for the heavy subject matter it is dealing with. And this book doesn't go onto enough detail about complexity of the crime ridden community it takes place in. I did enjoy a contemporary story about neighborhoods that don't get a lot representation in literature and thats what kept me reading. I like the characters and the world. It just needed a little more editing.
this book has some great bones and is worth reading but this book is written like a middle grade and its cover looks middle grade but would have benefited from being firmly young adult. The tone is sometimes far too light for the heavy subject matter it is dealing with. And this book doesn't go onto enough detail about complexity of the crime ridden community it takes place in. I did enjoy a contemporary story about neighborhoods that don't get a lot representation in literature and thats what kept me reading. I like the characters and the world. It just needed a little more editing.
December 23, 2024
What if Nancy Drew lived in a tough crime-ridden neighborhood? Nia is a black Nancy Drew. Instead of Bess and George, she has Miracle Ruth and Dontay to help her find the clues and solve the mystery of who shot and killed Little Petey one early summer morning.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review as a possible future Maud Hart Lovelace Award nominee.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review as a possible future Maud Hart Lovelace Award nominee.
May 1, 2024
If you're looking for a black Nancy Drew book, then Snitchers is a perfect fit for you. When five year old Little Petey is shot in his front yard, Nia is beside herself. If only she had been there a few minutes earlier. She was on her way to babysit him when he got caught in crossfire and became an unintentional casualty. Nia convinces her two best friends Miracle Ruth (love the name) and Dontay that they have to to do something, they have to find out who shot Petey so he can have justice. This is very personal for Nia because not only was she close with Petey, but her own father was murdered a few years prior and no one had ever been convicted. She wants justice for her loved ones and her neighborhood. Obviously, they decide to conduct their investigation in secret because no sane adult would let them be involved in something so dangerous - they are just getting ready to enter high school for goodness sakes! Memorable characters, minor cussing, and improbable plot. I would read more by this author!
February 6, 2023
The moment I saw the title of Stephane Dunn’s book, the phrase, “snitches get stitches” popped into my head. As a former middle school English teacher, I would hear the phrase the moment a student believed another student was going to tattle-tell. The “stitches” meant the student who tattled was going to get jumped by a group of kids.
However, in Snitchers, the stakes are much higher.
Friends Nia, Miracle Ruth, and Dontay, all have one commonality. They aren’t being raised by both of their parents. Nia’s dad was at the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed. Dontay’s mom died from an illness. Miracle Ruth doesn’t know who her dad is, and her mom is lost to life on the streets. Even their other close friend Fernando, who switched schools, was being raised by his aunt because his parents died when he was three.
Nia does not know exactly what happened to her dad. She knows he was shot, but they never found the killer. The lack of closure haunts her.
Unfortunately, tragedy seemed to be part of her childhood. Another tragedy struck close to home when little five-year-old Petey, a child she babysat, was shot and killed.
Petey’s death was one too many for Nia, so she decided to recruit her friends to help her solve his murder while avoiding getting “stitches” … the ones that put you 6 feet under.
This book gave me Angie Thomas The Hate U Give vibes. Even though this story did not center a police officer killing a kid, it still touched upon similar themes when it comes to the impact of violence on the ones left behind.
There was great character development for the protagonist Nia and her friend Miracle Ruth. Dontay; however, needed a bit more development. I felt like I knew Nia’s mom and grandmother as well as Miracle Ruth’s grandmother better than Dontay, who along with Miracle Ruth, was helping Nia solve Petey’s murder.
Another person the reader knows more about than Dontay was Alima. One year, Nia’s class had pen pals. Even after that school year ended, Nia and Alima kept writing to each other. Alima lived in Al-Khader, a city close to Bethlehem. Almost every chapter ends with one of the girls’ letters to each other. Like Nia and her friends in the US, Alima has also lost a parent.
The girls writing to each other was my favorite part of the novel. At the end of each chapter, I looked forward to reading how these girls were processing the violence in their respective locations. These letters added an unexpected depth to the book.
Unfortunately, solving Petey’s murder was not as interesting as I hoped it would be. I kept waiting for the main plot to pick up, but it stayed slow and steady. It was 315 pages of that pace. The red herring of who could be possibly be involved with the murder was easy to spot. I also guessed who committed the crime way before the book ended. I kept reading to confirm my suspicion, not because the plot compelled me forward.
However, I do believe some children will enjoy this book especially if they like books like the Bluford High series. If teens figure out who the shooter is as early as I did, I fear they will flip to the end to confirm and quit reading.
I had hopes at the beginning of the novel, that at some point, the book would teach the lesson that we have to move beyond staying quiet and we must speak up for violence to end. That message sort of came through at the end but not as strong as I had hope.
One more note …
Because I’m a former teacher, I have to note that there is some profanity in a few chapters and the n-word was used. Because I love YA, I can tell you profanity happens in some YA books, and I think Dunn had the right balance when it came to inserting profane words into the narrative.
I hope other readers will reflect upon their own neighborhoods and what they can do to keep their community safe.
I’ll end this review with a quote from the book that resonated with me.
“Somewhere children must play in the sun with no bullets or walls to fear.”
However, in Snitchers, the stakes are much higher.
Friends Nia, Miracle Ruth, and Dontay, all have one commonality. They aren’t being raised by both of their parents. Nia’s dad was at the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed. Dontay’s mom died from an illness. Miracle Ruth doesn’t know who her dad is, and her mom is lost to life on the streets. Even their other close friend Fernando, who switched schools, was being raised by his aunt because his parents died when he was three.
Nia does not know exactly what happened to her dad. She knows he was shot, but they never found the killer. The lack of closure haunts her.
Unfortunately, tragedy seemed to be part of her childhood. Another tragedy struck close to home when little five-year-old Petey, a child she babysat, was shot and killed.
Petey’s death was one too many for Nia, so she decided to recruit her friends to help her solve his murder while avoiding getting “stitches” … the ones that put you 6 feet under.
This book gave me Angie Thomas The Hate U Give vibes. Even though this story did not center a police officer killing a kid, it still touched upon similar themes when it comes to the impact of violence on the ones left behind.
There was great character development for the protagonist Nia and her friend Miracle Ruth. Dontay; however, needed a bit more development. I felt like I knew Nia’s mom and grandmother as well as Miracle Ruth’s grandmother better than Dontay, who along with Miracle Ruth, was helping Nia solve Petey’s murder.
Another person the reader knows more about than Dontay was Alima. One year, Nia’s class had pen pals. Even after that school year ended, Nia and Alima kept writing to each other. Alima lived in Al-Khader, a city close to Bethlehem. Almost every chapter ends with one of the girls’ letters to each other. Like Nia and her friends in the US, Alima has also lost a parent.
The girls writing to each other was my favorite part of the novel. At the end of each chapter, I looked forward to reading how these girls were processing the violence in their respective locations. These letters added an unexpected depth to the book.
Unfortunately, solving Petey’s murder was not as interesting as I hoped it would be. I kept waiting for the main plot to pick up, but it stayed slow and steady. It was 315 pages of that pace. The red herring of who could be possibly be involved with the murder was easy to spot. I also guessed who committed the crime way before the book ended. I kept reading to confirm my suspicion, not because the plot compelled me forward.
However, I do believe some children will enjoy this book especially if they like books like the Bluford High series. If teens figure out who the shooter is as early as I did, I fear they will flip to the end to confirm and quit reading.
I had hopes at the beginning of the novel, that at some point, the book would teach the lesson that we have to move beyond staying quiet and we must speak up for violence to end. That message sort of came through at the end but not as strong as I had hope.
One more note …
Because I’m a former teacher, I have to note that there is some profanity in a few chapters and the n-word was used. Because I love YA, I can tell you profanity happens in some YA books, and I think Dunn had the right balance when it came to inserting profane words into the narrative.
I hope other readers will reflect upon their own neighborhoods and what they can do to keep their community safe.
I’ll end this review with a quote from the book that resonated with me.
“Somewhere children must play in the sun with no bullets or walls to fear.”
September 21, 2022
Nia’s just a few minutes late to her job babysitting five year old Little Petey; when she arrives he’s lying by his bike in his front yard, dead from a drive-by shooting. Nia’s dad died from gun violence a few years earlier and gunfire is common in her community so Petey’s death fills Nia with guilt, anger, and determination. It’s the summer before they all start high school and best friends Miracle Rose and Dontay have time to join mystery book loving Nia to try to find the murderer. Dunn’s description is especially vivid and effective - Petey’s funeral at church and Nia’s mom’s beauty shop help bring the story to life. I loved the way Nia had to struggle to make sense of the clues she found and that they did not snap together easily as in a detective show on TV. EARC from Edelweiss.
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August 4, 2023I liked the general premise of the book, but I really wish there had been some acknowledgment of why communities of color, particularly those beset by violence, don’t trust police—and that they are often brutalized by police as well.
July 15, 2022
This would have been better as an adult book about a coming-of-age story.
August 14, 2023
Well written YA with a sad story but a good message. We love representation!!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews