Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Black Kids

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

9 reviews

clarkf87's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Who is the us? Who is the them? Who is the me? These are all the questions Ashley Bennett seeks to answer in this beautifully written novel. Taking place in 1992, this story follows several seniors in high school who go from mostly fitting in with their white friends to the outcasted Black teens after four LAPD police officers are acquitted for brutally assaulting Rodney King, a Black man of their community.

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hayleythegoose's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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evieolive's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Just as important as I expected but I was really happily surprised to see such flowery writing in a contemporary, I loved the style!

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beb989's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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brookey8888's review

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emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I rounded this up because it’s so good, but the reason it isn’t just a five is I thought the writing style or the way it was written was a little weird. Like it would just jump to a flashback or like she was talking to us one or two times. Other then that this was so good. I really liked Ashley and the growth she went though. I liked all the relationships she developed(family/friends/romantic). I like all that was discussed rather it was the heavier topics or just her growing up and being a teenager. I highly recommend this and can’t believe the 90s is now historical fiction.

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kendrabetweenthelines's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

pol This is a really great historical YA coming-of-age novel. Through Ashley's story, the author explores race, class, violence, family and friendship. I really appreciated Ashley as a protagonist; her journey and growth was emotional and realistic. She was never unrealistically knowledgeable about everything and she makes teenage mistakes, which gives the reader an opportunity to learn along with her. One of the best parts about this book is that the same story could have been tlld from the perspective of several different characters in the story, with vastly different effects.

I do have a couple of minor critiques about this one, which kept it from being a five-star read. First, the author repeatedly uses the phrase "our grown ups" to describe the parents and teachers in the story. I'm not convinced that a high school senior would use that phrase. Also, it was sometimes hard to tell who was speaking (especially in the audiobook) due to the fragmented writing style.

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