Take a photo of a barcode or cover
strawberrybirds 's review for:
Dear Martin
by Nic Stone
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all readers, but it did have a few flaws. The book is about Justyce, aka Jus, an African American teen from an improvised neighborhood who attends an elite school where he is one of few black students. After experiencing unfair treatment from the police, he starts to notice other injustices in his life and the lives of other black teens and starts to question the point of being "good" if it doesn't change the behavior of those around you.
The book is called Dear Martin because Jus begins a social experiment with himself to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He does this so that he can be more like Martin and reflect on his experiences through the lens of MLK. Unfortunately, this mechanic was underplayed, underdeveloped, and took such a background part of the story that it's surprising it was named for it. So much more could have been done here.
My other complaint with the book is that other than Jus, the characters are very one-dimensional. You don't really get to know any of the side characters, and therefore it's harder to empathize with them. Not to say the book was not gut and heart wrenching at times, but it was in a distant way, such that I'm enraged whenever I hear about injustice, not in the way a good book can do when you really love a character and something bad happens to them.
That being said, the issues in this book are important for everyone to consider and it was a quick read. I definitely recommend it; I just wish it was written a little better.
The book is called Dear Martin because Jus begins a social experiment with himself to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He does this so that he can be more like Martin and reflect on his experiences through the lens of MLK. Unfortunately, this mechanic was underplayed, underdeveloped, and took such a background part of the story that it's surprising it was named for it. So much more could have been done here.
My other complaint with the book is that other than Jus, the characters are very one-dimensional. You don't really get to know any of the side characters, and therefore it's harder to empathize with them. Not to say the book was not gut and heart wrenching at times, but it was in a distant way, such that I'm enraged whenever I hear about injustice, not in the way a good book can do when you really love a character and something bad happens to them.
That being said, the issues in this book are important for everyone to consider and it was a quick read. I definitely recommend it; I just wish it was written a little better.