All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
RASHAD IS ABSENT AGAIN TODAY
That's the sidewalk graffiti that started it all...
Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn't matter what Rashad said next-that it was an accident, that he wasn't stealing- the cop just kept pummeling him, over and over, so then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again...and again...stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.
And that's how it started.
And that's what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend's older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn't tell a soul...The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when a school starts to divide on what happened, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like "racism" and "police brutality." Quinn realizes that, bystander or not, he's a part of history. And he just has to figure out what side of history that will be.
Rashad and Quinn- one black, one white, both American- ace the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn't die after the civil rights movement. There's a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.
Cuz that's how it can end.
RASHAD IS ABSENT AGAIN TODAY
That's the sidewalk graffiti that started it all...
Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn't matter what Rashad said next-that it was an accident, that he wasn't stealing- the cop just kept pummeling him, over and over, so then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again...and again...stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.
And that's how it started.
And that's what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend's older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn't tell a soul...The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when a school starts to divide on what happened, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like "racism" and "police brutality." Quinn realizes that, bystander or not, he's a part of history. And he just has to figure out what side of history that will be.
Rashad and Quinn- one black, one white, both American- ace the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn't die after the civil rights movement. There's a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.
Cuz that's how it can end.
RASHAD IS ABSENT AGAIN TODAY
That's the sidewalk graffiti that started it all...
Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn't matter what Rashad said next-that it was an accident, that he wasn't stealing- the cop just kept pummeling him, over and over, so then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again...and again...stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.
And that's how it started.
And that's what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend's older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn't tell a soul...The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when a school starts to divide on what happened, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like "racism" and "police brutality." Quinn realizes that, bystander or not, he's a part of history. And he just has to figure out what side of history that will be.
Rashad and Quinn- one black, one white, both American- ace the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn't die after the civil rights movement. There's a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.
Cuz that's how it can end.
Condition: Gently Loved
Imperfections: Wear and tear on the cover
Style: Paperback
Age: 13-17
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