Next week at our first meeting, I will play a few excerpts from both books for the kids and let them decide which one we should read. I haven’t yet read All-American Boys…I plan to listen to it on Audible, and come up with discussion questions for that one, too. I also have about 10 questions/topics of discussion drafted, but maybe some people will post other ideas here. I won’t go on and on, but if you want to read my review of it, you can find it here. I actually listened to this book on Audible, and I feel it added so much to my overall experience and understanding of the characters amd events. This summer I plan to meet a couple days a week with a handful of kids for SAT practice and a book study…I thought about doing The Hate U Give or All-American Boys (funny, you brought that up!).

I have taught in the same urban district teaching high school Spanish and English for the past 18yrs. I absolutely LOVED this book, and I have brought it up to a few of my students. Be respectful of other people’s opinions the subject matter of this book will bring up strong opinions and feelings, and everyone is encouraged to share honestly, but any comments that are abusive toward other commenters will be removed. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Book on a similar topic: All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.

I would also like to know how you would address the profanity and sex in the book, which was not graphic but still present? How do you all handle this in regard to letting students read these books and responding to objections from parents? What age would be appropriate for reading this book?.

I wonder how teachers might address concerns from students and families who see the book as biased, or who feel more sympathetic to officer one-fifteen? Some students (and teachers) may relate more to characters like Hailey…how do we address this in our classrooms in a way that helps everyone grow?.

Thomas helps us understand other complex issues by having the adult characters explain things to Starr, but I felt like the riots weren’t explored enough, and this is an issue that I think white America still needs help understanding.

I wish there could have been more discussion of the rioting, and of the characters’ understanding of it.

I appreciated the opportunity to get to know people like DeVante and Khalil and hear the stories of how they ended up getting involved with gangs and selling drugs, which painted a much more complex, nuanced picture of how some young people end up doing these things.

I appreciated the fact that we get to know characters who are so often represented by stereotypes.

I think this is an incredibly important book that can be used as a springboard for talking about race relations, law enforcement, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The hate you give book genre