In “Ghost Boys,” a middle-grade novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes, the ghost of a young black boy who was shot by a white police officer witnesses the aftermath of his death,
and meets the ghosts of other black boys, including Emmett Till, the black teenager who was killed by white men in 1955.
The novel — one of several new children’s books that use fiction to address police shootings of unarmed black teenagers — debuted at the top of ’s Young Adult best-seller list,
and has drawn ecstatic praise from critics, librarians, book sellers and prominent young-adult novelists.
John Green, the author of “The Fault in Our Stars,” called the work “a stunning, brilliant,
gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time.”
“The Hate U Give,” which takes its title from a phrase coined by the rapper Tupac Shakur, is one of a cluster of young-adult novels
that confront police brutality, racial profiling and the Black Lives Matter movement.
This fall, Crown Books for Young Readers will publish Nic Stone’s debut novel, “Dear Martin,” about a black high school scholarship student at an Atlanta prep school who becomes a victim of racial profiling when an off-duty officer fires at him
and his best friend during an argument at a traffic light.
New Crop of Young Adult Novels Explores Race and Police Brutality -
By ALEXANDRA ALTERMARCH 19, 2017
Angie Thomas started writing her young-adult novel, “The Hate U Give,” in reaction to a fatal shooting that took place some 2,000 miles away.
