The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

 

Genre

I chose this book to fulfill the Printz Award requirement for grades 7th-12th.

Targeted Age Group

This book is targeted to ages 14-17.

Summary

Starr Carter, a young high schooler, witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil by a white cop. Over the course of the book, she grapples with how Khalil’s death—and what follows—affects her relationships, herself, and her commitment to speaking out against systemic racism.

Justification 

It wasn’t difficult to choose this book once I found it on the Printz honor list. I’d already heard so much about it, especially during the year 2020, which was a year defined by the Black Lives Matter movement. So, besides already being on my to-read list, I was also looking forward to reading this book for its discussion of contemporary issues, including police brutality and systemic racism. These are critical issues, and seeing how they are explored through youth literature can give insight to how these topics affect the youth audience that they represent.

Evaluation

I listened to this book on audiobook. Of the audiobooks I’ve listened to throughout my life, this will remain a favorite. The audio was performed by Bahni Turpin (2017), whose character voices, vocal range, and expressive, emotional reading made this book an incredibly moving listening experience. For my first time with this book, I’m glad I chose to do the audiobook; I believe it lent an aspect of storytelling to the reading, as if Starr was telling her story to me, the listener. If I could have done anything different with listening to the audiobook, I would try to condense my reading period to as few days as I could. With audiobooks, I usually only listen to them while driving, which is what I did with this book. I still fully enjoyed it, but for the sake of this assignment, I believe I would have benefitted from a more condensed listening period.

Starr is the protagonist of this book, and the witness to what happened the night of Khalil’s death. She is many things, among which are humorous, stubborn, thoughtful, and loving. Her reaction to the events unfolding around her and the trauma that she has experienced are portrayed realistically, especially from the perspective of a young highschooler who is trying to sort out many aspects of life. Just some of the multifaceted aspects of her character explored in this book include her experiences with racism from people at school, her favorite tv show that she shares with her boyfriend, and the fact that throughout multiple opportunities to testify and interview about what happened on the night with Khalil, she doesn’t feel brave (Thomas, 2017, pp. 82, 111, 284). The characterization that Thomas (2017) puts into Starr is thoroughly well-rounded, and serves to show the audience how Starr, as well as the other people in her life, are infinitely more than the stereotypes that are placed on them by a white supremacist society.

Next up is the plot: Thomas’ (2017) novel is well paced and well layered. The crux of the story is the murder of Khalil, whereupon multiple events roll out, whether as a result of that moment or because existing issues were exacerbated by the events, emotions, and consequences that followed that moment. Thus, the conflict in the plot of this book isn’t just the fact that Khalil was murdered; conflict is found in how Starr’s white classmates and friends react to this event, it’s in the way that the police department drags out the investigation of what happened that night, it’s in Starr’s internal conflict with what to say, who to say it to, and when and where to say it. Regarding this latter aspect of the plot, Starr, early on, muses on the act of speaking up: “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” (Thomas, 2017, pp. 34-35). From this point, we know that Starr will be working towards building up the courage needed to speak out. It comes incrementally throughout the book rather than all at once, which I think is a fantastic bit of writing from Thomas (2017). She gives Starr the time to grow throughout the book, speaking up in a variety of settings as she gathers the bravery she feels she is lacking. The way that the plot unfolds over the course of this book feels true-to-life, which will give readers the trust they need in Thomas (2017) to follow the book all the way through.

Lastly, the theme I took from this book is that justice requires ongoing action. Starr reflects on what she has learned at the end of the book, saying, “It would be easy to quit if it was just about me, Khalil, that night, and that cop. It’s about way more than that though” (Thomas, 2017, p. 443). Starr doesn’t just speak out about Khalil’s murder once; she does so several times throughout the book, each time building more courage in her words. She stands up to racism in her friendships and relationships, learns from past Black activists like Malcolm X and Black Panther leaders, addresses her own biases, and more—all along the way to seeking justice for Khalil. Most notably, she takes to heart Tupac’s words that Khalil shared with her: “‘’Pac said Thug Life stood for ‘The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody’” (Thomas, 2017, p. 17). Starr learns that in order to “un-fuck everybody,” the hate has to be addressed, has to be challenged, in order to move towards justice (Thomas, 2017, p. 432). 

Overall, I found this book to be a poignant reflection on the very real harm that racist systems, ideas, and ignorance cause in our society. I hope I get the chance to sit with this book again, and I hope you enjoy reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)!

References

Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. Balzer + Bray.

Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give (B. Turpin, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Balzer + Bray.