Apr 5

Apr 5 The Black Kids

Best Audiobooks, Audiobooks, Diverse Reads, Fiction, Five Star Books, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for gifting me a review copy of The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed.

Ashley is a Black teenager dealing with racism, classism, identity, police brutality, and being a high schooler. As the Rodney King riots engulf LA in 1992 Ashley is trying to work out how to feel, and where she fits. She’s thrown into some situations that force her to look at issues and behavior she often tries not to think too hard about.

This book tore me open, but in the best possible way. It gave me a look into a different time and place and reality other than my own. It was so beautifully written, and even though these subjects are difficult, you won’t want to put this book down. Reed really knows how to transport you—you’ll smell the smoke in the air one minute, and feel the freedom of jumping on the trampoline the next.

If you haven’t read this one already, I highly recommend you do. You can grab a copy via the button below.

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Synopsis:

This coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots. Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids.

As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?