Dear Martin

Dear Martin
Nic Stone
Crown, 2017 224 pages
Grades 9-Up
Realistic Fiction

Justyce attends a private school on scholarship and is one of the few African American students. He does not feel as if he totally fits in with either his privileged classmates or his urban childhood friends from his old neighborhood. A social justice class brings up the topic of racial equality and gets Justyce questioning the fairness of American society. His classmates feel that there is no longer racial inequality. Justyce knows differently, especially after being harassed by police late at night for helping his drunken ex-girlfriend safely get home. Relief comes in the form of debate club, where his relationship with SJ, his white debate partner, is becoming more than professional, a relationship discouraged by his mother. As an experiment Justyce writes letters to Martin Luther King and tries to make choices like Martin would. This leads to seeing the world through a different lens and the subtly racist jokes that Justyce previously ignored now become tolerable. His best friend, Manny, tells him no harm has been done, but Justyce has an increasingly hard time swallowing the prejudice he is facing daily. Finally he blows, which leads to a chain of tragic results. There are no easy answers and irreversible damage is done. How will Justyce proceed? Should he take physical retaliation or react like Martin? Will people he meets learn to judge him based on his character and not the color of his skin? And if not, how does he live the rest of his life?

Stone offers a brief novel similar in content to the recent award winning The Hate You Give, yet featuring a male protagonist. Themes include racial profiling, police brutality, the power of the media, our flawed justice system, and the struggle of young men of color to break out of poverty and into privileged society. Justyce is smarter than most of his classmates, yet must work much harder and constantly defend his place among them and even then is expected to be seen and not heard. When he finally finds his voice and has the courage to speak out, events turn to tragedy. Unlike some of the other characters, the story turns out mostly okay for Justyce, though Stone leaves the reader with the message that he will constantly be battling prejudice his whole life. One character's heart is unexpectedly changed, leaving the reader with hope that maybe more folks will change in their preconceived notions about race. Though short, I felt as if I got to know the characters. Stone writes carefully and every word she uses counts. Though not an easy book to read in theme, the plot moves quickly. Humorous banter between Justyce and his friends lightens up the mood and keeps the book from becoming macabre. Because of language and underage drinking, I would not recommend this novel to middles school readers. It will be best to share with older teens. An excellent starter for classroom discussion and appealing to reluctant readers, this little book packs a big punch.