This book was outstanding! I love that it was so well written and handled the topics of race so well! I found this to be one that I wanted to pick up again right after I finished.

The message in this book was so good and powerful! The execution... wasn't really for me. I get confused easily with pov changes, and this one has about a gazillion. The constant pov changes made my head spin a little, but I did manage to keep myself glued to the story which tells me that the book is really well written. I can definitely recommend this.

This seemed like a powerful book addressing a very important set of social issues. It opened with a bang, and it pulled no punches in its initial addressing of racism and police brutality--there is no sugar-coating, even from the get-go. However, I had two issues that pulled me out of the story and ultimately led to me not finishing the book. First, I did not realize when I requested it that this is a companion novel to another title by this author; I think that, without that context, I couldn't fully appreciate everything that was happening. And second, the vignette structure detracted from the depth that could be afforded to each character. If I had read the first book, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more and been more inclined to finish :(

The story is heartbreaking and thoughtful but it has a confusing setup. Each chapter has several pages for each character in the book. There are too many, and I often get confused about who and how they are related.
It seems like every other book I read with this premise: it handles the event and the protest but doesn't move past for a larger story and any change that may have happened..

This book was enjoyable and definitely very important. But I wanted more of it. I felt confused by the amount of characters at times, but I still enjoyed it.

The vignette style of this novel was a wonderful choice and added to the intensity of the plot. This book covers some really important topics and isn't an easy read for the heart. I don't always like a love triangle, but it was fine in this book.

Interesting premise. Likable/hated characters. Cool plot. I would recommend this story to others. Some spots I found that didn't hold my attention, but overall, I still liked it. I STILL REALLY REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK. SO MUCH REALISTIC SETTINGS AND HAPPENINGS. KEKLA WROTE A GREAT STORY!

Kekla Magoon does it again. How It Went Down had such a huge impact and Light It Up follows in its footsteps.

I didn't read How It Went Down but the subject matter was so important and timely that I thought I would try Light It Up and see if there were any major holes. Thankfully, there weren't. I maybe missed some small plot details but I think Magoon does a good job of providing enough back story that you don't feel like you're lost at all.

This is an important book, and not an easy one to tackle. I really enjoyed the different perspective because everyone had a unique take and story to be told.

I really loved this book! I enjoyed how the author switched between multiple perspectives to show the different moments and approaches to the issues discussed in the book. Before reading this one I read What Went Down, and this was a perfect follow-up. I am planning to buy this one for my classroom library!

I loved this book. Kekla Magoon once again does not disappoint! This story starts out the story of a young girl who is murdered by a cop, but is not her story. Instead, it is the story of people affected by this tragedy. In light of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd this year, the book is even more timely, and the multiple narrators let everyone's humanity shine through.

Tough read, but important read. The last section of the book whew!

I love a book written in vignettes, like House on Mango Street. This is a very interesting look at BLM.

Good book, will recommend to my students.

Kekla Magoon is an absolute powerhouse of a writer, and this book is tremendously topical and valuable. An instant buy for my library.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher and netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Light It Up

Author: Kekla Magoon

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 1/5

Diversity: African American main character and characters.

Publication Date: October 22, 2019

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed, but this does talk about an officer involved shooting of a young child (13).

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Pages: 368

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Told in a series of vignettes from multiple viewpoints, Kekla Magoon's Light It Up is a powerful, layered story about injustice and strength—as well as an incredible follow-up to the highly acclaimed novel How It Went Down.

A girl walks home from school. She's tall for her age. She's wearing her winter coat. Her headphones are in. She's hurrying.

She never makes it home.

In the aftermath, while law enforcement tries to justify the response, one fact remains: a police officer has shot and killed an unarmed thirteen-year-old girl. The community is thrown into upheaval, leading to unrest, a growing movement to protest the senseless taking of black lives, and the arrival of white supremacist counter demonstrators.

Review: This book was really good for the most part, but it got to a point where it got really confusing for me. There were a lot of narrators and it didn’t feel like there was any character development. Also, I felt like most of the book was about the romance rather than the murder, which I thought would be the focal point of the book. I made it pretty far, 76%, but I had to DNF it unfortunately. I would recommend this book for people who love books that touch on the reality of our unfair world involving race and racism and I commend the author on writing such a hard book!

Verdict: It wasn’t for me, but might be for you!

Please see my review below, which was featured on YALSA"s The Hub as a BFYA 2021 nominee.

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2020/03/06/best-fiction-for-young-adults-bfya2021-nominees-round-up-march-6-edition/

I thought this book did a good job of tackling the issue of police violence. While I liked that the story was told from multiple perspectives, I struggled a bit with just how many there were, and I felt like some of the narratives were more fleshed out than others. Some of them really weren't tied up at all at the end, which left me with lots of questions. I also wished that Magoon had taken the opportunity to make a clearer point about the prevalence of police violence against Black women and girls, and against people with disabilities.

Stunning, devastating, and another incredible voice forcing the world to take notice of the systematic racism still haunting the dally lives of such a huge part of the population. These stories will never be easy to read, but that is why they must be read.

Light It Up by Kekla Magoon—I’m not sure how I missed this one. Fans of The Hate U Give will devour this book. Told from different points of view, Magoon takes us back to Peach Street where in her earlier novel How It Went Down (2014) focused on a young black man being shot by a white man and the accounts of what happened varied wildly. In this novel Peach Street sees another death-an officer sees a person walking with his hood up and orders him to stop. He doesn’t. The officers feels a threat and shoots. Turns out it is a thirteen year old girl. Shae was unarmed, large for her age, had her headphones on, hood pulled up, and did not hear the officer’s demand for her to stop. She was a young black girl and he is a white cop. Tension mounts. The story solidly follows the thoughts, feelings, and actions that lie in the wake of such a tragic event, From the well-meaning “I understand” white friend to the king of the local street gang, we experience so many different points of view from so many levels. What truly makes this a phenomenal read is the format. While it is mostly written in narrative form, Magoon expertly weaves in tweet-like posts, news casts, and interviews to show how the world is responding to the situation. This brings the reader in...we all watch the news, read tweets, etc., but now we know the people they are talking about intimately. Shae’s best friend is autistic and when she speaks, it is in verse, raw and real. Magoon has a talent for changing her narrative to fit each character and giving each one his/her own voice. This book is an eye-opener. #Lightitup #KeklaMagoon #Netgalley

Kekla Magoon does it again with another powerful story told by multiple (15?!) narrators. A 13-year old girl has been mistakenly shot by police, causing powerful reverberations.

A worthwhile, important read.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!