Play Book Tag discussion

I'm giving all the stars to Marvin Johnson, our protagonist, because he is a sweet baby angel and I want him to succeed!

This is a pretty heart-breaking book.
This is part of the young adult social justice canon, think The Hate U Give, but stands on its own with Marvin and his friends who have their own personalities and set of problems.

There are a couple points in particular in which I think Coles is really successful.
The first is he really drives home that these are kids. Our protagonist and his friends are in the 17 year old range. They deal with a lot of heavy shit, but Coles never deviates from the fact that they are still children no matter what kind of violence and racism they see in their neighborhoods. I think that is important because Black children are overwhelmingly more likely to be treated like adults by the criminal justice system, cops, and many civilians view Black children as threatening, and there are some famous cases of "stand your ground" or alleged self-defense where the victims are teenagers.
There is a great scene in the book where there are a series of mishaps in a store that leads to a punishment very disproportionate to the incident that drives that point home.

Which leads to the other thing Coles does so well, he gives the reader a real sense of danger for the protagonist and his friends, and other young Black people that populate the book. It feels like any innocent act could result in being brutalized by the cops and it creates a stifling atmosphere.

There is some hope toward the end of the book, but I would warn readers this is a very sad story and it was pretty hard to read. Hurt my heart. So if you feel like you are getting enough of that in the news or just want to escape with something light and feel good, this is not it.

I would love for everyone to read this book though.
Highly recommend for readers of YA with a taste for social justice content.