Dear Martin would be a wonderful addition to any high school classroom to prompt discussion of racism and police brutality. Its short, direct style and interesting format will appeal to many young and reluctant readers.

Stone has delivered a wonderful social justice book short enough to appeal to reluctant readers. Justyce is a round, dynamic character who takes you through the journey of his self-awareness beginning with his experience being harassed and cuffed by a police officer when he was only being a good Samaritan. Justyce and his friends experience many of the issues that appear on our nightly news and the adults around him suggest a variety of ways to deal with each situation. The dialog with adults sometimes comes across as a mini-sermon where they deliver the feelings or reactions the author wants to lead you to have. The book is strongest when Justyce writes out his feelings in his letters to MLK and discusses his issues with his debate partner (and potential love interest) A strong addition to the growing list of books about African Americans, implicit and institutionalized racism and the way to effectively change your world.

WHAT I LOVED:

Jus is a well-drawn character, one of just eight black students at his very white and very competitive prep school and not really comfortable in his skin. He’s so smart he won a scholarship to Braselton Prep and gets accepted into Yale for college, but the class divide between him and the rich kids is almost palpable. At home, the Black Jihad gang that runs in his neighborhood rags on him for being so smart and going to Bras Prep. He doesn’t have a place where he feels he fits, though his mom tells him he’s not supposed to. He’s meant to carve it out himself.

But when a cop sees Justyce trying to help his mixed-race-white-passing ex-girlfriend while she’s drunk, being ridiculously smart doesn’t help him. Just like that, Jus gets to experience police brutality firsthand as Officer Castillo brutalizes him, leaves him in handcuffs for hours, and always keeps his hand on his weapon. It was the first time Jus really feared for his life and he decides to start paying attention to what’s going on around him instead of ignoring it or glossing over it.

That’s how his letters to Martin Luther King Jr. start. He wants to try and practice King’s philosophies in his own life.

Justyce, his best friend Manny, and Manny’s cousin Quan offer a compelling portrait of modern black adolescence. Jus lives below the poverty line and is using his brain to get to better places. Manny was born into money and he puts up with everything his racist white friends do, though he later decides he’s done with them. Quan? He tested into the same Accelerated Learners program as Jus, but his own life experiences with racism and the criminal justice system led him to just give up and join Black Jihad. And then he shoots Officer Castillo dead.

AND THAT’S JUST THE FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK. The second half takes Jus’s emotions and journey up a notch when a white man–a cop and coincidentally Castillo’s partner–shoots him and kills Manny because Manny played his music a little too loudly. Jus nearly does give up and join Black Jihad like Quan did.

Even as a white woman who will never be in Jus’s position by grace of her skin color, reading Dear Martin hurt and I wished it were possible to console him myself. Luckily, he has his debate partner and crush Sarah-Jane, a white Jewish girl who uses her white privilege for good and shuts down arguments like “affirmative action discriminates against the majority” and “all races are equal now”in their Societal Evolution class. The content and transcript format will do plenty to equip readers with the tools they need to refute those arguments themselves.

(It wouldn’t do much good for me because I fail hard at verbally debating anything, BUT ANYWAY.)

But as Jus puts it after being shot by Officer Tison, “despite how good of a dude Martin was, they still killed him, man.” Trying to put MLK’s stuff into practice allows him and the reader to experience how imperfect they were. Though civil rights protestors’ nonviolent opposition did a great deal and moved forward black civil rights, none of that protected MLK. He was still arrested multiple times. He was still killed by James Earl Ray (and the US government was also found liable for MLK’s death).

Similarly, trying to be like MLK didn’t keep Jus from being shot. Kowtowing to white people and being the Good Black Person until literal minutes before his death didn’t keep Manny alive. Officer Tison just saw them as black kids playing their music too loudly. These facts are a large part of Jus’s moral struggle in the aftermath of his friend’s death and his own near-death experience.

Some characters like Jared and Blake, two very racist white boys, almost seem like caricatures, but that thought was nothing but my whiteness reacting to an attack on itself. I shut it right down because I know I’ve met many, many, many Jareds and Blakes and they’re all to real. In fact, one was in my Gender Studies class my sophomore year of college. A gay guy debated her and tried to educate her on how backwards she was on racism (she claimed racism against white people was A Thing), welfare, and a lot of other things. He was so deeply affected by the bigotry she spouted that he dropped the course within the week.

So yes, plenty of guys like them exist, my brother included. Jared is deeply affected by Manny’s death and makes a complete turnaround by the end of the novel, offering a spot of hope in this fairly bleak novel. But it shouldn’t take a black person they know being murdered by a cop to make a white person stop being racist.

FINAL VERDICT:
Dear Martin is an immersive, real, and important book perfectly paired with The Hate U Give for the teen who wants to understand modern racial tensions, race-related police brutality, and how to be a good human being. If we preserve them properly, future generations will hopefully be able to read these books and understand what was happening. If all our fighting gets us somewhere, the social problems Dear Martin faces head-on may seem entirely foreign to them.

If we’re lucky and can make headway against systemic racism.

Today, I came across another librarian reading DEAR MARTIN by debut novelist Nic Stone and I am looking forward to sharing reactions with her and others about this highly acclaimed book (starred review from Booklist). Stone tells the story of high school senior Justyce McAllister who is handcuffed and poorly treated while only trying to prevent an ex-girlfriend from driving drunk. There is no consequence for, or apology from, the cop involved and this ignites anger and bewilderment in honor student Justyce. He starts reading the works of Dr. King and tries writing letters, or journaling, asking "What would Dr. King do?" Justyce increasingly struggles to deal with prejudice exhibited by classmates at his predominately white high school. Sadly, the situation escalates and a student is killed.

My main reservation about this text is that the dialogue seems forced and even stereotypical at times. Unfortunately, that view was shared by other readers with whom I discussed DEAR MARTIN. Comments were frequently disrespectful towards women, too. In addition, I was puzzled about why Justyce would be going to Princeton (a place which has a reputation of being less than accepting of those who are different) and his close friend, Manny, going to Spelman (the author's alma mater). Both choices did not seem like a "good fit" for the characters as developed in this novel.

DEAR MARTIN is short (~210 pages) and easy to read – it will definitely prompt classroom discussion and I know at least one teacher who is already assigning it as part of an independent reading project. I highly recommend including How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon and/or Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson and/or The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Let the literature circles begin!

See my review on The Hub:

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2017/10/20/qp2018-nominees-round-3/

Dear Martin is a powerful debut story by Nic Stone that I couldn't stop reading and have continued to think about long after I turned the last page.

Along with The March Trilogy, All American Boys & The Hate U Give, I highly recommend Dear Martin to adults and teens alike.

Sometimes a book needs no words…it need advocates, it needs book pushers, it needs people to put it in the hands of our youth. Dear Martin is one of those books. Let’s put it in our libraries, in our schools, and in the hands of our future.

Really well crafted book. I think its way to address this current issue of police violence against black people is a really good one. Plus, I loved all the letters Justyce writes to Martin Luther King Jr. I thought they were the best. They were filled with such beauty, and at the same time they were filled with hard truths about our current society. I just really liked how the letters were filled with raw truths, and I must say, wow to Nic Stone, for sharing this issue. As for the plot and the characters I don’t think I have much to say. They were all great, and everything developed so nicely and the ending was just stunning. In the end, despite all the violence and (excessive) swearing, I think this book is a must read!

DEAR MARTIN is a timely, emotional read that absolutely should be in every library and taught in schools - everyone should read this book. It doesn't read like a textbook, but it certainly serves as a jumping off point for discussions of race and inequality. It made me angry, made me sad, but most importantly it made me think. It was a really beautiful read. If you enjoyed THE HATE U GIVE earlier this year, you should absolutely check this one out on its release date. Both books are important conversation starters and they're so, so important.

FABULOUS, important, relevant book! I loved this one and couldn't put it down. I've already pre-ordered a copy for my classroom library! Nic Stone does a fantastic job of fleshing out the characters in this book and I was completely shocked by the twist in the book. Best advice I can give - don't read any spoilers or even the full book description before reading!

This young adult novel tells the story of Justyce, an African-American teen at a mostly-white prep school trying to navigate the world and all its racism. He writes imaginary letters to Dr. Martin Luther King in an effort to understand his own struggles better.

For a while I was actually really disappointed in this book—none of the characters and their interactions quite felt real, and they weren’t developed enough for my tastes. But then I got it: Justyce begins to feel like he is more of a political debate than a person, and that came across quite nicely once I got over it and just thought a little more.

The first half of the book feels a little rough, but it improves, and the end makes everything worth it.

This book punches you in the gut, teaches you to check your privileges, and makes you open your eyes to a hard reality impossible to deny, because "walking arround pretending inequality doesn't exist won't make it disappear".

Dear Martin is a very important book that talks about racism, racial profiling, and police brutality. It's a very interesting read, because it shows different levels of racism: from the most evident ones (shooting deaths of unarmed black teenagers) to those that are more subtle (jokes, racial slurs...). They might be different, but all of them are important, all of them affect people, and all of them are acts of racism.

This book also makes you realise that PoC always find themselves in this kind of situations and it helps you understand the rage of marginalised groups, because sometimes it seems like things are never going to change, no matter what you do. However, Dear Martin is a story that gives you hope, too, and makes you want to keep fighting to make the world a better place.

My only problems with this book are that it was too short, and I wasn't very keen on the dialogue format, but it is a must read and I recommend it to everybody, specially to those who enjoyed The Hate U Give. If you're looking for a story that's easy to read (even though it's hard) and makes you think, don't doubt it and go for it!
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So. This book. Holy wow. Was this such a necessary, brilliantly crafted read, which considering the echos I was getting from people who have read it before me was not surprising at all. But still, I was surprised by how everything was handled. I honestly believe this book should be required reading. Especially in the US. Especially with the current climate. It does many many things right and there is a lot to learn from it.

The writing is fairly simple and easy to get into, which with how heavy and important the issues the book deals with is really the only way to go, any other type of writing wouldn’t work at all. I loved how the chapters were separated by the letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, they served like a type of summary/reflection from Justyce’s part on the events that happened in the chapter and it added a little something to the book as a whole. The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 star is a formatting issue I had. The dialogue formats were inconsistent, some of it was written in the regular way, while another big chunk was written in manuscript format. It would’ve been better if it was just one or the other.

The story holds one hell of a punch, I would’ve never have thought in a million years, that a book just a little over 224 pages would be able to deconstruct and deal with important issues such as racism, racial profiling and police brutality as good as it is done in this book. Nic Stone does a fantastic job at giving a counter-points to a lot of Im-not-a-racist crowd’s arguments, like colorblindness, or thinking that racial profiling isn’t a thing, or that black people have it as good as white people etc… In short, the arguments of those who claim racism is dead.

Dear Martin sucked me in completely from the early pages and I only put it down when I absolutely had to -sleep, it didn’t only do a good job at tackling day to day real like situations but also actual arguments through debates where most of the time a white ally (who is Justyce’s love interest) opposes a racist and that was certainly very interesting to read.

Justyce was such a solid, realistic character, his character arc was strong and meaningful, seeing him struggle between what he thought things we like, what he hoped they were like and what they were really like was hard but needed and seeing break out of his shell and start speaking for himself was great as well. His voice is similar to that of many many black kids living in the US today, and that is important for them to read, to see that they’re not alone in their fear and struggles.

So as I said, this is a hard yet necessary read that I’d recommend to everyone. REQUIRED READING. REQUIRED READING. REQUIRED READING.

I love books like this one. They are so important in our lives! This is the type of book everyone should read.

It may not seem like it, but it talks about the reality of our world. It's the 21st century and racism still exists. After so long and so many things changing and evolving... Things might be different for the better, but that's not good enough. Racism should be a thing long gone and yet here we are with people getting murdered because of it, getting worse jobs, getting disrespected, among other things. Meanwhile, equality and freedom are the words spoken to describe nowadays...

I can’t imagine how is it possible to live with all that cargo… Knowing that you can get murdered because you, unfortunately, were born with the wrong colored skin?! Treated as if you are not even human because of that? Constantly being looked at through the corner of the eye because you are certainly up to something? Constantly being said that you are less than a white person? That you couldn’t ever be this or that because of that? … I mean… Is that even a life? Can you imagine how these people must feel? It’s terrifying.

But Justyce knows how that feels like… He has suffered injustice after injustice, until one day one changed everything.

This book is in a way similar to The Hate U Give, after all, the topic is the same. But the way that is approached is really different. I still do prefer THUG in terms of plot but I loved how in this book we have a male POV. Primarily because just like both books show, black teenage boys have it even tougher than girls, the racism is even worse since black teenage boys equal gangster, carrying a gun, selling drugs, capable of anything, etc. In THUG we see the life of a black boy through the eyes of a black girl, here we have that black boy… So that was really powerful in this book. Secondly, because I almost never read books with male POVs.

I really liked Justyce and I think he was a really good person, and his idea of writing letters to Martin Luther King Jr. was really interesting. But on the other side, I also think that he was a bit lost and clueless. He wanted equality and he saw that that was not happening and after that, he didn’t do much more? I liked the moral of the story but I just wanted a bit more passion from him? I felt that even SJ had more fire in her than him. God, even Manny, and he was the quietest of them all! Although he was definitely my favorite character… I just really liked to see him trying to fit in and being a bit oblivious and suddenly waking up… Just like Justyce – but I just didn’t connect as much…

I also really liked that how in this book we have different perspectives. We have white idiot boys, black idiot boys, white amazing girls, black amazing boys, racist black persons (which I really liked the addition) and racist white persons (I hated them so much… It made me so angry!). There’s a mix of everything and it made it a lot more interesting.

As for the plot, I really liked the debates in the book, they made it really realistic and gripping. But the best part was around halfway… This book was killing me! I was not expecting anything like that and it broke my heart. I feel so revolted! This book really hit me big time. I still have difficulty seeing the “why” things like this happen. How is it still possible after so much time… I feel really upset. There were some things I wanted a bit more, especially out of the plot and the main characters but it’s a fantastic book nonetheless and really… Just read this book!

This is an important, timeless, strong read. It’s gripping, it’s beautifully heartbreaking and it should be read by everyone. Definitely, recommend it.

After getting racially profiled by police, Ivy League-bound Justyce McAllister decides to start writing letters to Martin Luther King to figure out how the late civil rights letter would handle such situations. However, he wonders whether the example of Dr. King is applicable to an environment where he is constantly judged based on his racial identity. Dear Martin focuses on a high school student and how he deals with racial profiling by both the police and his peers. Although the book does look at the larger issue of racial profiling by police, the book's strength is in how it looks at how he deals with the casual racism of some of his prep school classmates. At a little over 200 pages Dear Martin breezes by with its episodic chapters that do not delve deeper into the experiences of Justyce and his peers. Thus, decisions are made a bit too quickly, situations resolve themselves a little too conveniently, and the pieces fall a bit too neatly in service of the overall plot. Justyce is a likable character that readers could easily relate to. By keeping the focus on Justyce’s experiences, readers could get a sense of race affects the way he is perceived by others.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the free e-ARC and the chance to read this book early. It is so helpful for this librarian to read ahead for planning, purchasing, and promotion purposes!

5/5 stars for this powerful story. Justyce is one of the only black students at his prestigious private high school. He is from a rough neighborhood and has always felt like he doesn’t fit in with the other guys at school, with the exception of his best friend Manny. When Justyce is arrested for trying to help his white ex-girlfriend drive home safely after a night of drinking, he can’t stop seeing injustice everywhere he turns. He starts writing to Martin Luther King, Jr. in a journal, in an attempt to be more like Dr. King. But it’s hard, especially when Manny can’t see his racist friends the way Justyce does. He starts to think that maybe the best way to fight injustice really is through a gang in his mom’s neighborhood.

This belongs on a shelf with The Hate U Give and All-American boys; it is powerful, emotional, and timely. It belongs in all high school collections.

I reviewed a digital preview copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

My first reaction to this book is simply wow; I believe every student, teacher, and parent needs to read this impactful story. As middle-aged white female, I needed to read about the experiences of Justyce and his friend Manny. I needed to hear the conversations about race and bias in Doc’s classroom. I needed to see the frustration and hope through the eyes of SJ (Sarah Jane), Justyce's friend and eventual girlfriend. I needed to be reminded that everyone has bias and to reflect on my own and have those conversations with my children and my students. We know reading builds understanding and empathy and Dear Martin helps with both.

Justyce McAllister is an outstanding student at his elite private school. He is also one of the few African Americans at the school. He lives at his school as a boarding student and does not come from the wealth many of his classmates have; his mom in fact still lives in the rough part of town where gangs are prevalent and futures are dim for young African American men. She is adamant that he stay at school and get the education to make a difference in this world.

Readers are introduced to Justyce as he is on his way to help his off-on again girlfriend, Melo, who has had too much to drink and he wants to get her home safely. This girlfriend comes from a wealthy family, an African American father who is a former NFL player and a Caucasian mother. She passes for white more often than not. Why does mentioning race matter? It’s unfortunate, but it is because of his race, Justyce is falsely accused and verbally and physically mistreated by a white police officer when he walks to help his girlfriend. This awakens Justyce to the bias he subconsciously has always known existed in his life by those around him.

Justyce had started a project of letter writing to Martin Luther King Jr. and through those letters you learn of Justyce’s struggles to rise above this racism and criticisms. Writing those letters is his way to try to make sense of how he and others are treated simply because of the color of their skin. Justyce’s awakening also affects others around him, including his best friend Manny, another African American student in the senior class.

Manny’s family is very wealthy and he has been quite insulated from race issues because of his successful parents. That all begins to change as Manny listens to Justyce and begins to reflect on how his white friends talk about race. One day Manny and Justyce go for a ride in Manny’s Land Rover to just cruise and think about everything that’s been happening. They are listening to loud music with the windows rolled down when they pull up to a red light. Next to them is a middle aged white man who tells them to turn the music down. Manny says no and turns the music up even louder; a normal teenage reaction for many. BANG! BANG! BANG! That’s where the story takes a heartstopping turn.

Take the time to read this book and share with others. It is a story worth your time and worth the conversations it can start.

Dear Martin lives up to its hype. It is heart wrenching and an unflinchingly true depiction of life for young black men in America. Justyce, a 17- year-old high school senior and his best friend Manny have great lives ahead of them. But situations present themselves and Jus and Manny are in the wrong places at the wrong times and circumstances spiral out of control. As I read I was struck with the stark helplessness both Manny and Jus undoubtedly felt. This was heart breaking to read, but a novel I plan to share with my students. In the end, there is always hope that the teachings of Dr. King will make a difference in our nation. My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Nic Stone has an amazing ability to take real life events and turn them into the most realistic fiction I have read recently. This book spoke to my heart as it took me a journey through the perspectives of all players. Dear Martin made me think about daily life in different ways. It often felt as though a new perspective was presented on each page. I was forced to think about my biases and approaches while reading this. When I finished, I felt sad and at the same time empowered to speak up and speak out, while understanding different perspectives. I hope to see more from Nic Stone in the near future. Dear Martin is a book for everyone!