Ashley lives in a big house in a fancy neighborhood, and even though she's Black, she doesn't feel like she fits in with the Black kids at her fancy school. The LA Riots after the Rodney King verdict change all that when she's caught up in an altercation downtown after a disaster of a prom night.

Ashley is a complex character with friend issues, boy issues, and family issues. This book takes on a lot. That said, there are beautiful phrases which makes most of these relationships come alive.

This book could pair well with The Hate U Give, Just Mercy, Dear Martin, or All American Boys in the school setting.

The Black Kids is being compared to The Hate U Give and Dear Martin and I completely agree with the comparisons. This novel has many of the same layers and themes that the others do and the writing is great. Overall though, The Black Kids didn’t grab me as much as THUG or DM did. I felt like the book was a slow burn. I enjoyed reading it but kind of struggled with its pacing.

The world building was excellent from the start. Ashley’s voice is great narration and I liked her as a character, but there seemed to be a void in the storytelling, as if she wasn’t sure how to tell the story she wanted to tell. This was a book about self discovery but at some points it didn’t feel as if it had direction. The second half of the book picked up as Ashley’s voice broadened and we got to spend more time with LaShawn. He was my favorite character. I loved that we got to know him better as time progressed and I wish there had been more. Jo was also a great character and she had a well developed background and storyline.

All in all, while I guess I hoped there might be a little more plot to the book beyond self discovery, I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

Set in 1992 Los Angeles, this book looks at the life of a young black girl, Ashley. She has gone to private school her whole life and had the same core of friends for the entire time. All of her friends are white though. After the Rodney King trials conclude, all hell breaks loose in LA and Ashley must find where she fits in.
Opinion
If you read only one book this year, make it this one. This book has such a powerful voice and tells a story that in some part all of us can picture ourselves in. This book will make you question your own past experiences and want to make the worlds better place.
I was drawn to this book because the blurb compared it to the book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which I loved. I’d also like to throw in there that it is similar to Dear Martin by Nic Stone as well. However, I feel that this book is way more powerful. I feel a bit of sympathy for the author though. How can she follow this? This book is truly a masterpiece.
I’d like to thank netgalley.com for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Not all black kids come from the same backgrounds, but all share the similar experiences of being Black in America. That’s is what I love about this book! The author tells the story of Ashley, a young middle class black woman that is coming of age in LA during the tumultuous times of the LA riots following the Rodney King verdict. The focus on the family and friend dynamics that is center point, however the threats of racism and class bias run counterpoint throughout the story. This makes “The Black Kids” an interesting #ownvoices tale of being black in middle America when sometimes you’re the lone representative of your race and sometimes you’re just wanna go to prom.

3.75 stars

It's 1992, and Ashley, the main character, is in high school in Los Angeles. She's Black, and this is a fact that her various classmates and "friends" (who are terrible in their original grouping) bring to her attention in both overtly racist and microaggressive ways. A clear strength of this novel is the roundness of Ashley's character. She's not a type; she's complex, has many facets, and is a strong YA lead for this purpose primarily (but not exclusively).

There is A LOT going on in this novel, and that's why - despite its fantastic setting (I am just a few years younger than Ashley would be now, and if you are too, you will die for the musical references) and stellar m.c. - I had some challenges moving through the narrative. Ashley has separate but challenging relationships with her... parents, sister, brother-in-law, friends (literally every single one of them), physical partners, romantic partners, neighbors (also all of them), grandmothers, and the list goes ON. For me, there was just too much happening with too many characters and situations. I often felt the desire to see a single relationship be more fully developed in favor of seemingly unnecessary scenes, details, or added characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel as both a piece of historical fiction and as a character study. I will absolutely be thrilled to read more from this author, but I will also hope for a little more focus and depth versus the profusion that I experienced here.

LOVED this book. This is a heavy, but beautiful read. Reading Ashley's story will be enlightening for people of all ages and races. This story is set in the 90s, but it is so pertinent today. In the last few years I have seen many students connect to Dear Martin and The Hate U Give. I think that The Black Kids will be another diverse story that teaches some kids and helps others feel seen.

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?- Goodreads

TW: Suicide, Violence

This book packs a punch. There are so many different layers in this book that I would love to see it part of a book club or a school curriculum., dissected and discussed.

The first part that stood out to me is the fact that I never see stories from a wealthy Black perspective. Ashley is basically looking from the outside in. Between only having white friends, her sister fighting the power (and probably experiencing mental health issues), her parents fighting her sister, the beating of Rodney King as well as her own experiences with police brutality AND racism, it was an experience to read the point of view of someone who wasn't directly involved; from someone who isn't poor and from someone whose family did everything in their power to be able to say "we're not like them."

Reading from this perspective was the best part of reading this book.

Ashley is an interesting character, who has her life planned out on the surface but is needing change. I wouldn't say that the Rodney King beating is what caused the change but it accelerated it. Think of it as reading a novel that gets you captivated by a battle but that really isn't the purpose of the novel. The Rodney King beating was the backdrop as well as the LA Riots, the killing of Latasha Harlins,  the Tulsa Massacre and other points . All of these were important because they shaped Ashley's changing view of the world.

There were things about Ashley that I didn't like. Things that she allowed to fit in/stay under the radar but everyone has to learn right? 

The pace of the novel was slow but it was worth it. The tone was somber even when things started to look up a bit, it doesn't exactly change. This could be due to the fact that the environment didn't change . . . it just got quiet (sounds familiar?). 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. As I mentioned in the beginning, this should be in a book club or part of a school curriculum.

3.5 Pickles

A debut novel that will rock the literary world, this historical fiction based on the 1992 LA Protests is a force to be reckoned with. Exploring issues of race and class in America through the eyes of a wealthy teenage black girl, The Black Kids easily becomes a relatable story for teens. Even though the story is based in the 90s, it takes on issues teens still face today, going well beyond surface level. Telling the story from Ashley’s POV gave the plot depth as the character battled internally with all she knew of her predominantly white world and who she was as a black female, while also tackling issues that arise in friendship and family relationships.

There were so many notes and highlights I made as I read; Christina Hammonds Reed is a genius and magical storyteller. I felt all the emotions, from light humor to deep sadness, reading this book! This story may be fiction, but there was much to learn in this socially relevant coming of age tale.

Wow!
Christina Hammonds Reed did an absolute amazing job in writing "the black kids" story. I love the layers of each character, from the narrator, Ashley, all the way down to even the teacher, Mr. Holmes. This book felt real. It is real life. Ashley is a high school senior at a prestigious high school in Los Angeles. As an African-American teenager, she's perfected the art of hiding and blending in-- whether with her childhood group of friends (who happen to be all white) or with her parents, Ashley has always tried to be the "good black kid". The façade that she has tried to keep up, comes crashing down when the four officers, in the Rodney King trial, are acquitted on all charges and Los Angeles itself comes burning down. There was always an awareness of the unfair injustices that many Black people faced-- even her own experiences come to surface as she takes us on a journey through her life and the lives of others around her.

This book not only touches on the social injustices and issues that many African Americans face in the United States, but also the deep generational wounds and scars that many of us carry with us throughout our lifetime-- passing it on from generation to the next like a old family recipe. Christina touches on the fragile nature of mental illness and the burden of making sure we don't crack. This book was healing to me. There are moments where I absolutely connected with Ashley and moments where Ashley became friends of mine who were the only POCs in a school and neighborhood of majority whites. I love this book! And I can't wait for it to come out officially so I can buy it and place it on my shelf, alongside with Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Elizabeth Acevado, and Jason Reynolds!

Narrator Ashley lives in a big house and goes to a fancy school. She is one of the rich kids at school and has all white friends. Ashley is black, but doesn't consider herself to be one of the black kids. So it's a little bit of a culture shock when she needs to befriend "those" kids, even though her dad reminds her that they are her people. Thus book is set in April of 1992 during the L.A. riots (which happened when the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted).

I truly cannot say enough how much I loved this book. Wow.

I first learned about this book from Nic Stone's Instagram Live show(?) and that cover blew me away. I didn't even need to know what it was about - I just wanted to read it. Set in the 90s during the Rodney King protests, Ashley Bennett is trying to figure out her place in the world. Growing up in a higher middle class/wealthier family and attending private school, Ashley does not necessarily feel connected to what's going on with the civil unrest - but she knows that it makes her angry. In the meantime, she is also trying to figure out where she stands with her (all white) friends since childhood and the natural growing apart that happens as graduation and real life approaches.

This book will definitely be compared to The Hate U Give. It has a lot of parallels, but honestly? I think I like this one more. I loved that it shows the difficult decisions that Black parents must make in order to provide a better life for their family. In the novel, the Bennetts purposely removed themselves from the "hoods" where they came from to give their daughters better opportunities, but at the end of the novel, they start to wonder at what cost? The novel also touches on racism's (specifically the Tulsa Massacre) toll on Black people's mental health, which is also very true and important. There's so much more I could talk about - but I want you to read the book. I LOVE LOVE LOVED it.

In Christina Hammonds Reed's debut historical fiction novel, she covers race, socio-economic class, privilege, and violence during the 1992 LA Riots. The story is centered on Ashley, a senior in high school who comes from a wealthy black family. After the LAPD officers are acquitted after beating Rodney King, events start to unfold, and we can see how Ashley and her family are impacted. I also liked the exploration into Ashley's identity. She tries to figure out who she is and if that is who she wants to be.

This book will have readers talking. I can see great discussions centered on the microaggressions presented in the novel. Even though this is a historical fiction book, it is still relevant today.

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was devastatingly amazing. It’s heartbreaking that the systemic racism is still happening in the exact same way 30 years later and is eerily reminiscent of what’s happening in the US right now (June 2020). I cannot speak towards the representation but it felt very authentic to me and was very well written. There were a few places in the narrative style that felt a little disjointed (hence 4 stars) and I think the beginning was a little slow but the second half packed quite a punch to the heart.

Overall a stunning book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for YA fiction about police brutality, racism, and rioting.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book, though set in the 90s, can unfortunately be easily transported almost exactly to present times. The plot line surrounding murder of Black people at the hands of police and protests are super relevant, and there’s a lot of great content and commentary surrounding that subject. This debut follows a Black teenager named Ashley, who grew up in a rich white neighborhood and attended the white school, surrounded by white girlfriends who are sometimes realistically awful. Following the events of the 1992 LA riots (a topic I am woefully uneducated about), Ashley is forced to rethink her friend group and her place in her family and society.

There are definite bright spots in this book that shows promise for the author. I enjoyed how Reed wrote the familial relationships, like Ashley’s relationship to her parents, her sister Jo, and her cousin Morgan. I also loved LaShawn and his role, though I wish he had gotten a bigger role sooner in the book. Ashley’s friendship with Lana was also great, and I liked the ending!

The downfall of this was the pacing and editing. I felt that the plot was clunky, and that the writing felt sort of random and out of place at times. It might have been the format of the ebook, but the narrative was a bit confusing when switching between past and present, so maybe the print copy will fix that.

Overall, I think this is still a valuable book for today’s issues and it definitely shows potential for this author. I learned a lot about the ‘92 riots that I never knew before, and the characters were interesting and well-written.

This is a very heavy book, but it is so timely and so necessary. This book is set during the 1992 Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles. These riots started because a group of officers were acquitted of murdering a Black man named Rodney King even though there is video evidence of the crime. This book follows Ashley Bennett, a Black high school senior who is grappling with her feelings about this crime as well as being Black and surrounded by her white friends. This book is very timely given all that is going on in the world right now. I really liked the historical aspects of this book. It mentions the Tulsa Massacre and brings awareness to the Rodney King riots. I think it does a good job highlighting the things Black people faced back then (and now) while showing how complex of a reality it is for Black people. This is such an excellent book that teens (and adults) should read to see how history is repeating itself and for non-Black people to understand why these things affect Black people so strongly. To quote directly from the book, "If there's not justice for one of us, there's no justice for any of us."

This book is amazing and I think it should be required reading in middle or high school for English Lit. Even though the storyline is set in 90s, it still ongoing today in our generation. There is a lot of powerful moments in this story about racism, rich vs poor, and relationships. It’s so important for everyone and especially the younger generation to understand and stand as allies with the black community.

The Black Kids​ is Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel and I believe it will become as popular as Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give debut novel. This book shows how history repeats itself if we do not actively work to improve our world.

The Black Kids follows Ashley, a black kid in a rich neighborhood and school, that doesn't quite feel like she fits in anywhere. She realizes her childhood friends like Kimberly are not as supportive as she needs right now as riots and protests break out in Los Angeles. This story follows Ashley and her family in 1992 just after Rodney King had been beaten to an inch of his life by several uniformed officers- and caught on tape. When the officers are acquitted, Los Angeles breaks out in protests and riots because of the racial tensions and injustice that has been mounting.

This story is a coming of age historical fiction novel focusing on how some of our history has come back to repeat itself. As readers, it makes us wonder the essential question right now- Is anything different this time? What can we do different this time to make lasting change? I chose to read this book because of my need and want for understanding and to be able to get a glimpse into what life is like for the black kids I work with and the adults that desperately need understanding and support right now.

This book was particularly difficult at times to read because it felt too similar to what is going on right now with the Black Lives Matter Movement. It felt like I would read for a while, about events that happened the year I was born, then watch the news or get on Twitter and see it all over again. It was important to read and I enjoyed it, but I had to take frequent breaks because it felt like my heart was breaking all the time. This is a feeling I think needs to be embraced by the readers- because it is SO important that we make sure that it ends different this time. We need to make sure to keep pushing for all of those unwarranted deaths of innocent black lives are the fuel to our fire unrest.

I believe that this book will be so influential and important in our time. We (white people) need to be able sit in the uncomfort and see how we can change and improve the world for black lives. Look to the black voices like Christina Hammonds Reed, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Tiffany Jackson, and Jason Reynolds and many more to the path we all need to follow.

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed comes out in August 2020- it might just be the best thing published this year.
https://kaitlynrcarpenter.weebly.com/blog/blm-we-cant-let-history-repeat-itself-anymore-the-black-kids-by-christina-hammonds-reed

Set during the 1992 LA riots, this book follows Ashley Bennett as she discovers the importance of friends, family and what it means to be Black in her predominantly white school. Ashley has led a charmed life up to this point, but the riots that follow the Rodney King verdict mirror the upheaval in her own life as she begins to see people for who they really are.

This book is recommendable for high school students for sure, but not middle school kids due to the references to drugs, alcohol consumption, and sex.

There was a lot that I liked about this book. The Rodney King verdict came before social media. So while the injustice was felt far and wide, it didn't start a movement like other instances of police brutality have done in recent years. A book set in this time gives deserved attention to this event. The narrator grew tremendously over the course of the novel, and I liked reading this book from her point of view as opposed to someone in the midst of the riots. The time period references, from the simple mention of a cordless phone to all the music referenced was a little too much, and I thought it was a little distracting.

I won this book in a giveaway from Yallwest book festival contest. Great book and I am glad to see more books like this being published. Ashley is a upper middle class African American girl enjoying her senior year with her friends (who are white). During this time the LA riots occur after the verdict is given in the Rodney King trial and we get to see how it affects LA, her school, her friendships, etc. The main character Ashley and her spoiled friends were pretty unlikeable in the beginning of the book, but I get that it’s part of the character arc of her growing and changing as a result of the life events happening around her. I was in high school during this time, so it felt very real as I remember when these events happened and how I felt as a teen. I also love all the 90’s pop culture references. Great debut novel and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future..