Student Rec: The Hate You Give

The Hate U Give

Written by Angie Thomas

Student: E.R.

The book was about a girl named Starr, she’s sixteen, who tries to get justice for her close friend Kahlil, who had been shot by a white officer. She takes on many challenges at home, in public, and at school. One of the challenges Starr takes on in the community was the King Lords, who was the most dangerous drug dealer. This book is about family, justice, police violence, and race. After Khalil passed many people thought he was a kid who just sold drugs and got involved in bad stuff, little did they know he was more good than bad. His death affected many people such as Starr’s family, his own family, friends, and the community. Chris, DeVante, Seven and Starr go and join the protest where a herd of people have posters and signs and are walking on the street yelling “Justice for Khalil”. A bunch of cops stand in a line blocking the protesters from going any further onto the road, and continuing the riot. Starr wants her voice to be heard so she gets on top of car with the help of Ms. Ofrah, and explains how what happened to Khalil was unfair and wrong. The crowd agrees and cheered her on.

The book was amazing and so realistic, I loved every single part of the book. My favorite part was when Starr and her friends joined the protest and spoke from her heart, while the cops were trying to stop the riot, it gave me the goose-bumps because she was so confident and ready to tell the world what she saw. 

I would definitely recommend this book to all my fellow classmates because it teaches some lessons. The lesson that I learned from this book was “hatred” is not going to get you anywhere, it is going to make things worse for you and your loved ones. Another lesson is to follow an order from an officer when you are pulled over, (even if you didn’t do anything wrong) because if you don’t, you can lose your life just like Khalil. It was amazing seeing the potential of a teenage African American girl and what challenges she had to face in order for her to be heard.

Her website: https://angiethomas.com/

Similar Books:
https://firstbook.org/blog/2018/10/09/11-books-to-read-if-you-loved-the-hate-u-give/ 



Soundtrack of Songs:
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/the_hate_u_give_six_songs_that_confront_police_brutality


https://www.google.com/search?q=songs+that+remind+me+of+the+hate+u+give&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS770US770&oq=songs+that+remind+me+of+the+hate&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j33l6.24582j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.