The Hate U Give (444 Pages)

This is Angie Thomas's first novel. She has given white readers a taste of what is all too familiar to black kids. She has also presented parents who are struggling to make their children have a better life than they ever dreamed of having. Starr is sixteen years old. Her mom is a nurse, her dad an ex-com. She has a confusing family, including an uncle who stood in for her dad while he was in jail, and two brothers- one older and one younger. Her mom is one strong woman, or as Starr calls her- the dictator! Starr's family lives in a poor neighborhood where her dad owns a grocery store. But Starr and her brothers are sent to a prep school in the suburbs. So Starr has to juggle between her black self from the slums and her slightly less black self at her prep school. Early in the book, the reader is introduced to her best friend from when she was little. His name is Kahlil. One night they are driving away from a party when they're pulled over by a policeman. Kahlil is shot in the back and killed. He dies in Starr's arms, and the book deals with her decision whether to keep silent or to speak out about what happened. it is a stunning story, gutsy, violent, yet filled with love. The language is rough, but then so is the message!

Scythe (435 Pages)

Neal Shusterman has written a book filled with horrible violence, and yet it is a book that has many redeeming features. Shusterman's world sounds as though it should be perfect. It is a world without hunger, wars, disease, and no misery. What could be wrong? Population! There is nothing in perfection to control population growth. Therefore, scythes were selected with the task of controlling this growth. This means they were given the job of selecting specific people to kill. There were moments when I wondered about promoting this, and yet I kept reading and was pulled in to rooting for the characters. I would really love to hear from anyone who reads this blog and get their thinking!