Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before. And the basketball team-half of whom are Rashad’s best friends-start to take sides. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement? There were witnesses: Quinn Collins-a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan-and a video camera. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award–winning novel, two teens-one black, one white-grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.
It could also endanger her life.Ī 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature. But what Starr does-or does not-say could upend her community. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. 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. This story is important." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Heartbreakingly topical." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A marvel of verisimilitude." -Booklist (starred review) "A powerful, in-your-face novel." -The Horn Book (starred review) Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. Eight Starred Reviews! #1 New York Times Bestseller! "Absolutely riveting!" -Jason Reynolds "Stunning." -John Green "This story is necessary.