The Hate U Give Collector's Edition: A Printz Honor Winner

The Hate U GiveBy Angie Thomas5⭐️Wow! This story is one I think really needs talked about. It was recommended in one of the book groups I am in for Banned Book Week. I’m so glad I picked this to be my Banned Book Read!This book hooked me immediately. I thought I’d struggle relating with this book and maybe in some ways I did a little. However, I think that struggle is exactly what I needed to really grasp the importance of the book. There were so many OMG scenes that pulled tears from my eyes and put my hand to my heart. Scenes that had me holding my breath. Every single one of those scenes impacted me in a very deep and profound way. This book needs to be read and talked about!This book is about a black girl living in a ghetto - a real ghetto - one that most of us don’t really see. At least for me, very different than what our town considers the ghetto or slums or the bricks. This girl loses two of her best friends. One from gang violence at the age of 10 and the other from police brutality at the age of 16. 16 year old Starr is who is sharing her story. Not just her experiences but how she finds her voice, her real voice. Through her story we meet her family and friends and get a real taste of her life.The flow of this book is so good that I often forgot I was reading. So many pages were turned before I’d check a clock. The author does a really amazing job with this book. Banned or not in places - this book should be read. Read it with your teenagers or even just for yourself. You’ll walk away a different person when you’ve finished. In my opinion, books that change you, are the best ones to read!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was a very good book to read. I recommend this book to someone older, like a teen, and this book is not directed towards a younger audience. This book takes place in Starr’s head, a new perspective of the situation. Starr is a high school student who has learned to change herself at school and home. She went to a party one night, and there were gunshots. Then she left and got pulled over by a police officer, and her friend Khalil, who she was with, got shot by the police and unfortunately died. This is hard on Starr because he was a very good old friend and just got to catch up at the party. This also is not the first time she has seen one of her friends get shot and killed. Starr is facing the decision to tell the media about the whole situation, which is hard for her. Reading this book has brought awareness to me about what is going on in the world. It also shows how people are going through things that no one knows about. This is because, in the book, she does not tell anyone that she was with Khalil when he was shot. This book is a very good book to read to older kids such as teenagers because it is something that is happening all the time and needs to be brought to the surface more to raise awareness. It is also showing to not judge people for who they are, what they look like, and how they act. Starr has two personalities in this book. First is her Williamson Prep personality. At her school, she is more aware of what she is doing and saying and is more reserved and self-conscious. There is also Garden Heights Starr. Starr is more outgoing, speaks her mind, uses slang, and uses familiar language. The two different Starrs represent how people can change their mood, opinions, and overall personality depending on who they are with and what they are doing. This also brought awareness to me because I never really thought about people acting like this and realized that people might have different lives outside of what everyone else sees. This book uses a lot of symbolism; an example is the protesting because it symbolizes justice and standing up for what is right and what you believe. There is also first-person narration because the story is being told from Starr’s perspective. In conclusion, I would recommend this book to an older audience. I think it is a very powerful book, and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish. I believe the ending is powerful because it shows that not everything goes as planned, and you can not always get peace for what you believe.

This is a very well-written and emotional account of a teenage girl growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood who witnesses her childhood friend fall victim to police brutality. This, along with the pull she feels between two facets of her personality (she attends a private school with mostly white students where she feels the need to hide parts of herself) that, to her, seem at odds are the main themes of the book.As a white woman, the most powerful aspect to me is how Starr, being a POC, feels her race infiltrates every aspect of her life. It is never something that she is not acutely aware of. She feels she needs to speak a certain way, act a certain way, like, or not like certain things with her two different sets of friends. The luxury that non-POC have to not even have to think about the color of their skin is one of many ways white privilege is proved within this book.The idea that this book is “biased” and “doesn’t show both sides” is kind of laughable to me. Of course it doesn’t show both sides. It is from the point of view of a 16 year old POC who is still learning who she is and can only learn based on her multiple experiences with police - which are ALL negative. If you think that this type of life experience is purely fictional and not a reality for MANY, MANY POC, you should really think again. It is not this author’s job to placate the reader and show that there are some really neat police officers out there for the sake of “balance”. There is no balance, fairness or justice for SO many people - and that’s pretty much the point of this whole book.Overall, an easy, yet powerful read.

I had to get this book for my senior book report and this is amazing! Honestly would recommend for high school students to read. As well check out the movie and other books made by Angie Thomas!

A favorite amongst the many books on my shelves