From the Bookshelf of The Challenge Factory…

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas

Start date: December 15, 2024

Finish date: December 31, 2024

Discussion: Archived-A Year of Banned Books

Discussion leader: Erica

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Archived-A Year of Banned Books

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* Reading List
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 97 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 04:05PM

* A Year of Banned Books Info
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 122 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 03:53PM

What Members Thought

Jun 14, 2017 Alissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, black-writers, nbrc-botm, 2017-read-books, towers-v-2017

Great book!! It takes you through all the emotions and gives you a good understanding of the issue regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. The author does an amazing job of putting you in the MCs shoes so it feels like more than just fiction.

3 likes · Like · see review

May 05, 2019 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, library, book-to-screen, contemporary, read-in-2019, diversity

Oh my, this one just hits you right in the gut. Such a good read, and I'm looking forward to her next one. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, nails it!! I highly recommend the audio. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2020 Priya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, reading-women-challenge-2020, popsugar-reading-challenge-2020, 52-books-in-52-weeks-2020

This is a book everyone should read, especially those who believe that race, colour of skin, looks or being different in some way should not affect the way people are treated.
Taking on probably the most familiar example of discrimination, racism against blacks in America, it tells a hard hitting story with a focus on police excesses against black youths.
Starr Carter straddles two totally different worlds - the all black community she lives in and the almost all white suburban prep school she att This is a book everyone should read, especially those who believe that race, colour of skin, looks or being different in some way should not affect the way people are treated.
Taking on probably the most familiar example of discrimination, racism against blacks in America, it tells a hard hitting story with a focus on police excesses against black youths.
Starr Carter straddles two totally different worlds - the all black community she lives in and the almost all white suburban prep school she attends. She has developed an alternate persona of sorts for school - talking in a certain way, never confrontational, not even using slang that white kids use in case that differentiates her from everyone else. She has friends in school, a white boyfriend and believes she is one of the crowd now.
This illusion is cruelly shattered when she witnesses her childhood friend, Khalil, being gunned down in the middle of a road by a policeman one night.
In shock and completely scared, Starr tries to get over the trauma and get on with life.
But then she realizes that absolutely no one seems to care that Khalil was murdered. He is being painted as a gang member and a drug dealer though nothing was found on his body. He was unarmed the night he was killed and did nothing to provoke the cop.
From what those she considers her friends say, Starr wonders whether Khalil deserved to die because he made some wrong choices at some point in his short, misguided life. He was just a kid!
And she also comes to the conclusion that if he has to get justice, she is the only one who can help him get it.. by using her voice to speak out about what really happened that night.
What's appalling immediately after the crime is the complete apathy of the law enforcement mechanism! Nobody cares about the victim being a kid! The fact that it was clearly prejudice and stereotyping of blacks that led to the cop's actions is completely glossed over. What's worse is the sympathy he elicits from some quarters on the basis that his life matters too, causing an enraged Starr to question why his life always matters more!
Starr knows that speaking out means consequences for her community, her family and herself. Yet what is a voice for if you keep quiet when you should use it?

This is the story of a crack in the wall of silence that surrounds crimes against people who aren't the same as the majority of others around them.
I loved Starr with all her teenage angst and quirks on one side and her strength and courage on the other, fueled by her sometimes cool, sometimes annoying, sometimes embarrassing but always loving family.
This is a story that will resonate with everyone and make people sit up and acknowledge that racism of the kind in evidence here, is a definite reality that needs to be systematically removed.

A definite must read. ...more

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