A joyous experience awaits. Read it. Learn it. Love it.
This honest and unflinching story of toil, tears, and triumph is a musical love letter that proves literary lightning does indeed strike twice.
Thomas’ (The Hate U Give, 2017) sophomore novel returns to Garden Heights, but while Brianna may live in Starr's old neighborhood, their experiences couldn't differ more. Raised by a widowed mother, a recovering drug addict, Bri attends an arts school while dreaming of becoming a famous rapper, as her father was before gang violence ended his life. Her struggles within the music industry and in school highlight the humiliations and injustices that remain an indelible part of the African American story while also showcasing rap’s undeniable lyrical power as a language through which to find strength. Bri's journey is deeply personal: small in scope and edgy in tone. When Bri raps, the prose sings on the page as she uses it to voice her frustration at being stigmatized as “hood” at school, her humiliation at being unable to pay the bills, and her yearning to succeed in the music world on her own merit. Most importantly, the novel gives voice to teens whose lives diverge from middle-class Americana. Bri wrestles with parent relationships and boy drama—and a trip to the food bank so they don’t starve during Christmas. The rawness of Bri's narrative demonstrates Thomas’ undeniable storytelling prowess as she tells truths that are neither pretty nor necessarily universally relatable.
A joyous experience awaits. Read it. Learn it. Love it. (Fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-249856-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Powerful, captivating, and raw—Adeyemi is a talent to watch. Exceptional.
Seventeen-year-old Zélie and companions journey to a mythic island seeking a chance to bring back magic to the land of Orïsha, in a fantasy world infused with the textures of West Africa.
Dark-skinned Zélie is a divîner—someone with latent magical abilities indicated by the distinctive white hair that sets them apart from their countrymen. She saves Princess Amari, who is on the run from her father, King Saran, after stealing the scroll that can transform divîners into magic-wielding maji, and the two flee along with Zélie’s brother. The scroll vanished 11 years ago during the king’s maji genocide, and Prince Inan, Amari’s brother, is sent in hot pursuit. When the trio learns that the impending solstice offers the only chance of restoring magic through a connection to Nana Baruku, the maternal creator deity, they race against time—and Inan—to obtain the final artifact needed for their ritual. Over the course of the book allegiances shift and characters grow, change, and confront traumas culminating in a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installment. Well-drawn characters, an intense plot, and deft writing make this a strong story. That it is also a timely study on race, colorism, power, and injustice makes it great.
Powerful, captivating, and raw—Adeyemi is a talent to watch. Exceptional. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17097-2
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling, heart-racing mystery with a page-turning budding romance at its center.
After a woman is shockingly murdered during a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., two teens team up to find the real shooter before someone they both care about takes the fall.
Cooper King, a Black teen, has been directionless since the death of his mother, which is why he reluctantly agrees to help his mentor, Jason, loot stores during an anti–police violence protest, even though it goes against everything he was raised to believe. Cooper desperately wants to hide his involvement in the theft from his childhood friend and secret crush, Monique, a young poet, activist, and high-achieving student. But she becomes involved nonetheless after Jason, who’s her brother, is arrested for the murder. The pair are sure that Jason is innocent and resolve to clear his name by finding the culprit. Their investigation reveals a conspiratorial web of lies and relationships that complicates the potential motive and exposes the racial inequities, political corruption, and social unrest in their city. Each new clue and twist is revealed through Cooper’s and Monique’s alternating points of view, as they gradually piece together answers to an increasingly dangerous and high-stakes whodunit, all while falling in love. Brooks deftly explores the everyday growing pains of Black boyhood and girlhood alongside the threats of racial injustice and police violence faced by youths, often drawing parallels to real activists and movements.
A thrilling, heart-racing mystery with a page-turning budding romance at its center. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781250359933
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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