A review by girlreading
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
4.0
3.5* A poignant exploration of finding your place, people and voice in a world that's fighting to make it as hard as possible for you to do so.
The fact that this book felt like a contemporary (despite being set nearly 30 years ago) and the way the events of the 1992 LA riots are still being mirrored to this day, shows just how far we as a society still have to go in tearing down and standing up agains systematic racism and police brutality and I thought this book did a brilliant job at highlighting this. But this book doesn't only explore police brutality, it also tackles topics such as privilege, family, self discovery, Black history, mental health, sex, toxic friendships, protests and more. One aspect I particularly enjoyed about The Black Kids is the way it allowed its characters to make mistakes and question authority and what they've always known. We slowly got to watch Ashley take back the power of her voice and use it to stand up for herself and those around her and part ways with that which was no longer good for her and I thought that was really powerful. Whilst I had a few issues with it here and there, I'd had no qualms recommending this book to YA readers young and old and I'm definitely excited to see what Christina Hammonds Reed writes in the future.
TW: police brutality, suicide, racism, racist slur, homophobic language, fatphobia/body shaming
The fact that this book felt like a contemporary (despite being set nearly 30 years ago) and the way the events of the 1992 LA riots are still being mirrored to this day, shows just how far we as a society still have to go in tearing down and standing up agains systematic racism and police brutality and I thought this book did a brilliant job at highlighting this. But this book doesn't only explore police brutality, it also tackles topics such as privilege, family, self discovery, Black history, mental health, sex, toxic friendships, protests and more. One aspect I particularly enjoyed about The Black Kids is the way it allowed its characters to make mistakes and question authority and what they've always known. We slowly got to watch Ashley take back the power of her voice and use it to stand up for herself and those around her and part ways with that which was no longer good for her and I thought that was really powerful. Whilst I had a few issues with it here and there, I'd had no qualms recommending this book to YA readers young and old and I'm definitely excited to see what Christina Hammonds Reed writes in the future.
TW: police brutality, suicide, racism, racist slur, homophobic language, fatphobia/body shaming