[Book Review] Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.

 4.5 STARS 

This book was super intense and powerful. I could not put it down. It's an incredibly short book at a little over 200 pages, so it was easy to fly through the story but I am really impressed that a small book can pack such a powerful punch. I think this Black Lives Matter story is one everyone should read, and it is up there with The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

First, with the characters, I really enjoyed the characters in this story. I think because a good chunk of the book is dialogue it was easy to get to know who the characters were. Justyce is such a great main character. He is honestly just doing his best at being a good student, son, friend, and citizen. You can tell he's trying so hard not to be labeled a troublemaker. It made it even more heartbreaking when because of the color of his skin he's accused of being trouble when he tried his hardest. I admired Justyce a lot. I also liked SJ's character because she was using her privilege as a white girl to explain the issues to students in their classroom who kept dismissing the fact that racism is still a problem in our world. I liked that during the class discussions with their teacher Doc (who was so cool) because those discussions are so important and I hope that they're happening in real schools too. 

The plot is infuriating and heartbreaking. I'm a white girl, so these experiences are not my reality, and honestly I always knew about the injustices but it wasn't until the last few years that I really started to pay attention. I am so happy there are books like Dear Martin, THUG, and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds for younger readers to read. I wish I was more aware when I was younger so I could be a better advocate and ally. Also, I am happy that there is such great representation for young readers of color.

This book is so well written. It definitely hits hard at some points. I cried, smiled, and was genuinely angry at some aspects of the story. I think the writing of the friendships and relationships between the characters were well done. It's such a small book that I wasn't sure if we'd get a lot of the character's personalities but we did. I do wish we got more descriptions. Because it's a lot of dialogue I feel like we don't get to see a lot of quirks of the characters. Smiles, body language, smells, mannerisms, even what they looked like. Descriptions of the settings were also lacking a bit. I think that is one of the only issues I had with this book. I would have liked to have a clearer image of the characters and settings. There are some areas where the story is written kind of like the format of screen-writing. And although I found that really easy to read, I think it took away from the imagery. The other issue I had with the story is that there weren't many black girls in the story and with there being some misogyny I feel like could have been addressed. 

Overall I think this book and the narrative are such important ones to be read. I think no matter the age of the reader this book needs to be read by everyone.  If you liked The Hate U Give or All American Boys you'll love this book.  I recommend it so much. I'll definitely be thinking about this one for a long time. This is one of those stories that stick with you for a while.  

Thanks for reading!