Anger Is a Gift
Mark Oshiro. Tor Teen, $17.99 (464p) ISBN 978-1-250-16702-6
Oshiro, creator of the Mark Does Stuff website, takes readers on an emotional roller-coaster in this powerful and timely debut novel that conveys a community’s bitter experience living within a culture of white supremacy. Sixteen-year-old Moss Jeffries, a gay African-American student attending run-down West Oakland High School, has experienced panic attacks since police shot his father six years earlier. A warm, mutually respectful relationship with his mother, an extended network of friends of diverse genders, sexual orientations, and family makeup, and a budding romance with Javier, a cute Latino comic book artist, all indicate a hopeful future. Yet violent incidents continue to threaten the community’s well-being. In one improbable event that affects the story’s plausibility, a boy with metal pins in his knee suffers a severe injury as a result of being forced to walk through a school metal detector. This event and several police assaults on students lead to organizing, with the community’s fear building to a crescendo in a planned walkout gone awry. Oshiro deftly captures the simmering rage that ultimately transforms Moss from a quiet teenager to a committed activist against a brutal, menacing system. Ages 14–18. [em]Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. (May)
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Details
Reviewed on: 03/26/2018
Genre: Children's
Compact Disc - 978-1-4272-9695-5
Library Binding - 978-1-4328-7934-1
Paperback - 464 pages - 978-1-250-16703-3
Paperback - 978-1-4328-7935-8
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-250-30698-2