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Available
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Series
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Publication
Balzer Bray (2021), 368 pages
Description
Historical Fiction. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood. If there's one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it's that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad's in prison. Life's not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav's got everything under control. Until, that is, Maverick finds out he's a father. Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it's not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he's offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he's expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he's different. When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He'll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man..… (more)
Media reviews
Seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter is a "little homie" in the King Lords, selling drugs on the side to help tide things over at home. But his heart isn't in it – and when he hears he's about to become a father, he's determined to extricate himself from the dangerous gang life that has claimed so
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many of his family and friends. Walking away, however, is not so easy. Thomas's prequel to the award-winning The Hate U Give investigates the pride and pain of being a black boy on the brink of manhood with inimitable humour, clarity and pathos. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member streamsong
In this prequel to [The Hate You Give], author [[Angie Thomas]] tells the story of Starr’s father, Maverick, during his tumultuous 17th year.
Maverick is an up and coming gang member. He’s one of the younger guys, not yet in on any of the big action, but actively selling pot. His father Don, as
But a maternity test proved that after a quick liaison, Maverick had become the father to a son. The son is left on his doorstep, but with his mother’s help, Maverick steps up to his responsibilities. Life becomes even more complicated after Maverick finds his girl friend is also pregnant. Her folks don’t want their daughter involved with a gang member.
Although we know the result of Maverick’s decisions from his story in THUG, author Thomas made the journey a page turning story of a teenager weighing his options and the life-altering possibilities of getting out of a gang, when the possibilities of doing so are so difficult as to be almost impossible.
I really enjoyed seeing the boy Maverick evolving into the man.
I’m hoping there’s enough room after the end of Concrete Rose, to give another prequel before the events of The Hate You Give.
Maverick is an up and coming gang member. He’s one of the younger guys, not yet in on any of the big action, but actively selling pot. His father Don, as
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one of the OG members and their king, is doing time in prison. In fact, most of the OG’s are either in prison or dead. But as the son of the king, Maverick is often referred to as ‘Lil Don’ – the son of his father, the ruler apparent.But a maternity test proved that after a quick liaison, Maverick had become the father to a son. The son is left on his doorstep, but with his mother’s help, Maverick steps up to his responsibilities. Life becomes even more complicated after Maverick finds his girl friend is also pregnant. Her folks don’t want their daughter involved with a gang member.
Although we know the result of Maverick’s decisions from his story in THUG, author Thomas made the journey a page turning story of a teenager weighing his options and the life-altering possibilities of getting out of a gang, when the possibilities of doing so are so difficult as to be almost impossible.
I really enjoyed seeing the boy Maverick evolving into the man.
I’m hoping there’s enough room after the end of Concrete Rose, to give another prequel before the events of The Hate You Give.
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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke
Another solid YA novel from Angie Thomas. Even if you haven't read The Hate U Give, you can enjoy this prequel. The Hate U Give is about Starr, and Concrete Rose focuses on her dad as a teenager. It doesn't have the non-stop action of her other books, but it's very good. Teens will especially enjoy
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the street smart kids and how they navigate their world. It's definitely for a more mature teen. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Audiobook performed by Dion Graham
4****
In this prequel to The Hate U Give, Thomas gives us the young Maverick Carter, a 17-year-old gang member struggling to find his path to manhood.
I really liked her debut novel, but I have a problem with “prequels / sequels.” That’s my issue and I
I can really see how this young man, hardly out of childhood, is being influenced – by his peers, by his parents, by other adults in his neighborhood and school, and by the expectations of society. The pressure on him to “be a man” is intense, and the conflicting ways in which this is evidenced or proved to others is at the core of Maverick’s difficulties.
On the one hand he honors the respect shown his father (who is incarcerated for crimes committed) by other gang members and the reputation Maverick feels he needs to live up to as “little Don.” On the other hand, are the messages he’s getting from his mother and neighbor Mr Wyatt about being responsible, and thinking for himself rather than following the crowd. On the one hand is the sense of belonging and camaraderie he feels with his fellow gang members, on the other is the love he feels for his girlfriend Lisa, and the obvious disdain shown him by her brother and parents because of his gang affiliation. I particularly liked the conversations he had with Mr Wyatt, owner of the local grocery, who gives Maverick a part-time job and some sound advice on setting goals and working to achieve them.
Maverick’s only seventeen, and for all his bravado and pronouncements about “being a man” he is not yet an adult. Teenagers make mistakes – sometimes serious mistakes – often based on the emotion of an instant rather than a coherent plan. Some poor decisions threaten to completely derail this young man’s path to adulthood. Having read the debut novel, I know he’ll survive, and yet some of the scenes had me so afraid for Maverick, my heart was in my throat and tears flowed freely.
Thomas writes about a realistic urban environment for many families, with brutal honesty and empathy. She does not shy away from the serious social issues facing these families, nor does she offer platitudes or pat answers on how to address these issues.
Dion Graham does a marvelous job performing the audiobook. He really brings these characters to life and his changes in vocal style, and inflection make it easy to understand who is speaking.
4****
In this prequel to The Hate U Give, Thomas gives us the young Maverick Carter, a 17-year-old gang member struggling to find his path to manhood.
I really liked her debut novel, but I have a problem with “prequels / sequels.” That’s my issue and I
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recognize it may be unfair, but Thomas’s sophomore effort had that hill to climb for me. And she did it marvelously well! I can really see how this young man, hardly out of childhood, is being influenced – by his peers, by his parents, by other adults in his neighborhood and school, and by the expectations of society. The pressure on him to “be a man” is intense, and the conflicting ways in which this is evidenced or proved to others is at the core of Maverick’s difficulties.
On the one hand he honors the respect shown his father (who is incarcerated for crimes committed) by other gang members and the reputation Maverick feels he needs to live up to as “little Don.” On the other hand, are the messages he’s getting from his mother and neighbor Mr Wyatt about being responsible, and thinking for himself rather than following the crowd. On the one hand is the sense of belonging and camaraderie he feels with his fellow gang members, on the other is the love he feels for his girlfriend Lisa, and the obvious disdain shown him by her brother and parents because of his gang affiliation. I particularly liked the conversations he had with Mr Wyatt, owner of the local grocery, who gives Maverick a part-time job and some sound advice on setting goals and working to achieve them.
Maverick’s only seventeen, and for all his bravado and pronouncements about “being a man” he is not yet an adult. Teenagers make mistakes – sometimes serious mistakes – often based on the emotion of an instant rather than a coherent plan. Some poor decisions threaten to completely derail this young man’s path to adulthood. Having read the debut novel, I know he’ll survive, and yet some of the scenes had me so afraid for Maverick, my heart was in my throat and tears flowed freely.
Thomas writes about a realistic urban environment for many families, with brutal honesty and empathy. She does not shy away from the serious social issues facing these families, nor does she offer platitudes or pat answers on how to address these issues.
Dion Graham does a marvelous job performing the audiobook. He really brings these characters to life and his changes in vocal style, and inflection make it easy to understand who is speaking.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ShellyPYA
Maverick feels strongly about family ties, making choices he feels necessary to help support his mom while his King father serves time, and leave him literally holding his son in a doctor's waiting room after he gets paternity test results back and his babymomma ghosts. Now the child he's raising
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is impacting the lives of his family and his girlfriend, and the gang life he led to support them all financially could leave them all bearing his responsibilities since it endangers his life. It looks like he may have been offered a chance to go straight, but leaving the King Lords won't be easy, and a "real" job has high demand for low return. Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
I wasn't sure how well I would like a prequel to The Hate U Give - but I was dead wrong. Concrete Rose is the back story for Maverick, Starr Carters father, and boy he had a complicated life as a teenager. He found out that a girl he hooked up with ONE TIME while he and his girlfriend were on the
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outs has had a baby and the baby is his. Worse than that - she just dropped the baby off and ran - so Maverick has to figure out the whole fatherhood thing really quick. How can he support a baby and focus on school without running drugs? He doesn't want to do it - but he thinks he needs to man up and be more like his father (who is in prison) to use the gang to make his life better. Thankfully he's got a girlfriend with a good head on her shoulders and her eyes set towards the future - only she might not be in the picture long when she finds out that Maverick has a baby with another woman. Teen street fiction at it's finest. Lots of issues: drugs, unsafe sex, teenage pregnancy, gang affiliations, male emotions, sexuality, and more. Angie Thompson is on top of the game. Show Less
LibraryThing member rgruberexcel
RGG: Amazing! Character development, dialogue, emotional! Real and non-judgmental. The drug dealing and gangs and the multiple unwed pregnancies make this definitely a YA book.
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
A prequel to The Hate You Give, telling Mavericks story as a 17-year-old gang member and teen father.
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas, author, Dion Graham, narrator
This is a heartbreaking novel. Young men who are forced to prove themselves because of their prevailing culture, often instead, sell themselves short and fail at life. Reputation and image are all-important, with life hardly valued and
Maverick Carter was just one week into his seventeenth year when he found out that his one-night stand with Aisha had made him the father of a three month old baby boy. Aisha calls him King for the man she hoped would be the father, but it was not to be. Maverick was only at the beginning of his sixteenth year when he made that baby. The mother, also a teenager, was ill-equipped to handle being a mother, and was emotionally and physically overwhelmed. She and her mom abandoned the child to Maverick’s care as soon as the test results were given. His mom, unlike Aisha’s, was more responsible and compassionate. She would not abandon the child or exile her son. She would help him and guide him, but she demanded that he be responsible for making this baby. He renamed the baby Seven because it means perfection.
Maverick has a girlfriend, also a high school student, who leaves him when she finds out about his unfaithfulness and his son. Soon, however, circumstances throw them together and Maverick makes another baby with Lisa. Now, just 17, he is about to become the father of two children. He is not able to support his mother, let alone two children from different mothers. Lisa comes from a better and more educated background. Her family is devastated and her mother casts her out. Lisa had dreamed of college, and had wanted Maverick to go to college too. He was not a good student, but she encouraged him, before they broke up. Now her life was on the rocks, too. These teens made poor choices and assumed little responsibility for the reasons for those choices.
Maverick misses having a role model to turn to for advice. His cousin, like a brother to him, has been murdered, like so many others in his neighborhood. His father, Adonis, is known as a gang leader, a reputation Maverick is forced to uphold. His father is in prison. Maverick skates on the edge of criminality as he is involved with selling drugs. Although he vows to be there to help his mother, children and girlfriends, he knows he can get caught. He has a neighbor who influences him to go straight and he vows to change.
Violence, drugs and promiscuity are a destructive way of life. One by one, girls get pregnant, boys are murdered, others go to jail, and still, the gang culture of criminality and brutality continues. Poverty is deep rooted and no matter how hard they try, they don’t seem to get ahead. They seem to write their own epitaphs with their lack of proper upbringing and intact families. Neighbors and relatives all seem to try to help out, but often, it is to no avail, as the moral values of the young are not as strong as those who are in an older generation.
A lack of sexual responsibility seems to permeate the community with young girls, basically babies themselves, giving birth to babies they do not know how to care for, and young men, completely unaware of the responsibility of fatherhood or of what constitutes statutory rape, continue to behave recklessly! Making babies seems to be their national pastime, with few realizing the major consequences of the act. Overwhelmed by responsibility, their lives are changed forever. Still, they seem to love their children, in spite of everything.
There is a code requiring avenging every hostile act, great and small, against anyone in their group or family, so that they are not thought of as weak. The fact that education, which could enrich their lives and propel them into a future of financial security is often scoffed at, or is totally not feasible, and is not valued much by the younger generation who feel they are doomed from the start, by society, does not help the situation. I was left with the feeling that immaturity, poor values, poor family structure, poor morals, and a complete lack of responsibility for ones actions, by those who were guilty and unable to accept their own behavior as the fault, were the actual root causes of the poverty and lawlessness. The characters blamed others or outside circumstances for their poor behavior, never their own poor choices. They made the same mistakes over and over again. It seems like such a waste of human capital. The prevailing cancel culture is alive and well, also, as Maverick condemns Jefferson Davis who had slaves, and rejects his high school’s name, instead calling it Garden Heights like the name of the community. He also complains that white people didn’t discover America, since it was already here and didn’t need to be discovered. While the story seems to be about teenagers who break the rules, are insecure, have few ambitions and are all poor. They view college as inaccessible or as a place to party, not learn, and so condemn themselves to failure. Inappropriate sexual behavior by children causes an epidemic of children bearing children. And this pattern of pregnancy and child bearing ruins the future of this community.
The title of the book is taken from a poem by Tupac Shakur who succumbed to the violent culture he lived in, even though his philanthropy should have shaped more of his life than his criminal behavior. He wrote a poem called, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”. It is from that poem that Angie Thomas’ birthed her title. The lines “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? / Proving nature’s laws wrong it learned how to walk without having feet.” inspired her. Defying all odds, could beauty grow out of an ugly environment? Can a leopard change its spots? Can a man bent on criminal behavior become an upstanding citizen? Will society even allow that to happen? I sure hope so, because the problems faced by those in this book seemed almost insurmountable.
This is a heartbreaking novel. Young men who are forced to prove themselves because of their prevailing culture, often instead, sell themselves short and fail at life. Reputation and image are all-important, with life hardly valued and
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vengeance and pride overtaking common sense. Teenagers are too promiscuous, so that children are having children before they are old enough to rear them responsibly. Single parent households with absentee fathers are common with many incarcerated and not merely missing.Maverick Carter was just one week into his seventeenth year when he found out that his one-night stand with Aisha had made him the father of a three month old baby boy. Aisha calls him King for the man she hoped would be the father, but it was not to be. Maverick was only at the beginning of his sixteenth year when he made that baby. The mother, also a teenager, was ill-equipped to handle being a mother, and was emotionally and physically overwhelmed. She and her mom abandoned the child to Maverick’s care as soon as the test results were given. His mom, unlike Aisha’s, was more responsible and compassionate. She would not abandon the child or exile her son. She would help him and guide him, but she demanded that he be responsible for making this baby. He renamed the baby Seven because it means perfection.
Maverick has a girlfriend, also a high school student, who leaves him when she finds out about his unfaithfulness and his son. Soon, however, circumstances throw them together and Maverick makes another baby with Lisa. Now, just 17, he is about to become the father of two children. He is not able to support his mother, let alone two children from different mothers. Lisa comes from a better and more educated background. Her family is devastated and her mother casts her out. Lisa had dreamed of college, and had wanted Maverick to go to college too. He was not a good student, but she encouraged him, before they broke up. Now her life was on the rocks, too. These teens made poor choices and assumed little responsibility for the reasons for those choices.
Maverick misses having a role model to turn to for advice. His cousin, like a brother to him, has been murdered, like so many others in his neighborhood. His father, Adonis, is known as a gang leader, a reputation Maverick is forced to uphold. His father is in prison. Maverick skates on the edge of criminality as he is involved with selling drugs. Although he vows to be there to help his mother, children and girlfriends, he knows he can get caught. He has a neighbor who influences him to go straight and he vows to change.
Violence, drugs and promiscuity are a destructive way of life. One by one, girls get pregnant, boys are murdered, others go to jail, and still, the gang culture of criminality and brutality continues. Poverty is deep rooted and no matter how hard they try, they don’t seem to get ahead. They seem to write their own epitaphs with their lack of proper upbringing and intact families. Neighbors and relatives all seem to try to help out, but often, it is to no avail, as the moral values of the young are not as strong as those who are in an older generation.
A lack of sexual responsibility seems to permeate the community with young girls, basically babies themselves, giving birth to babies they do not know how to care for, and young men, completely unaware of the responsibility of fatherhood or of what constitutes statutory rape, continue to behave recklessly! Making babies seems to be their national pastime, with few realizing the major consequences of the act. Overwhelmed by responsibility, their lives are changed forever. Still, they seem to love their children, in spite of everything.
There is a code requiring avenging every hostile act, great and small, against anyone in their group or family, so that they are not thought of as weak. The fact that education, which could enrich their lives and propel them into a future of financial security is often scoffed at, or is totally not feasible, and is not valued much by the younger generation who feel they are doomed from the start, by society, does not help the situation. I was left with the feeling that immaturity, poor values, poor family structure, poor morals, and a complete lack of responsibility for ones actions, by those who were guilty and unable to accept their own behavior as the fault, were the actual root causes of the poverty and lawlessness. The characters blamed others or outside circumstances for their poor behavior, never their own poor choices. They made the same mistakes over and over again. It seems like such a waste of human capital. The prevailing cancel culture is alive and well, also, as Maverick condemns Jefferson Davis who had slaves, and rejects his high school’s name, instead calling it Garden Heights like the name of the community. He also complains that white people didn’t discover America, since it was already here and didn’t need to be discovered. While the story seems to be about teenagers who break the rules, are insecure, have few ambitions and are all poor. They view college as inaccessible or as a place to party, not learn, and so condemn themselves to failure. Inappropriate sexual behavior by children causes an epidemic of children bearing children. And this pattern of pregnancy and child bearing ruins the future of this community.
The title of the book is taken from a poem by Tupac Shakur who succumbed to the violent culture he lived in, even though his philanthropy should have shaped more of his life than his criminal behavior. He wrote a poem called, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”. It is from that poem that Angie Thomas’ birthed her title. The lines “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? / Proving nature’s laws wrong it learned how to walk without having feet.” inspired her. Defying all odds, could beauty grow out of an ugly environment? Can a leopard change its spots? Can a man bent on criminal behavior become an upstanding citizen? Will society even allow that to happen? I sure hope so, because the problems faced by those in this book seemed almost insurmountable.
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LibraryThing member lindamamak
If you loved The Hate you GIve, you will love this prequel of Angie's father Maverick. At age 17 Maverick finds himself the father of a newborn with another on the way. How does he deceide to leave the gang life to raise his kids the right way. Or stay in the gang life to earn the money to support
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them. Show Less
LibraryThing member Nancyjcbs
Concrete Rose is a prequel to The Hate U Give. I absolutely loved The Hate U Give so was enthusiastic to read Maverick's backstory. It's not quite at that level, but I adored Starr and she isn't born in this novel. It fills in a lot of blanks and I enjoyed seeing younger versions of Maverick, Lisa,
I'd recommend this for fans of THUG.
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King, Iesha and Seven. It also shows us Maverick first working in Mr. Wyatt's grocery store.I'd recommend this for fans of THUG.
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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
In this prequel to The Hate U Give, we see more of Maverick's story as a young teen learning that he has fathered a child and the decisions he must make as a result.
This was a very compelling read, especially given that we have already met and come to love (or hate in some cases) many of these
This book certainly works best as a companion to The Hate U Give, but it could work well enough as a standalone title.
(Apologies if this review is on the vague side; I took too long between reading and reviewing.)
This was a very compelling read, especially given that we have already met and come to love (or hate in some cases) many of these
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characters in The Hate U Give. While it fills in much of Maverick's background, there are still some things left unanswered between this novel and the one set 16 years later, so there's potential for yet another book to come in this universe. I would certainly snap that one up as well, being as Thomas is such a readable author with stories that keep you invested. This book certainly works best as a companion to The Hate U Give, but it could work well enough as a standalone title.
(Apologies if this review is on the vague side; I took too long between reading and reviewing.)
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LibraryThing member villemezbrown
A prequel that is nice to have but ultimately doesn't feel necessary since it was alluded to fairly well in the first book. The backstory of Starr Carter's dad as a teen father, gang member, and drug dealer in the 1990s will be familiar territory for anyone who watched Boyz N the Hood, Juice, South
The material just doesn't seem as timely and urgent as The Hate U Give though it is a touching enough portrait of redemption through fatherhood.
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Central, and Poetic Justice back in the day.The material just doesn't seem as timely and urgent as The Hate U Give though it is a touching enough portrait of redemption through fatherhood.
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LibraryThing member SamMusher
Thomas is a brilliant writer, so of course I loved this book, too. My only quibble is where in the story she chose to end it — there were important events we know about from Hate U Give that I wanted to see unfold.
LibraryThing member rmarcin
This is the back story of Maverick (Mav) Carter, the patriarch of the family in The Hate U Give. Mav is a drug dealer, and is starting his senior year of high school. He is dating Lisa, but when they broke up, he connected with another girl, and now finds he has a son.
Mav starts taking
I loved THUG, so I had high expectations for this book, but it just didn't have the same appeal for me.
Mav starts taking
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responsibility for his son, and does what he needs to do to clean up his life. Neighbors look out for him, and help him move forward. I loved THUG, so I had high expectations for this book, but it just didn't have the same appeal for me.
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LibraryThing member fingerpost
Angie Thomas is phenomenal - and I am about as far outside her target audience as one can get - a 56 year old middle class white guy. "The Hate U Give" was one of the best books of the year. "On the Come Up" was one of the best books of the year. And "Concrete Rose" follows that trend.
The
Maverick is 17, and in a local gang. He sells weed as he is too young an inexperienced to be trusted by the "big homies" with the hard drugs. When he finds out near the beginning of the book that the baby of one of his closest friends is actually his, he suddenly finds himself a father with a child to support, because the mother abandons him. Maverick decides he has to quit selling drugs and go straight for his son. But going straight is hard. Most of his friends pressure him to follow the gang path, and his job at Mr. Wyatt's store sure isn't bringing in the money he needs.
When his cousin is gunned down, bad things take a turn for the worse. Maverick feels duty-bound to avenge Dre's murder... even though he doesn't have any way of knowing for certain who did it, and even though he's never killed before. And then... he's got a second child on the way from the girl he actually loves.
It's a complicated life Maverick is living. Which path will he choose?
The
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protagonist, Maverick Carter, is harsh, tough, and deeply, deeply flawed. Yet, in Angie Thomas' hands, he is a sympathetic hero that you can't help but love and root for.Maverick is 17, and in a local gang. He sells weed as he is too young an inexperienced to be trusted by the "big homies" with the hard drugs. When he finds out near the beginning of the book that the baby of one of his closest friends is actually his, he suddenly finds himself a father with a child to support, because the mother abandons him. Maverick decides he has to quit selling drugs and go straight for his son. But going straight is hard. Most of his friends pressure him to follow the gang path, and his job at Mr. Wyatt's store sure isn't bringing in the money he needs.
When his cousin is gunned down, bad things take a turn for the worse. Maverick feels duty-bound to avenge Dre's murder... even though he doesn't have any way of knowing for certain who did it, and even though he's never killed before. And then... he's got a second child on the way from the girl he actually loves.
It's a complicated life Maverick is living. Which path will he choose?
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LibraryThing member electrascaife
A prequel to The Hate U Give, this YA novel follow’s Starr’s father as a 17-year-old trying to figure out his life between school, wanting to leave the King Lords gang, and new fatherhood. Like THUG, Concrete Rose is so wonderfully written and also powerful and important. It’s another one for
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the list of books that all high school students should read – and a lot of adults, too. Show Less
LibraryThing member decaturmamaof2
I've been a fan of Thomas' writing since "The Hate U Give" was published. This is the needed story of Maverick and the events that shakes him and his life. Uplifting, funny and sad all at the same time.
LibraryThing member Hccpsk
It’s hard to follow up a best-seller, but Angie Thomas has now done it twice. With Concrete Rose, Thomas delivers a very satisfying and thoughtful prequel to The Hate U Give by telling a brief but important part of her parent’s story. We meet 18-year-old Maverick at a pivotal point in his life,
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struggling to figure out which path he wants to take--towards King and fast money, or Lisa. Thomas is a master story-teller, and Concrete Rose meets all of her usual expectations of an honest, emotional, and thought-provoking narrative. A definite recommendation for Thomas’ fans, but also newcomers to her work--you don’t need Maverick’s later story to appreciate Concrete Rose. Show Less
LibraryThing member BarnesBookshelf
It's been a minute since I read [book:The Hate U Give|32075671], so there were little things here and there that I couldn't remember from it, like Starr's mother's name (I figured it out lol). But what's nice is that I didn't need to remember everything (or really anything) to love this book! Mav
Also, I just love Angie Thomas' style. It's fantastic!
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made some downright dumb decisions, but he learned and grew and figured out who he wanted to be, and I love it even more for that. Not everything he did was right, and not everything he did was for the right reasons, but they all helped him. It shows that you can, at any time, make the decision to change your life. It's not going to be easy, but it will be worth it (as The Hate U Give shows us). Also, I just love Angie Thomas' style. It's fantastic!
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Awards
Sequoyah Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2023)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2023)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2024)
Gateway Readers Award (Nominee — 2024)
Thumbs Up! Award (Honor — 2022)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2024)
Arkansas Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2022)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Winner — 2022)
Land Of Enchantment Book Award (Nominee — 2024)
Kids' Book Choice Awards (Finalist — 2022)
Golden Archer Award (Nominee — 2023)
Printz Award (Honor — 2022)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2022)
Iowa High School Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
Three Stars Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2022)
North Star YA Award (Nominee — 2023)
Yellowhammer Book Awards (Top Ten — 2022)
NPR: Books We Love (2021)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Top Ten — 2022)
CCBC Choices (2022)
Nerdy Book Award (Young Adult Literature — 2021)
Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults (Top Ten — 2022)
Just One More Page Recommendation List (Young Adult — 2022)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021
Physical description
368 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
006284671X / 9780062846716