I have a lot of respect for Nic Stone writing this book. While I have some critiques of this novel, the truth is I know this novel is only barely fictional. Everything Justyce deals with in this book from the blatant racism to the microaggressions is something black teenagers are dealing with in America everyday. It's great to have a voice like this in YA fiction, and I hope a lot of kids (ESPECIALLY white kids) get the chance to read this and listen to Justyce's perspective.

My two biggest concerns with this book were the length and the writing. This book is so short, and really deserved to be fleshed out more. We go through an entire school year with Justyce and so much just skims by, stopping in every once in awhile for little flashes of his life. I think if the book had stopped for a moment to breathe, there would have been a much greater chance for depth for all the side characters who felt really flat compared to Justyce. Justyce gets so much emotional growth and change over this book that really wasn't afforded to anyone else (I so desperately wish we could have seen more with his mom! Also Melo was basically nonexistent even though her actions kickstart the book)

As for the writing, I'm not a fan of present-tense so it took me awhile to adjust to it. There were also a lot of moments where it would suddenly become script like dialogue for either three lines or a few pages. It was a bit disconcerting and really made the scenes in the classroom read like an afterschool special. I'm not sure the purpose behind it, and it felt way more like Telling the reader what was happening rather than Showing.

I am looking forward to what Nic Stone writes next, and I certainly hope she gets the chance to write a longer novel, because I think she would really get a chance to flourish. Also, the second half of this was way superior to the first. I'd probably give the second half 4 stars, but ultimately I'm going with 3.5 overall.