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Summer Reading 2018

Home Page for Summer Reading 2018, including book selection guide, topic support materials, and more!

Why Choose This Book?

The Hate U Give, coverThe Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (2017)

"The Hate U Give Little Infants F*s Everybody" -Tupac Shakur

"Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two very different worlds: one is her home in a poor black urban neighborhood; the other is the tony suburban prep school she attends and the white boy she dates there. Her bifurcated life changes dramatically when she is the only witness to the unprovoked police shooting of her unarmed friend Khalil and is challenged to speak out—though with trepidation—about the injustices being done in the event’s wake" -Booklist, Starred Review.

 

Read this book if...

  • You want to read fiction about a young woman of color having to make a difficult choice to take action for justice.
  • #BlackLivesMatter matters to you.
  • You are comfortable with a story involving  an event of fatal police brutality and its effects on a community.
  • You like award winning Young Adult fiction, or books that will be made into movies.

 

SEE BELOW for more background, relevance, etc.

More About the Book

About the Book

Voice of Youth Advocates' (VOYA)  "Perfect Ten of 2017" .

Tupac Inspired The Hate U Give

About the Author

Epic Author Facts: Angie Thomas

[this section is for stuff that lets someone who wants to read more or go deeper into aspects of the book]

Things to Think About While You Read

Discussion Guides

Read More

Theme-based Questions for Any Book on the Reading List

Theme-based Guided Questions for All Books

Consider these questions as you are reading your book. Having answers to them, with quotations from the book (cite the  page number) as supporting evidence will be very helpful when it is time to discuss and assess your reading.

Before you start reading ... How do you (the reader) define "justice"?

While you read the book
  • How did your book define "justice", and what evidence could you provide to support that definition?
  • Did your own perception of justice or injustice change as you read your book, and if so, how?"

What injustices are present in your book?

In each book one or more issues of social injustice is present (ex. Racism, Sexism, Poverty,  etc.).  Be prepared to list specific examples and events from your book. These injustices often lead to conflicts between people (person vs person) and society or cultures (person vs society).

Consider also:
  • How are the characters or people in the book affected by injustice?
  • What conflicts arise between people and the society or culture surrounding them?
  • How are the injustices connected? (if you see more than one injustice in the book)
  • How are the injustices addressed? How are the conflicts resolved?
    • How did you feel about the way the injustices were addressed and/or the conflicts resolved?
    • Would you suggest another way to address the injustices or resolve the conflicts?

Who takes action for Social Justice in this book?

Consider also:
  • are they the main characters of the story, other people, both?
  • are they those who have suffered injustice? Direct witnesses of injustice? Well-meaning outsiders?
  • What finally inspires them to action?  What obstacles stand in their way?
  • What conflicts do those who take action face?

What actions are taken to address injustice? How successful are those actions?

Consider also:
  • Are they large actions, small actions? Local? National? International?
  • How do they attempt to address or make changes to the injustice?
  • How are those actions received? Do they generate any conflicts?
  • What is their impact on culture or society?
  • What challenges are faced in taking action?

Similar Books in our Library

I Am Alfonso Jones

The ghost of fifteen-year-old Alfonso Jones travels in a New York subway car full of the living and the dead, watching his family and friends fight for justice after he is killed by an off-duty police officer while buying a suit in a Midtown department store.

APB - Artists Against Police Brutality

A collection of essays and comics that explore the issues of police bias and brutality inspired by controversial incidents of police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States during the early twenty-first century

How It Went Down

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

Claudette Colvin

Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case

Tyler Johnson Was Here

When Marvin Johnson's twin brother, Tyler, is shot and killed by a police officer, Marvin must fight injustice to learn the true meaning of freedom

So You Want to Talk about Race

All American Boys

"Rashad is Absent Again Today"

Start Where You Are, but Don't Stay There

Start Where You Are, But Don't Stay There addresses a crucial issue in teacher training and professional education: the need to prepare preservice and inservice teachers for the racially diverse student populations in their classrooms. 

Women of Courage

Gale - Opposing Viewpoints

Topic Pages from GALE Opposing Viewpoints in Context & Global Issues in Context

The following issues are among those that are evident in this book.  Each term below links to a topic page on GALE Opposing Viewpoints in Context or Global Issues in Context, which are databases that contain: viewpoint essays; newspaper, magazine, and academic journal articles; reference sources;  primary source documents; and more.

Passwords for Off-Campus GALE Database use are available on Canvas.