Dear Martin

by Nic Stone

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A book that sits right next to The Hate U Give, this is the story of a young man wrestling with the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King as the world seems bent against him. Speaking to the all-too-relevant themes of racism and police brutality, this is as culturally significant as novels come.

"Powerful, wrenching.” –JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down

"Raw and gripping." –JASON REYNOLDS, New York Times bestselling coauthor of All American Boys

"A must-read!” –ANGIE THOMAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give

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 #1 New York Times bestselling debut, a William C. Morris Award Finalist.

Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. 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.

"Vivid and powerful." -Booklist, Starred Review
 
"A visceral portrait of a young man reckoning with the ugly, persistent violence of social injustice." -Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780606415552
Publisher:	Perfection Learning Corporation
Publication date:	04/06/2019
Edition description:	Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Nic Stone is a native of Atlanta and a Spelman College graduate. After working extensively in teen mentoring and living in Israel for a few years, she returned to the United States to write full-time. Dear Martin, her first novel, is loosely based on a series of true events involving the shooting deaths of unarmed African American teenagers. Shaken by the various responses to these incidents—and to the pro-justice movement that sprang up as a result—Stone began the project in an attempt to examine current affairs through the lens of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings.
 
You can find her fangirling over her husband and sons on Twitter and Instagram at @getnicced or on her website nicstone.info.

Read an Excerpt

chapter 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Dear Martin"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Nic Stone.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Children's Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Nic Stone's powerful debut…packs an impressive spectrum of characters and viewpoints into 210 fast-paced pages: from Manny, the son of wealthy black professionals who tells Justyce he's being overly "sensitive" and confesses that he's "scared of black girls," to SJ, Justyce's civil rights-crusading Jewish debate partner (and guilty crush)…The smart, soul-searching Justyce is a hero readers will enjoy rooting for.

The New York Times Book Review - Catherine Hong

Praise for Dear Martin:

A New York Times Bestseller!
A William C. Morris Award Finalist!
An ALAN / Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist!
A 2018 BookExpo Editors' Buzz Selection!
An Indies Introduce Selection!
A Kids' Indie Next List pick!
 
“A powerful, wrenching, and compulsively readable story that lays bare the history, and the present, of racism in America.” –John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down
 
"Painfully timely and deeply moving." –Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Raw and gripping." –Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down

"Absolutely incredible, honest, gut-wrenching. A must read!" –Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give

"Teens, librarians and teachers alike will find this book a godsend...Vivid and powerful." –Booklist, Starred Review

"A visceral portrait of a young man reckoning with the ugly, persistent violence of social injustice." 
–Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Narrator Dion Graham conveys Justyce McAllister’s depth of character and inner conflict. The African-American honor student’s life is changed when he is the victim of racial profiling, police brutality, and wrongful arrest. Graham at first registers Justyce’s confusion and shock. With equal believability, Graham depicts Justyce’s anger and trauma at experiencing racism at his mostly white prep school. To better understand his emotions, Justyce begins a journal, a series of letters to Martin Luther King, Jr. In his entries, Graham reflects Justyce’s isolation, suffering, and occasional moments of solace. Then, a terrible string of events occurs. Graham voices Justyce’s reactions of disbelief, disgust, and, finally, hope in this powerful journey of self-discovery. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile

Narrator Dion Graham conveys Justyce McAllister’s depth of character and inner conflict. The African-American honor student’s life is changed when he is the victim of racial profiling, police brutality, and wrongful arrest. Graham at first registers Justyce’s confusion and shock. With equal believability, Graham depicts Justyce’s anger and trauma at experiencing racism at his mostly white prep school. To better understand his emotions, Justyce begins a journal, a series of letters to Martin Luther King, Jr. In his entries, Graham reflects Justyce’s isolation, suffering, and occasional moments of solace. Then, a terrible string of events occurs. Graham voices Justyce’s reactions of disbelief, disgust, and, finally, hope in this powerful journey of self-discovery. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile

2017-08-07
In this roller-coaster ride of a debut, the author summons the popular legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to respond to the recent tragic violence befalling unarmed black men and boys. Seventeen-year-old black high school senior Justyce McAllister, a full-scholarship student at the virtually all-white Braselton Prep, is the focus. After a bloody run-in with the police when they take his good deed for malice, Justyce seeks meaning in a series of letters with his "homie" Dr. King. He writes, "I thought if I made sure to be an upstanding member of society, I'd be exempt from the stuff THOSE black guys deal with, you know?" While he's ranked fourth in his graduating class and well-positioned for the Ivy League, Justyce is coming to terms with the fact that there's not as much that separates him from "THOSE black guys" as he'd like to believe. Despite this, Stone seems to position Justyce and his best friend as the decidedly well-mannered black children who are deserving of readers' sympathies. They are not those gangsters that can be found in Justyce's neighborhood. There's nuance to be found for sure, but not enough to upset the dominant narrative. What if they weren't the successful kids? While the novel intentionally leaves more questions than it attempts to answer, there are layers that still remain between the lines. Though constrained, the work nevertheless stands apart in a literature that too often finds it hard to look hard truths in the face. Take interest and ask questions. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews