Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still resides in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a former teen rapper. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in Hip Hop. She can also still rap if needed.

 

Her debut novel, THE HATE U GIVE, started as a senior project in college. It was later acquired by a publisher and debuted in 2017 as #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  THE HATE U GIVE was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and went on to win several awards. It was also adapted into a critically acclaimed film, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr.

Plot

Starr Carter is a 16-year-old black girl, who lives in the fictional mostly poor black neighborhood of Garden Heights, but attends an affluent predominantly white private school, Williamson Prep. After a shooting breaks up a party Starr is attending, she is driven home by her childhood best friend and sometimes crush Khalil. They are stopped by a white police officer. The officer instructs Khalil, who is black, to exit the car; while outside the car, Khalil leans into the driver-side window to check in on Starr and to grab a hair brush. The officer assumes he is grabbing a gun and shoots Khalil three times, killing him.

Themes

Race relations

 

Black Lives Matter

 

Code switching

 

Finding your voice

 

 

Characters

Starr Carter

 

Khalil

 

Seven and Sekani

 

King

 

Challenged book

The American Library Association listed the book as one of the ten most-challenged books of 2017, 2018, and 2020.

 

"because it was considered 'pervasively vulgar,'" contained "drug use, profanity, and offensive language," as well as sexual references, and "was thought to promote an anti-police message.