Starr is a 16-year-old girl living in two worlds. Her neighborhood, where her Dad runs the local grocery store, is what some people would call the ghetto. Her prep school, where she has both female friends and a serious boyfriend, is populated with mostly privileged white students. Starr lives in both worlds, but when she takes a ride from an old friend who is then shot by a white police officer, Starr must make difficult decisions about how to stand up for justice and how to reveal her true self to her school friends. This book successfully navigates between big racial issues and the small details of life. Starr and her family and friends are complicated characters that make mistakes and also make good decisions. As a reader, I became invested in Starr and her parents and their everyday struggles as well as their larger struggles against a system stacked against them. This book is brilliantly written and deserves the National Book Award nomination that it has received. Recommended for 8th grade through adult readers.
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