November 2018 Wrap Up
1. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas 5/5
I bought this book the day that it came out. I started reading it and then had to put it down because school was stressful and I wasn't paying attention. Then I heard that there was a movie coming out and I had to pick it up before seeing the movie. I'm glad that I did because I loved this book.We need more books like this. Books are the perfect thing to confront ignorance. This book has started a conversation about a serious issue in this country. I laughed and cried while reading this book. The characters felt so real.
2. The Blood of Emmett Till, Timothy B. Tyson 4/5
This book reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till. In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Black students who called themselves “the Emmett Till generation” launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle for civil rights into a mass movement. Till’s lynching became the most notorious hate crime in American history.
This book is was a very heavy read. I expected that going into it. In September I had the opportunity to go to the African American History Museum. The original casket that Emmett was in was donated to the museum. It was a small room, we were all packed in there but it was silent. After walking around there is a video of his mother and family, explaining what happened. I think everyone was crying. I bought this book mainly for a presentation I was doing about Free Speech so of course I had to talk about the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s. The Emmett Till case is considered to be the case that started the Civil Rights Movement. This book focuses around the case but it also talks about what was happening around the country. In the first chapter Caroline Bryant, the woman who accused Emmett Till of sexually assaulting her, admitting to lying. Emmett Till never said anything to her. He might have said goodbye or touched her hand when he was handing her money at the counter. Then it talks about Emmett being taken from his house and then how his body was found. It was awful and eye-opening to read.
3. What If It's Us, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera 4/5
“Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. I called him Khalil. The world called him a thug.
He lived, but not nearly long enough, and for the rest of my life I'll remember how he died.
Fairy tale? No. But I'm not giving up on a better ending.”
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
I bought this book the day that it came out. I started reading it and then had to put it down because school was stressful and I wasn't paying attention. Then I heard that there was a movie coming out and I had to pick it up before seeing the movie. I'm glad that I did because I loved this book.We need more books like this. Books are the perfect thing to confront ignorance. This book has started a conversation about a serious issue in this country. I laughed and cried while reading this book. The characters felt so real.
2. The Blood of Emmett Till, Timothy B. Tyson 4/5
“Because if we in America have reached the point in our desperate culture where we must murder children, no matter for what reason or what color, we don’t deserve to survive and probably won’t.”
This book reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till. In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Black students who called themselves “the Emmett Till generation” launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle for civil rights into a mass movement. Till’s lynching became the most notorious hate crime in American history.
This book is was a very heavy read. I expected that going into it. In September I had the opportunity to go to the African American History Museum. The original casket that Emmett was in was donated to the museum. It was a small room, we were all packed in there but it was silent. After walking around there is a video of his mother and family, explaining what happened. I think everyone was crying. I bought this book mainly for a presentation I was doing about Free Speech so of course I had to talk about the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s. The Emmett Till case is considered to be the case that started the Civil Rights Movement. This book focuses around the case but it also talks about what was happening around the country. In the first chapter Caroline Bryant, the woman who accused Emmett Till of sexually assaulting her, admitting to lying. Emmett Till never said anything to her. He might have said goodbye or touched her hand when he was handing her money at the counter. Then it talks about Emmett being taken from his house and then how his body was found. It was awful and eye-opening to read.
3. What If It's Us, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera 4/5
“But maybe this isn’t how life works. Maybe it’s all about people coming into your life for a little while and you take what they give you and use it on your next friendship or relationship. And if you’re lucky, maybe some people pop back in after you thought they were gone for good.”
Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it. Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them? Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated. Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited. But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third? What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play? But what if it is?
This book was adorable. I definitely needed a 'lighter' book after the past two books. When I found out that Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera were writing a book together I screamed a little. All I knew was that this book was going to be really gay. I love Becky Albertalli but Adam Silvera is a very serious/depressing writer. I normally enjoy more serious books but wow. I hoped that the two authors would be able to balance each other out. This book was very sweet and definitely more of a 'summer' book rather than a 'fall' book. I assumed that this book would be a completely "easy breezy" book but that was not the case. Normally romance books are unrealistic and we believe they can't happen in real life. While this book was a romance book it was also very realistic. There was heartbreak in this book and relationship trouble in general. The characters were realistic in that they had fears. At the same time I think my expectations were high for this book.
DFTBA
-AB
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