Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, this unforgettable coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots.
Los Angeles, 1992
Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.
Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids.
As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson.
With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?
Book Review
I was given and eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Changes may be made to the book between now and the publication date. Thank you Hear Our Voices Book Tour for choosing me for this book tour and Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers for gifting me with a copy of this book.
This book contains mention of suicide, police brutality, abuse, and contains mentions of the n word. Take care when reading.
This was an amazingly uncomfortable book. It was so hard to read and I loved every second of it. The fact that The Black Kids was set during the Rodney King beating as opposed to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, or even Tamir Rice did not lessen its impact or relevance.
Having worked in public libraries, I can tell you that you're likely to find five books with a black protagonist that take place in urban communities that include the various realities of the black urban experience before finding one about a black middle class teen, let alone flat out rich like Ashley. Both experiences are relevant and both stories need to be told.
Now don't get me wrong Ashely was one of the worst human beings I've read about this year. Her "friends" were the biggest dumpster fire this side of the Mississippi. This whole book was a struggle to read and it was beautifully done.
Ashley was horrible. She was disgustingly privileged, jealous, full of assumptions, caught up in negative stereotypes, and none of that is an excuse for the ignorance that she radiated at every turn. But my heart, low key, broke for her at some points. While I didn't condone any of her actions in the first three fourths of the book, I understood (some of) them. So many of us understand what it's like to be the one dark face in a room, but there can be an extra layer of uncertainty when you don't use the same terms, listen to the same music, or share the same experiences as the few black faces that you do see, or as Ashley learned, you assume you don't share enough similar and relevant experiences with those other black faces. I can't tell you how much crap I get for preferring to listen to the Newsies soundtrack, Paramore, or Owl City in the car from white and black people.
Feeling like you don't fit anywhere… I can think of few things worse at that developmental point in a young person's life, and I say that from very real and personal experiences (also training lol).
There was a lot to unpack here and I might need to read this again, but I highly suggest picking it up. I can tell you, I’ll be purchasing a discussion set of this book for my library and I can wait to get it in the hands of teens.
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