The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
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 didn't really have this book on my radar of things to read but I wasn't avoiding it either. I had heard it mentioned a few times and thought that the premise was a relevant and powerful one.
Have you ever started a book that you knew would change how the world looks to you? So much that nothing will ever be the same? I think that I knew that going into this book. 

It is clear from my rating that I loved this book and found it to be a very meaningful read. I decided that I'm not going to focus on why I loved The Hate You Give in this review but rather why I feel that it is so important that you read it. I believe that there is so much hate in the world. Hate like the racism that is on display in this book. Why? What is the point? To keep people lower than others? To show them they don't have as much value as others with different skin color or culture or money? What gives anyone that right? People like the characters in  this story make choices everyday and you never know why unless you have a conversation with them instead of assuming you know everything about them using snap second judgments. 

Everyone should read The Hate You Give because it covers this topic very well. The author doesn't say that any one race or job title makes a person evil but rather that lives matter. Black lives matter. I realize that this is a work of fiction bur it doesn't need to be approached that way. The events that take place in this book happen to real flesh and blood people. The only way to change the world is to recognize that these events happen. Don't turn a blind eye and question the messages that you hear in the media and from those around you. Read this book. Take the messages in it to heart. Listen and use the power of your voice for good. Speak out and let yourself  be heard. I promise that if you read it, you will not be disappointed.