Releasing on August 4th 2020, Christina Hammonds Reed’s debut novel The Black Kids is perfect for fans of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. It’s an unforgettable coming-of-age novel that explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots.
If you’re not sold on this novel yet, we have an excerpt that will help convince you and we already can’t wait to see what Hammonds Reed writes next! Plus, if you don’t feel like reading, you can listen to the audiobook excerpt instead, which is read by Kiersey Clemons! Be sure to add this one to your Goodreads and order it from your local bookstore.
SYNOPSIS
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
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