SuitabookThe Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
- Reading
- Consider reading alongside the young person, pausing after the shooting and later violence. Let them set the pace, acknowledge grief and anger, and discuss how fictional perspectives relate to real-world news without demanding personal disclosure.
- Themes
- Finding a voice amid racial injustice: Starr witnesses a police officer fatally shoot her unarmed friend and struggles with whether and how to speak, testify and respond publicly. The narrative is presented as engaging with courage, voice and standing up for what is right, while centring the community affected by police violence.
- Family, friendship and divided communities: Starr moves between an under-resourced neighbourhood and an affluent prep school, while her family and friends respond to the crisis around her. Supportive, protective family relationships and positive role models are emphasised, alongside tensions created by unequal social worlds.
- Grief, media and public response: The aftermath includes grief, media coverage, a grand jury process and protests following the fatal shooting. The book is described as presenting the aftermath from the victim’s community perspective and as opening discussion about race and justice.
- Worth knowing
- Prepare for the opening death and other described or witnessed violence, including a beating, drive-by shooting, threats, riots and fire. Strong profanity, racial language, sexual discussion, drinking, marijuana and addiction also occur.