Indies Introduce

Young Adult

• 
  Dear Martin, Nic Stone
  Crown Books for Young Readers, 9781101939499, October 17, 2017 (Young Adult)
  

  “I picked up Dear Martin and could not put it down. A gripping, real story that is both eye-opening and heartbreaking. This should be required reading for everyone.”

  Kate Schlademan, The Learned Owl (Hudson, OH)
  
  

  "After Yale-bound prep school student Justyce McAllister is falsely accused of carjacking and mistreated by a police officer, he begins to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in an attempt to deal with the aftermath of the incident. When he and his best friend experience a second, more violent encounter with the police, Justyce struggles with the overwhelming feeling that he will always be a victim of systemic racism, no matter what he does. Nic Stone takes an unflinching look at racism and police brutality from all sides, and her spare, beautiful prose - especially the epistolary sections - will not fail to move and change readers."

  Melissa Posten, The Novel Neighbor (St. Louis, MO)
  

  "Justyce McAllister is straddling two worlds: the rough area of Atlanta, Georgia, where he grew up, and the elite prep school that he attends on scholarship. Despite his annoyance with some of his racist white classmates, Jus feels pointed firmly forward — toward debate team championships, toward early admission to Yale next fall — until a confrontation with the police shakes him to his core. One of the most powerful things about Nic Stone’s debut novel is that she does not provide any easy answers. Her spare style — including sections told purely in dialogue, letting the weight of the characters’ words hang heavy on their own — allows her to move briskly through the life-altering events of Jus’ senior year. Moments of resonance sneak up on Jus and reader alike, and don’t hit either with their full impact until after the fact. There is a growing canon of Black Lives Matter literature for teens, and Stone adds another important, thoughtful voice. Dear Martin will provoke discussion — and perhaps some letter-writing of readers’ own."

  Anna Kaufman, DIESEL: A Bookstore (Santa Monica, CA)