The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a book about a girl named Starr. Starr lives in a community that is predominantly black and is not the kind most people would want to visit. Starr attends Williamson Prep, a predominantly white school. She’s involved in basketball, has a boyfriend named Chris, and has two friends: Hailey and Maya. During the week, she considers herself as Starr 2.0 or Williamson Starr because she feels as if she has to pretend to be something she’s not, but during the weekend, she’s herself.
On Saturday, Kenya, Starr’s friend from her neighborhood, invited her to a party, but only to be her backup for when Kenya beats up a girl named Denasia. While at the party Starr sees Khalil, her best friend from when they were kids (they haven’t seen each other in 6 years).
While chatting during the party, Khalil and Starr suddenly heard gunshots, so Khalil grabs Starr’s hand and runs to his car so they wouldn’t be shot. They were driving for a while until a cop pulled them over. Starr’s father had always told her that whenever a cop pulled her over to always keep her hands on the dashboard and do whatever the cop says. She tells Khalil to do so, but when the cop came to the car, Khalil started having an attitude, so the cop told Khalil to get out of the car.
When the cop was going back to Khalil car, Khalil went back to the car and started talking to Starr, brushing his hair, and disrespecting the cop. All of a sudden, there were gunshots, and Khalil fell to the ground as the police officer continued to shoot him in the back. Starr is horrified as she watches her childhood friend getting shot. Finally, Starr’s family shows up to get her and take her home.
Throughout the story, Starr must go through difficult obstacles to show everyone that the black neighborhood will not stand for such violence toward younger kids.
This book is a MUST read to fully understand everything. The book will put you through emotions that make you feel certain ways.
Will you find your voice after witnessing what Starr goes through? The movie comes out October 19th; this is a movie you definitely want to see.
