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popthebutterfly 's review for:
This Is My America
by Kim Johnson
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: This Is My America
Author: Kim Johnson
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: BIPOC main character and side characters
Rating: 5/5
Recommended For...: BIPOC books, ownvoice novels, social justice books
Publication Date: July 28, 2020
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Pages: 416
Recommended Age: 16+ (language, violence, police brutality TW, slight gore)
Synopsis: Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?
Fans of Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds won’t want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.
Review: This book was so fantastic! There’s a lot of components that are amazing about this book and I think that this should be taught in schools. The book did well to breakdown racism and how White people, across all mediums, do racist things subconsciously and intentionally. There was a news segment in which the main character broke down how the segment was racist in how it portrayed her brother. The news segment used a photo that made the brother look like a criminal rather than what news media uses for White people, which is usually a family photo or graduation photo, even if the White person did an unspeakable act and they don’t contest their guilt. The book also showed the bias reporting of media, showing that while Jackson Ridges was murdered by police when he resisted arrest, the news reported it as just that he died, implying he died by means other than police brutality. The book also showed trial bias and presented facts that Black Americans do not get a fair trial the majority of the time. The book showed her father being sentenced by an all-white jury, which should not have happened but unfortunately does, and shows how the court will unfavorably treat Black people in terms of the amount of evidence needed to be presented to concluded that a person is guilty. The book also had very accurate facts about prison systems, especially about private or for-profit prison systems and how they operate. Many prison systems have staff that will retaliate against an inmate’s family for things the inmate has done or the things that the family has spoken out about. The book was not only factual, but also gut wrenching. The scenes with police brutality, especially when Tracy, our main character, has a gun pointed at her when she is in an area the police are investigating, and with the racist actions of the towns people are devastating and hard to read, but are very important to read about. The author doesn’t shy away from the hard truths of what being Black in America really means in this book. This is a hard read, but a worthy read and should be taught in schools.
If I had to point out an issue, I’d say that, while not an issue, I would like to see the aftermath of what happens when an inmate is released from confinement and I would have liked to see how the family planned to sue the county for retribution from the grievance caused to them.
Verdict: A must read.
Book: This Is My America
Author: Kim Johnson
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: BIPOC main character and side characters
Rating: 5/5
Recommended For...: BIPOC books, ownvoice novels, social justice books
Publication Date: July 28, 2020
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Pages: 416
Recommended Age: 16+ (language, violence, police brutality TW, slight gore)
Synopsis: Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?
Fans of Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds won’t want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.
Review: This book was so fantastic! There’s a lot of components that are amazing about this book and I think that this should be taught in schools. The book did well to breakdown racism and how White people, across all mediums, do racist things subconsciously and intentionally. There was a news segment in which the main character broke down how the segment was racist in how it portrayed her brother. The news segment used a photo that made the brother look like a criminal rather than what news media uses for White people, which is usually a family photo or graduation photo, even if the White person did an unspeakable act and they don’t contest their guilt. The book also showed the bias reporting of media, showing that while Jackson Ridges was murdered by police when he resisted arrest, the news reported it as just that he died, implying he died by means other than police brutality. The book also showed trial bias and presented facts that Black Americans do not get a fair trial the majority of the time. The book showed her father being sentenced by an all-white jury, which should not have happened but unfortunately does, and shows how the court will unfavorably treat Black people in terms of the amount of evidence needed to be presented to concluded that a person is guilty. The book also had very accurate facts about prison systems, especially about private or for-profit prison systems and how they operate. Many prison systems have staff that will retaliate against an inmate’s family for things the inmate has done or the things that the family has spoken out about. The book was not only factual, but also gut wrenching. The scenes with police brutality, especially when Tracy, our main character, has a gun pointed at her when she is in an area the police are investigating, and with the racist actions of the towns people are devastating and hard to read, but are very important to read about. The author doesn’t shy away from the hard truths of what being Black in America really means in this book. This is a hard read, but a worthy read and should be taught in schools.
If I had to point out an issue, I’d say that, while not an issue, I would like to see the aftermath of what happens when an inmate is released from confinement and I would have liked to see how the family planned to sue the county for retribution from the grievance caused to them.
Verdict: A must read.