Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads Synopsis
Los Angeles, 1992 Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson. With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?
Review
The Black Kids is an incredibly eye-opening and heavy hitting book. This book is told in line with the real life events of police brutality against Rodney King and the riots that took place when the officers were acquitted and is incredibly relevant to what is happening right now with the BLM movement and the case of George Floyd. I hate to admit that I had no prior knowledge of the 1992 riots and did a lot of research into the case whilst reading this book.
This book not only tackles the subject of racism and privilege but it’s told from the perspective of a teenage girl who at first doesn’t understand how much it truly affects her and her families lives. Ashley is still trying to deal with her college application, tension within her family and figuring out who she wants to be. Ashley is not perfect but that makes her more realistic and relatable. I will admit that I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the other characters and at times I found Ashley’s friends to be annoying, especially with how reckless they are in their decision making and throwaway racist comments with no thought of how it would affect Ashley.
I appreciated the ending of this book (don’t worry I won’t spoil it) and how things aren’t perfect. Christina Hammond Reed made sure you were very much aware that this story and it’s message don’t just get brushed to the side with a happy ending. This book is raw and its relevant. These issues are not over and this is real life.
I think my only issue with this book is the way its marketed and compared to The Hate U Give which is one of my favourite books. I think I ended up going into this book with extremely high expectations which it didn’t meet by no faults of its own. This book is brilliant and beautifully written but I kept comparing it to The Hate U Give when I wish I didn’t and had gone in to this book with no comparisons.
Overall, The Black Kids was an educational, informative and eye-opening coming of age book that I really enjoyed reading. I recommend everyone picks this one up, you won’t regret it!
Rating: 4/5 stars