The Hate U Give
Readers rate it 4.5 (1.1K on Hardcover)
453 pages · Released 2017 · Balzer + Bray
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A note for parents
This powerful and widely acclaimed YA novel directly addresses police violence, racism, and social injustice through the eyes of a 16-year-old witness to a fatal shooting. The book contains profanity, depictions of gun violence and its aftermath, and heavy themes of grief and trauma, making it most appropriate for mature teens. However, it offers exceptional educational value about racial justice, code-switching, and systemic inequality, while modeling courage and moral conviction in its protagonist and supporting characters.
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From the publisher
The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a pr... The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city. Starr becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil. She speaks up about the shooting in increasingly public ways, and social tensions culminate in a riot after a grand jury decides not to indict the police officer for the shooting. The Hate U Give was published on February 28, 2017, by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray, which had won a bidding war for the rights to the novel. The book was a commercial success, debuting at number one on The New York Times young adult best-seller list, where it remained for 50 weeks. It won several awards and received critical praise for Thomas's writing and timely subject matter. In writing the novel, Thomas attempted to expand readers' understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as difficulties faced by black Americans who employ code switching. These themes, as well as the vulgar language, attracted some controversy and caused the book to be one of the most challenged books of 2017 and 2018 according to the American Library Association.
Shelved under
- black lives matter
- Fiction
- National Book Awards Longlist
- Race relations
- African American teenagers
- Police shootings
- Witnesses
- Police-community relations
- Juvenile fiction
- YOUNG ADULT FICTION
- People & Places
- United States
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ISBN 9780062498533 · Balzer + Bray