THE HATE YOU GIVE BY ANGIE THOMAS
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright date: 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-249853-3
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter, is your average teenager only she finds herself caught between two very different worlds: the neighborhood that she lives in which is a poor black neighborhood, and her suburban prep school that is predominantly white. She is constantly struggling to find her where her identity fits between the two worlds. Similar to typical high school teenagers, she attends a local party, only the party ends abruptly when shots are fired. Luckily her childhood friend Khalil is there and they are able to reach his car and drive out of harm’s way. As they are driving, an officer flashes his lights and pulls them over, for a supposed broken taillight. However, the wrong move from Khalil unfortunately and surprisingly results in Khalil’s death. The only person who knows the truth about what happened besides the officer is Starr. Now she must make an important decision will she stay quiet or let the world know the truth?
Critical Evaluation: Angie Thomas touches on the delicate topics of driving while black and the harsh realities concerning African Americans and the police in such a way that really depicts these real situations without bias or stereotypes or generalizations of all police or people who happen to be white. One thing I love about the book is that it doesn’t bash any police officers despite the topic of police brutality being examined. There was never a point in time where the police were made out to be ALL classified as monsters. The characters were very well developed and the teenagers’ thoughts and feelings sounded very much like the teenagers of today without sounding cliché. The violence discussed in the book can’t really be considered inappropriate since the same violence unfortunately happens often in our society today. There are so many different situations in the book that make you as a reader stop and reevaluate your own thoughts, feelings, and actions concerning the deep topics that are discussed. Surprisingly, the book was very educational, educating those that weren’t familiar with the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement without it becoming overbearing or sounding like preaching. Thomas utilizes the rapper Tupac in a positive way and uses his acronym to shed light on what is going on in today’s society as well as the effect it has on youth.
Reader’s Annotation: Sixteen-year-old Starr witnesses a horrible tragedy when her childhood friend Khalil is shot by the police right in front of her during a routine traffic stop. She has to decide when and how to find her own voice to speak up for Khalil, herself, and her community.
Politics and Prose had Angie Thomas as a guest author to discuss her book in an interview, “The Hate U Give” and Rose Dawson who is the executive director of the Alexandria Library in Virginia interviewed her. Angie discusses the themes, messages, and inspirations, of the book. This book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the deaths of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Sandra Bland. The title is discussed in detail as part of the acronym for thug which comes from late rapper Tupac Shakur’s tattoo “thug life” which was an acronym for: the hate you give little infants f***s everybody. Angie goes on to explain Tupac’s philosophy behind the acronym which was: what society feeds into youth has a way of affecting everyone. This interview is a great resource because it sheds light on themes, concepts, situations, and underlying messages that the reader may or may not have picked up on.
Angie mentions how her biggest influence in writing this book was Tupac. Tupac had songs that made people think, laugh, cry, etc., and she wanted to be able to do the same thing in her writing. Angie reveals her reasoning behind including so much humor in the book which is that: in the midst of sadness we have to find joy because that is how we can honor those that have passed away. We can’t honor our loved ones that have passed away by being sad all the time; it is important that we are able to find light in darkness.
Genre: Fiction
Curriculum Ties: Black Lives Matter Movement
Book Talking Ideas: Racism; Racial profiling
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 9-12
Challenge Issue and Defense Preparation: This book definitely covers the sensitive topics of driving while black and racial profiling as well as touches on the black lives matter movement.
Right to Read:Guidelines for Driving While Black:
Rationale:
Bibliographic Information: Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright date: 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-249853-3
Intended Audience: The intended audience is young adults specifically the upper grades of 9-12. This particular book would be beneficial for an English or social studies class. Primarily the book will be used for individual study in which every member of the class should read the book, and then afterwards there can be a group discussion of what transpired in the book as well as observations and thoughts concerning the book. “The Hate You Give” can be utilized to discuss the injustices that police have a history of inflicting upon African Americans as well as strategies concerning how to handle those situations properly.
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter, is your average teenager only she finds herself caught between two very different worlds: the neighborhood that she lives in which is a poor black neighborhood, and her suburban prep school that is predominantly white. She is constantly struggling to find her where her identity fits between the two worlds. Similar to typical high school teenagers, she attends a local party, only the party ends abruptly when shots are fired. Luckily her childhood friend Khalil is there and they are able to reach his car and drive out of harm’s way. As they are driving, an officer flashes his lights and pulls them over, for a supposed broken taillight. However, the wrong move from Khalil unfortunately and surprisingly results in Khalil’s death. The only person who knows the truth about what happened besides the officer is Starr. Now she must make an important decision will she stay quiet or let the world know the truth?
Relationship to Program: The relationship of the book to school objectives would be helping 9th graders develop their literal and inferential understanding skills and comprehension skills. Through reading this book they would learn SLE # R.9.9.1 Connect own background knowledge, including personal experience and perspectives shaped by age, gender, class or national origin, to determine author’s purpose. R.9.9.5. Draw inferences from a sentence or a paragraph (including conclusions, generalizations and predictions) and support them with text evidence. Concerning summary and generalization students will utilize R.9.9.8 Summarize and paraphrase structures in informational and literary texts, including relationships among concepts and details. Concerning analysis and evaluation students will utilize R. 9.9.11 Recognize and define various points of view (e.g., omniscient narrator, third person limited) and R. 9.9.13 Identify and discuss a position using concepts gained from reading (e.g. debate, discussion, position paper, etc.).
Impact: I think this book would have a positive impact upon the beliefs and perspectives of the students. This book emphasizes the importance of speaking up for yourself as well as telling the truth. Students will be able to see that their voice is their own power. One of the underlying messages of this book is that sometimes the right thing to do is also the hardest thing to do.
Why Included: This is an extremely powerful book with a powerful message. Angie tells the story of an African American boy getting shot and killed by the police from an interesting perspective: the friend of the victim. She gives an inside glimpse as to what it is like for the victim’s friend following the death of the victim and the trials and tribulations that arise as they try to make their own peace with the situation. I’m sure so many teens and people in general can relate to this situation as there has been a lot of cases of African American women and men losing their lives at the hands of police especially in the last ten years.
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