Wow. It took me just over a day to read The Nickel Boys and now I realize it’s no surprise that it made the long list for the National Book Award.

The Nickel Boys reads like nonfiction. Colson depicts Dozier School for Boys as the Nickel Academy set in Jim Crow era 1960s. He centers the story on Elwood, a young African American boy who lives with his grandmother in Tallahassee. He had everything going for him. A job, great high school grades, and he was going to take college courses. However, his dream is cut short when he’s falsely accused and arrested for stealing a car. Nickel Academy now awaits him. There he’ll get sent to the “White House” on property twice. He’ll meet Tucker and from there, their stories become intertwined.

The Nickel Academy is a timely story as authors are diving into history and pulling forward untold stories to give them new life in both fiction and nonfiction.

I haven’t read Colson’s Underground Railroad, but it is sitting in my TBR pile. I hope to get to it sometime this year.