The Black Kids

I really enjoyed this book! I especially loved the relationship between the main character and the other 'black kids' at her school, looking in from the outside as someone who shares their ethnicity but not their friendship group. You can definitely feel the shift in the book between when Ashley tries to live her life separately to everything going on in the background, to when the riots start and she has to confront her position in the world and in society. I found the historical aspect really enjoyable, and it's started me on a googling hole on Rodney King and the 1992 riots. This is a really important book because it is so different from other portrayals of black women that I've read, and provides a different perspective on life.

It was a nice read, quite dark in parts, but truthful to real life. I love the colour and it is the sort of book you can re-read whilst feeling like your reading it for the first time. Love it!!

Reed's novel deals with so many themes; race, girlhood, growing up, privilege, sisterhood, identity. Compelling, sincere, powerful.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime/thriller reader however this story intrigued me. I absolutely loved it, truly one of the best books I have read. I am extremely pleased and grateful to both for opening up my mind to something totally different.

It's hard to separate reading this book from the background of news reports about George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. Almost 30 years after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when this story is set., you wonder if we have learned anything as human beings. We need this story, we need to hear Ashley's voice and see the changes in her life as the events after Rodney King was brutally attacked unfold. Ashley is such a believable character; her parents have protected her, carefully chosen which area they live in and which school she attends, but this has made her blinkered and naive. Her teenage life is very relatable; parties, friends, relationships, school, family... she makes mistakes, she isn’t perfect and this is why I like her so much. Her life pivots on this moment in time; school is ending, friendships are broken and made, family split and come together, she discovers family secrets and more about her own identity. The riots are a crucible of fear, anger and frustration and it is this shock to Ashley's system that enables us, through her eyes, to experience what it means to be an African-American.

The Black Kids is an unflinching and honest exploration of the everyday racism members of the black community face. It looks at privilege, class and the battles young people face as they move in to adulthood. It's one of the most powerful and necessary reads within the YA world.

The Black Kids is a coming-of-age novel set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots that remains ever relevant to today. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a free Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book.

"If there’s not justice for one of us, there’s no justice for any of us."

Our protagonist is Ashley, a Black high school student from a relatively financially well-off background. She begins the novel as unaware of the political events and protests happening around her. However we do see plenty of her white friends enacting micro-aggression’s and she tells us of more overt acts of racism that she and her family have experienced. As the novel progresses, we see Ashley become embroiled in the events surround her.

"The officer was younger than my mother, with the same wispy blond goatee he must’ve had in high school. He looked like a bullied kid turned bully, the kind of kid who’d been too big, too poor, or too dumb and now more than happy to pull over anybody he deemed too anything. In our case, too black."

Although I’m not a huge reader of YA Fiction, The Black Kids was too intriguing to miss given the amount of excitement I’ve seen on social media about it. And it turns out the people on social media were right – this novel is so so good! Ashley makes for a compelling character and reading her journey throughout the novel was incredibly thought provoking. I found the personalities of her white friends to be uncomfortably accurate, having seen their behavior in those around me.

I also want to highlight this quote:

"People glorify protest when white kids do it, when it’s chic, frustrated Parisian kids or British coal miners or suffragettes smashing windows and throwing firebombs at inequality."

This was something that I had not thought about before, and something that I myself am guilty of. I live in the heart of an area where the British coal miner strikes happened, and it’s true that these events are somewhat glorified by my community. ‘We were fighting for our rights,’ says an acquaintance old enough to remember the riots, and in the same breath they’ll say ‘I just don’t think Americans should be looting.’ We can’t be lifting one community up and bringing another down for the exact same actions and I will do more in the future to call out this behavior.

The Black Kids is a fantastic novel that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. Above all it is infuriating that so little has changed in the forty years since the riots of 1992.

Set in Los Angeles in the early nineties, The Black Kids follows seventeen year old Ashley in her seemingly perfect privileged life. She attends a good school and lives in a rich neighbourhood, and she has rich-kid white friends. Ashley, personally, has never really known the struggles of life for her fellow Black people, nor paid much attention to it.

This changes for Ashley when Rodney King is beaten by police officers, and those same officers are acquitted despite their actions being caught on camera. L.A. erupts into protests and riots, rightly screaming about racial injustice. Ashley opens her eyes and sees everything she has let slip without speaking up about, from the micro aggressions from her friends, to the treatment of the other Black kids at her school.

As a coming of age story it cleverly explores race, identity, privilege and ignorance from a Black character’s POV. It highlights things that are still happening today, so to read this in 2020 and know the book is set in 1992, it’s sad to see nothing has changed when it should have long before then.

Even though this isn’t out yet, I highly recommend it. It taught me about Rodney King and the riots, and serves as a reminder that history keeps on repeating itself because of racial injustice and inequality that needs to end.

One small issue I (and a few others, I noticed) did have was with the switching between past and present, it seemed to get a little muddled up in places, but I’m putting this down to the formatting of the eARC and not the author/editor.



Did I like the book? Yes

Did I love it? Yes! I loved everything it stood for and what it taught me.

Would I recommend it? Yes! Not just for now, but to read at any point in time due to the historical moment within. It is honest in its plot and characters and doesn’t shy away from its portrayals.

The Black Kids is emotive, educational and groundbreaking, Christina Hammonds Reed uses her voice to encourage readers to leave the comfort of their privilege and speak out. Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, Reed weaves the past and present in this coming of age drama, about a war between the world and racism. This might be one of the most important books of the year. 

This book is a historical fiction, centering around the LA Protests in 1992, a true historic event I'm ashamed to say I knew little about. A state of emergency was declared in April 1992 as LA erupted into riots after four white officers beat a Black motorist. These events, despite taking place more than thirty years ago, are strikingly similar to the news of today, echoing the importance of supporting Black Lives Matter movements, and Black authors.

"It's not just about the cops, right? It's all of it. Yes, the LAPD is racist as hell, and black and brown communities get policed differently than white ones. That's a fact. But also, the school suck. There's no jobs. You don't give people any opportunities to make something of themselves."

We follow protagonist Ashley, who lives in a wealthy neighborhood with her family, and attends a prestigious school. Her parents have done their best to shelter her from the violence of racism, and the heritage of her family, ensuring she is financially funded and has a secure life. But Ashley can't stay young forever. All the Black Kids have to grow up faster than the rest, with injustice meaning they have to learn how to act around police, and what they can't do even when their white friends do it anyway. Life isn't easy for her, and it's only going to get harder. Ashley is such a compelling narrator, and her voice feels so real. She acknowledges her fear about speaking out, her reluctance to make new friends and the struggles she faces navigating her last few weeks at high school. We see her inner battle as she endures racism from her childhood friends, who see it merely as a joke. Her narrative is thought provoking.

"I'm always saying things are cool when maybe they aren't. Sometimes I have so much to say that I can't say anything at all."

I want to take a moment to discuss her friends. Courtney, Kimberly, Michael, and the rest of her friends all felt uncomfortably realistic. I'm sure we have all met someone like these characters, and allowed them push others around in their self centered bubbles. They joke that sneaking around would be easier without Ashley because she is black. Even when it came to the protests, kids were only taking part because everyone else was and they wanted to look cool, or simply have a day off school. The mailman in one of the very first scenes does a double take when Ashley's Black parents answer the door. All of this is not right. Reed places them in the story to remind us to have uncomfortable conversations with our family, to challenge our friends, and stand up for people like Ashley.

"If all the heroes in our stories are white, what does that make us?"

The Black kids is unflinching when it comes to mental health representation. We see Jo, Ashley's sister and Michael's mother struggle through depression. We also have the portrayal of domestic violence, and the young kids who have to endure it because they don't have anywhere else to go. I wish I could thank Reed for her honest portrayal of these issues.

The tone shifts throughout the novel. In the beginning, Ashley is with her friends, its bright and full of imagery. However, as we progress, the tone gradually becomes mellow and blue as though we feel the sadness of LA weighing upon the narrative. We begin to shift back and forth in time, learning the history of Ashley's family, what she endured in childhood and school. One moment that stuck out to me was the list Ashley compiled of each age she had endured a racial slur. It was harrowing, a reminder of the harsh reality Black people face, no matter how financially privileged they are.

Overall, I can't recommend this enough. As a YA contemporary and historical fiction, it is one of the most impactful books I have read this year. I encourage everyone to read it.

"It's about all of us. About all our black and brown brothers and sisters struggling to make ends meet in a system set up for them to fail. We have to change the system."

When I started reading this book the George Floyd protests had been going on for a while - not just in America, but UK and Australia and other countries too. The book is set at the time of the Rodney King murder and there is a paragraph about choke holds from 10 years previous to that, and there were protests before then, again and again . It's all been going on for so long - for far too long.

This is an amazing book, I learnt a lot from it. If you want to know a little more about why black lives matter then read this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read an advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinions.

An engaging and impactful coming of age story, following Ashley, a Black teen living in a primarily white and privileged area, who has lived a sheltered life in comparison to many of her Black peers. We read as Ashley becomes more socially and politically awakened, and truly comes to terms with her friends ignorance, micro aggressions and comes to understand and support her sisters passion and activism, which she previously dismissed. With plenty of social commentary and exploration of the LA riots following the assault of Rodney King at the hands of Police and how this event, sets off major repercussions for the city and in Ashley's own life. Although the novel is set in 1992, it has some extremely relevant moments and messages that can be applied to current events, reflecting that as far as people think we may have come, there is SO much work yet to do to dismantle a system which not only perpetuates racism but has been inherently flawed and unjust, and structured against BIPOC from it's very inception.

Full review to come closer to release date!

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh. My. God.

I found myself avoiding this book after starting it - because I didn't want it to end.

Ashley Bennett is an upper middle-class girl living an upper middle-class life in an upper middle-class school with her upper middle-class friends.

Ashley Bennett is the only black girl in her friend group, one of few black people in her school and in her neighbourhood, and it's L.A. in the spring of 1992, right as the Rodney King riots begin.

This book is written so beautifully. Christina Reed seamlessly joins together past and future so that the reader is given a full view of Ashley's life - from her relationships with her family and friends to the racial micro- and macro-aggressions she experiences throughout her life.

Ashley is a great character - despite her constant misgivings about being a selfish person, she's a good kid who feels a bit lost. And Jesus, wouldn't you be?

4.5 stars.

This book feels so relevant given what's happened recently and it's such an important read to show that, sadly, things haven't changed as much as people hoped it would.

The characters were incredible and so realistic. This was so powerful and beautifully written, and these stories are so important to tell.

The only reason this wasn't a 5 star for me was purely that the story occasionally felt disjointed and hard to grasp exactly what just happened in places. However, that's purely a personal preference on the writing. Everything else was so cleverly done and I really enjoyed this book.

If you want to know more about Black Lives Matter, then you should read this book. It will definitely be a book that I will recommend in my secondary school library. Set in 1990s LA., our main character Ashley is trying to find her place in the world. She is on the outside of so many circles, she struggles to define herself in relation to her friends and family. She is a rich POC in a predominately white high school; to fit in with her high school friends she ignores their inherent and ‘casual’ racism; she can’t identify with “the black kids” at her school as they are there on scholarships; and her family have raised her in ignorance of her own black history to try and protect her from the devastating losses they experienced.

This was such a powerful and emotional read for me. The book begins with the police brutality of Rodney King which has far too many parallels with the tragic death of George Floyd today. The author weaves the past and present together so cleverly from Ashley’s great-grandma to the LA riots in the 1990s. But this story could easily have been set in 2020. It has made me pause and reflect on my own knowledge of Black History and white supremacy.

The central character holding all of this together is Ashley and you can feel the weight of the plot (and the future) resting on her shoulders. Ashley is ignorant of her own history and we learn alongside her and watch her become more aware of the world around her. She is a flawed character but likeable as she discovers who she is amidst so many emotional upheavals. She learns she has to make her own way in the world. “If all the heroes in our stories are white, what does that make us?” It’s time for a change.

The Black Kids is a coming of age story set in LA in the late 1900s following Ashley, a wealthy black teen who for most of her life has been sheltered from the world surrounding her.

Ashley's parents have done everything they can to protect their daughters from knowing the truth of what their family and community had to face in the past and present, not realising the consequences that their actions would take in years to come. Although they were trying to protect them, it's evident that the lack of communication has made it harder for Ashley to understand why her family isn't as close any more and how she should react to it all.

Now there are riots and protestors roaming the streets and cops ready to stop anyone who seems suspicious. Ashley feels like an outsider for most of it even when people around her who really care are talking about it, and it's not until incidents occur that make her break away from the people she once called her friends that she can finally stand up and do what she thinks is right for herself.

Throughout this book, Ashley continues to follow and hang out with her white friends who continued to intact acts of microaggression and racism, deeming it okay with Ashley being one of their friends.

This book was compelling and engaging, and I was intrigued to read it through Ashley's perspective and witness how her thoughts and decisions changed as the book went on. Ashley is a character that is flawed but these are what make her feel more real within the book. She makes mistakes and through these mistakes learns and apologises to those that they affect.

Reading about her white friends, who she has been hanging out with since they were young, and how they think that they can make racist comments just because Ashley is their friend made me feel very uneasy knowing that in this age it's seen to still happen and it needs to stop.

Although it is compared to Angie Thomas' The Hate You Give, both books show two completely different views and perspectives to the subjects of racism and discrimination in which they face. Both are brilliantly written and have two unbelievably crafted black female characters.

This book is amazing and I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity to read it in exchange for my review. Please

First of all, after finishing this book I found out that it was a debut novel?!!?!? I think it’s definitely one of the strongest debut novels I’ve ever read. This book follows the story of Ashley Bennett who comes from a wealthy family and has lived for the most part a sheltered life. Her parents worked extremely hard to provide this life for her but also believed that their children should not have to face the same struggles they did. As much as Ashley had been curious about her parents history and their story her parents have gone out of their way to avoid the topic in the hopes that they can keep their daughter in her protective bubble for as long as possible. But the sad reality is Black children, teenagers no matter how wealthy they are, what neighbourhood they live in, are forced to mature way earlier than anyone should. The author did an amazing job of showing this to the reader rather than just telling them, through Ashley Bennetts experiences and through other characters in the story.

The harrowing thing is that whilst reading this you realise just how cyclical the fight for injustice is. Although this story is set in 1992 following the brutal beating of Rodney King by the police and LA riots, it could not be more relevant to the current climate. It really makes the reader reflect on why in GODS green earth we still have to fight for BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS and why black people are still facing the same injustices they were facing 10, 20 , 30 , 400 years ago?

Before I get toooooo carried away I will try to keep this a book review rather than delve into this topic since this is what you came for! One thing that I really REALLY loved about this book is that there were no ‘side’ characters. I don’t know whether this is just me but I am so sick of books that have two main characters they solely focus on and then introduce a string of stand in side characters that are a) PLAIN… SO PLAIN b) are not developed c) literally have no impact on the story or the plot. In this book literally every character is given their due development, you learn about all of her friends stories’ all of their fears and weaknesses, even the neighbours are given more description than most side characters in other books. AND THIS IS WHAT MAKES THEM AND THE WHOLE STORY MORE RELATABLE.

I highly recommend this to pretty much anyone. I feel like it’s a book that really developed and focused on its characters which was the reason I was so immersed from beginning to end!

I kept forgetting this was set in the 90s. With its themes and everything it felt so current and I'm glad in that regard and now is one of the more fundamental times to read it. We are living it now. We've lived it all our lives, but now may be the chance to change it all around.

This story resonated with me so hard. Somewhat similar to Ashley, I guess I would be considered a "lucky black girl" as I had been, not necessarily sheltered to this extreme, but not exposed to so much rascim in my time, despite living in a predominately white area. Not to say that that would be expected, I'm just mapping out similarities and differences and an overall connection I felt with our protagonist. So that being said, I understood when she said she was used to the casual, subtle rascim, or felt detached from horrible brutality, because it was never right in my face.

Her friends, especially Kimberly, are crap. Heather I like the most, Courtney is a user and Kimberly is just mean. It was interesting to see how friendships evolved and who, if any, would stay strong.
LaShawn was such a lovely character. I wish we had more of him but as the rising of chaos surrounded him that impacted Ashley, I felt like he was only on the edge of her life and was a little untouchable. Especially as Ashley was so accustomed to fitting in with the white kids of the school.
Yet, in saying that, the development grew strong and I was happy with the route that it took.

I love bits of lyrics floating in this. It just gave it that summer vibe, but also resonated profoundly in terms of context.

I did find sometimes Ashley came across a little young but I think it's just spoiled immaturity. It actually adds to her flawed, yet relatable, character.

As I crept ever closer to the end, I was looking forward to seeing how the story ended, but also don't wanna leave these pages. I really wasn't expecting it to just end!

This was a fantastic, coming of age story, how police brutality affects the community, and how a rich, black girl learns to care and see her blackness, learn her worth and more. It wasn't a happily ever after. It was realistic, but very relatable and enjoyable. I loved every minute reading this book!

A groundbreaking debut by the crucial new YA voice Christina Hammonds Reed.

Searingly raw and profoundly moving, The Black Kids is an unflinching exploration of race, class, and identity that is as shockingly timely as it is powerfully timeless. I encourage you all to read it.

really enjoyed this one! and i know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but this is one of the best ones i've seen!

set in 1992 this takes place during the rodney king riots following the failure to convict the police officers involved in beating rodney king. the main character is ashley, a black teenager who goes to a predominately white school and is surrounded by white friends, never really interacting much with 'the black kids' of the school. over the years she's picked up things from her friends that make her uncomfortable, their use of the n word, the way they speak about events in the news, but she's mostly shrugged it off.

until the riots and the way l.a changes as it burns

these events lead ashley to make friends with people she never expected, to think about the way she's processed things in the past, the way her actions have consequences, and to generally grow as a person.

i really enjoyed ashley's voice. i loved the casual way she spoke about her friends, her family, the self-awareness within her community, her relationship with her parents and her sister, who has unexpectedly got married and got involved in the riots.

i feel like i'm not explaining anything properly which i always see as a sign of a great book but i really liked this one, i learned a lot, i always love books set in the 90s, and i really liked the ending. would recommend!

This book is just spectacular!

Set in 1992 Los Angeles with a backdrop of the riots surrounding the acquittal of Rodney King’s murderers, The Black Kids tells the story of Ashley, a black girl at a predominantly white high school and her rich white friends.

The historical elements add an important backdrop to the feelings Ashley is having regarding her own identity, dealing with the microaggressions (and straight up aggressions) she has to deal with from her white classmates.

It’s tender, beautiful and depressingly relevant.

(Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

I really enjoyed this book, I definitely agree with the comparison to Angie Thomas however The Black Kids is different enough to not be a mirrored copy.

There is so much talk of injustice in this book which I feel is very important, especially for the current time. I really felt for Ashleigh, she goes through so much at such a young age. Growing up, early on in life is imperative and it is so sad to see individuals miss out on their childhood. So many thought provoking topics were discussed within this book and I am still thinking about them long after finishing.

I really liked the writing style in this book it had me engaged from start to finish and once I began I struggled to stop. I more or less finished this book in one sitting and it got me out of a huge reading slump that I had been suffering with.

I cannot recommend this book enough I will be telling as many people about this book as in can. It is one to look out for and one which I think everyone should read.

The Black Kids is a book that everybody should read. Without question. I knew from chapter 3 that what I was reading was something special.

The Black Kids is historical fiction, albeit recent history, set in Los Angeles in 1992 against the backdrop of a city that is on fire in the wake of the Rodney King beating. The story follows Ashley, an affluent Black girl, and her family, as they are caugh up in the momentum of the ongoing riots.

Ashley goes to private school and all of her friends are white. Her friends call her an oreo, she laughs. Its a joke isn't it? The other Black Kids at her school are there on scholarship, all from the epicentre of the riots and bused out to go to school. Ashley is nothing like them. Her parents worked damn hard to make sure she isn't like them. She laughs at her friends jokes and joins in with a rumour that could destroy the life of the school's star athlete. She knows who she is.

But there is something in the back of her mind telling her that she is more like the Black kids at school than the white kids she hangs out with. Ashley's sister has been saying this for years. She's been at the riots every day handing out supplies to the protesters. The more Ashley gets confronted with the reality of the riots, and the more her family get swept up by them, Ashley must decide which side of the picket line she stands on.

Christina Hammonds Reed is a powerhouse. Her writing has so much weight behind it, her sentences have so much impact and her characters feel so real that I was incredibly shocked to find that this is her debut book. I utterly devoured it and her words are echoing in my head as type.

The book feels, despite its setting, to be so current. Ashley could be any girl in the West today, faced with the current racial equality protests that are taking place across the world. For me, this book put the current protests into context. It rooted them and made them feel part of something. And whilst I am sad that less than 20 years after the Rodney King beating we are still having the same conversations, I urge you to read this book. Preorder it. Tell your friends. Stories are power and in the hands of Christina Hammonds Reed, I promise this will change you.

Set against the backdrop of the LA Riots following the acquittal of the police officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King, we meet Ashley as she wrestles with the divide between how black and white people are treated.

This book was so well written and had me completely engrossed. I am ashamed to say that I was some way through the book before I realised that the names of black people who had been murdered or assaulted referred were real people.

This book made for a really uncomfortable read as it is set almost 30 years and not a damn thing has changed since then.

The plot felt a little thin to me but beyond that a really great read.

A fantastic read. Especially for non-American readers who don't have an insight to systemic racism in the US, it was as much of an eye opener as The Hate You Give. It's a complex and layered story, the narrator realiseing she has each foot in a different world, with just the right amount of hope to balance out the sheer, continuing horror of racism.

Small niggle: some sections where the narrator's voice went from her usual self to sounding like a documentary. I especially liked that it was set in the 1990s, as it was about when I was a teenager too. The current events referred to were mostly alien to me, though.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

Set in the early nineties, The Black Kids story follows main character Ashley Bennett. For the most part of all of her life, living in gorgeous LA, she has been existing in an oblivious bubble, one that she shares with her friends, that’s given her a sheltered kind of perspective on the world. Her parents are quite wealthy, and partially because of them and the lifestyle they’ve built with her, she’s gotten used to life always being this way and not ever finding fault within it by ignoring quips and racist remarks, even in her daily life. It’s not until the end of her senior year, right before Summer can break, when everything changes. Four LAPD officers are exonerated from appallingly beating a Black man, Rodney King. As quickly as the tide kisses the shore, Ashley isn’t one of the girls anymore. She’s one of the Black kids. Labelled, overnight.

Protests accumulate fast, erupting in a kind of wildfire as LA burns literally. Ashley wants, and desperately needs, to continue her life as normal. She wants to stay in her bubble. But as her sister gets involved in the riots and put in danger, it gets harder to ignore what’s going on around her. But as she goes along with her best friends spreading a rumour that’s destructive about her Black classmate and her family unit starts to falter underneath the pressure, everything starts to fall onto Ashley’s shoulders. She no longer feels like she’s part of her friendship group, but doesn’t feel like one of the Black kids either.

Overall, The Black Kids is poignant and moving, a sort of book that I felt completely unable to forget it after the last page was turned. The history that’s woven into the story is painful, giving mirror images to what we all know is truth. I did like that Ashley’s character development grew over the course of the book, but didn’t agree with some of the weight based comments in the book, since I felt these weren’t needed/and didn’t add anything to the novel. Her character development toward the end definitely won me over, and she wasn’t as judgemental as her friends (who were a thousand times worse) but I feel like she wouldn’t say some of the things she did after her character grew.

What I did love was the passion behind the words, the way Christina’s writing seemed to build a 3D storyworld before my eyes, as if I could see it so vividly. Especially way that the novel explored so many aspects of racism, class, family, police violence, riots and protests – this was so needed, educational. And for the younger generation that might be confused about a lot of how racism has been carved into history all along, The Black Kids shows just how disastrous and hurtful this can be. I thoroughly loved The Black Kids and know this will be one of the best books of the year, one I hope is in hands of every YA reader. Huge four stars!

I have no words for this book. It is such an important and relevant read. I never wanted it to end. I loved the characters and the development throughout.

I loved this, great book about the LA riots of 1993 and a privileged black girl living nearby. She hangs out with white people and finds that they don't really care about her and her life. Her sister is living in a neighbourhood with riots and wants to join in.

This is an absolutely exceptional new young adult novel which I can already see exposing its readers (hopefully of all ages) to some important and timely conversations. Set with a backdrop of the 1992 Rodney King riots in LA, Hammonds Reed's novel is a haunting reminder that the current conversations highlighted in the media are not new; history is repeating itself and nothing is changing. With justified comparisons to the stunning The Hate U Give, Hammonds Reed has expertly crafted the story of Ashley and her family to be a true wake up call to the reality of police brutality and racism entrenched in societal structures.

Ashley is on the cusp of adulthood, waiting for her college acceptance letters and enjoying the time hanging out with her friends. She attends an expensive private school, with primarily white students, and lives in a more affluent area of LA. She is used to facing microaggressions in her school-life, such as the disturbing memory from a childhood pool party where her friend said Ashley could never be a mermaid as she is black, but she never really thought about challenging this prejudice as she has lived a sheltered life. As the riots inflame in LA, Ashley is increasingly forced to face up to her lack of action and her true feelings towards these prior instances of racist behaviour from her friends.

Hammonds Reed balances the historical events of the riots, including injecting the narrative with the media portrayal of the Rodney King attackers' court case and subsequent riots, with a deeply moving portrayal of family and community turmoil. We see Ashley evolve from a care-free, bubbly teenager to her comfortable existence being uprooted as she wakes up to the reality of racial prejudice she faces and will always face. The novel is packed full of issues to force the reader to face their own prejudices and perhaps also the privilege of their own comfortable life. This is alongside Hammonds Reed widening the scope of the novel from not only racial prejudice but shining a light on struggles with mental health, domestic abuse, slut shaming, the AIDs epidemic... This novel is by no means light in its delivery but packs a hugely important, educational punch.

All in all, I found this novel thoroughly absorbing and found myself examining my own life and actions throughout - an educational, beautifully written read which I hope reaches a wide audience upon its release. I would also genuinely like to see this text taught in English classrooms as a springboard into some of these conversations and will be recommending it from the rooftops to my teaching colleagues.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I.AM.IN.LOVE

Drop every book you’re reading right now and read this book ! I’m serious, this is one of the most impactful books I’ve read in 2020 !! It’s heartbreaking that the systemic racism is still happening in the exact same way 30 years later and it depicts how the system needs to change !

Ashley is a Black high school student from a relatively financially well-off background. Because of that, she begins the novel completely unaware of the political events and protests happening around her. She views the world through a different lens because of her financial situation (which is extremely interesting). But, her white friends are always telling racist jokes and comments about her and so Ashley starts realizing that she doesn’t fit well in her white friends group ! Throughout the book we see plenty of her white friends enacting micro-aggression’s and she tells us of more overt acts of racism that she and her family have experienced. What I really loved about Ashley’s character and more importantly the evident character development, is that she slowly realizes the importance of speaking up, even if it doesn’t affect you directly (which it affected her, but she didn’t realize it until later) and how embroiled she became in the events surrounding her.

To conclude, I believe that this book is so influential and important in our time. Despite being a historical-fiction, the events and sentiments depicted in the book are well relevant even today. The writing is vibrant, the events stick with you and the character development is extremely well done. I can’t recommend this enough.

This book is set in the 90s around the riots in LA when Rodney King was murdered. I’m going to be completely honest until recently I didn’t know anything about these riots but I have been educating myself a lot in the last month and a half and this book was extremely impactful, emotional and should be required reading if you ask me. And as I’m not the target audience for this book (this is a Young Adult book), I know that this will be even more impactful on that target audience.

This book really hit me where it hurts. I started reading this about a week or so after George Floyd was murdered and a lot of the content of The Black Kids applies to almost exactly what has been happening recently which is crushing as it’s over twenty years later. This book is really well written and even though it was a slower read, it made sense. You also flip between the past and present in this book and it was easy to follow.

This book is all about racism and is a very character-driven book. There are a lot of microaggressions shown in this book and it really displays just how hurtful they are as Ashley's friends are awful. I really hope when teens read this book they get that message loud and clear. Something I found to be extremely important in reading this is that it displays that racism affects all Black people, even the wealthily. I know from people around me that white people can assume that wealthily people don’t experience it.

"If there's not justice for one of us, there's no justice for any of us"- That just sums up the whole book!

I think this book is a perfect read for what is going on in the world today and also it educates us how little things have changed in the forty years since the riots of 1992.

I learned a lot from reading this book. I think it does a good job highlighting the hurt and injustice that black people face in their day to day lives.

Also, kudos to the author as this is her debut novel, I am eagerly looking forward to more books by her.

Highly recommended to everyone!

Thank You NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for this ARC!

The Black Kids is a powerful and timely novel about growing up as a black woman in 90s Los Angeles.

It explores racial inequalities in a way that holds a lens to our own time. Here are three reasons I would recommend it:

1. The Black Kids is filled with complicated relationships - between both family and friends. It explores growing up and moving on, and finding people who value who you are. It also reflects both the difficulties and importance of reconnecting with family, and understanding your family's history and where you come from.

2. Ashley undergoes a lot of character growth throughout the novel. She makes mistakes and learns to live with the consequences, as do many of the other characters in the novel. This story shows the importance of owning up to the things you have done wrong, and forgiving others for mistakes they have made.

3. The Black Kids' bittersweet ending ties up loose ends, but reminds readers that in real life, no ending is perfect (or final) and that sometimes the future can take us in unexpected directions.

Bonus reason: 90s LA, in the midst of the Rodney King riots, made a vivid and dramatic setting that will draw you in immediately, and stay with you long after you've read the final page.

I was provided with an advanced copy of The Black Kids for review via NetGalley

This book deals with so many themes including diverse friendships, race, growing up, growing up privileged, and even sisterhood! It was a great read based during a time when riots were happening in 1992. The Black Kids is huge exploration of the everyday racist remarks and issues that the black community deals with. It looks at class and privilege young people face as they transition into adulthood. I believe it is a very powerful read that all young reader's and people of all ages should read!

Wow - this is one of the best YA books I've EVER EVER read. Really important, especially with current events, but also as a historical novel.

I am slightly too young to remember the LA riots properly, but the implications that still have effects today are felt worldwide. I loved this.

This book covers so many important topics. There’s so much more to this than focusing on the riots, and I particularly liked the way the author shared Ashley’s friendships with us. They felt so authentic and how complex they can be. I found it hard to keep up with the timeline jumps, however this could be the arc copy and how it reads on my e reader.

I don’t read a huge amount of YA (far less than I should!) but I loved The Hate U Give and the premise of this combined with the ‘perfect if you loved THUG’ taglines and general buzz about it really pulled me in.

Ashley is well-off, spoilt (by her own admission) and black. Until recently, the latter hasn’t played much part in her thoughts or her daily life – her best friends are rich, white kids; her home is in a rich, white area and her life has almost always been as theirs is (although, as we see when she starts to reflect on it, perhaps it hasn’t and she’s just chosen to ignore the more casually racist behaviours around her).

We’re told in the synopsis online that

…everything changes one afternoon in April, when four police 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.

but it’s not quite this clear cut.

The LA riots of the 1990s (that began when the officers who beat up Rodney King were acquitted) do form the backdrop to the novel and they do become increasingly intrinsic to Ashley’s choices, feelings and actions, but their effects – on Ashley and more broadly – are not quite so quick and defined as this.

The book begins with Ashley herself admitting that she wasn’t all that bothered by the case to begin with; she and her friends are on the cusp of Summer, graduation and college. Life is a lazy time of skipping school, going out and having fun as they all prepare to go their own ways.

On the surface, it’s a stereotypical scenario – well-off teens skipping school to sunbathe, swim and smoke, mess about with boys/girls and generally enjoy themselves without thinking too much about anyone or anything else.

However, it’s as we spend so much time just ‘hanging out’ with Ashley and her friends in this way that we see – both in their interactions and her memories of growing up there with them – that we see the casual, incidental racism embedded in their lives. Little comments, ‘jokes’ and assumptions made; the knowledge that when they’re stopped by the police for trespassing she’s probably the reason and definitely the one at risk.

However, they’re her friends. They don’t mean anything by it. It’s just how things are. It’s okay.

Or is it?

Gradually Ashley begins to see the racism around her, amplified by the riots, and the contrast between her sheltered, protected life and the lives of the other black kids in her school and in neighbourhoods being looted, burned and vandalised.

It’s likely we’ll see a flux of books about racism given the current climate, but this one especially tackles it somehow subtly and frankly all at once and really addresses how larger events that seemingly have “nothing to do with us” can suddenly feel much closer to home.

In light of the fact that nearly 30 years on, as Black Lives Matters protests continue and we still have police officers kneeling on black necks and abusing their stop and search rights, we don’t seem to have changed at all.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

There are so many layers to this book, so many clever ideas and angles and so much to love about it that it’s hard to review without a sprawling essay full of tangents and spoilers.

It’s less a book I want to review and more a book I really want to talk about and share thoughts on.

So, I will instead keep it short(ish!) and say just this – it is superbly written with complexity, understanding and excellent characters and relationships.

It takes quite something to take a group of wealthy, spoilt brats and give them depth, but that is exactly what we get here. It doesn’t necessarily make them likeable, but it does make them believable and understandable.

Ashley herself is judgmental and self-absorbed (to begin with at least) but it is as she learns from her mistakes and opens herself up to possibilities, people outside her friendship group and begins to consider the wider world that we see her grow.

Her sister Jo and ‘nanny’ Lucia are both fantastic characters too who bring much in the way of context, contrast and social commentary.

Ultimately, this is a book about racism, but it is also a fantastic coming of age story, a realistic and sometimes difficult examination of family and an honest look at friendships – their evolution, their end and the beginnings of new ones. And the themes interplay brilliantly.

I feel like I’ve not done this book justice here, but it is a gripping, thought-provoking, complex and believable read.

It also references some awesome music and I very much need an accompanying The Black Kids soundtrack now!

As the end of high school nears, Ashley and her friends spend more time away from school than in it. Though Ashley is all too aware of the differences between her and her white friends, of the need to ‘be better’, she doesn’t pay much attention until the murderers of Rodney King are acquitted, and the city she lives in becomes engulfed in riots.

The Black Kids is a coming-of-age tale, a story of a young woman trying to find her place in the world and work out who, exactly, she really is. Ashley is caught between two worlds. Because of her parent’s wealth, she’s part of the rich kids, but her skin colour and her family’s history mean she’ll always be different.

This book is going to get compared a lot to The Hate U Give, but these are two very different beasts. Starr and Ashley are very different characters. The books share similar themes, but Starr witnesses the death of her friend, while Ashley for most of the novel remains removed by the events happening around her.

That removal adds to the strength of the book, as she tries to work out her own emotions and feelings, tries to dig deep and understand why she feels how she feels. One way I really connected with Ashley is in how she processes her emotions. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, and at times it feels like she uses such words to mask herself and avoid confronting her own emotions.

The problem is, Ashley feels things very deeply. Her numbness is a way of her holding onto control, and it can at times make her seem like she doesn’t care, but throughout the book it’s clear she really does. She just has so much going on she doesn’t know where to start caring.

The settings are different in The Hate and The Black Kids, too. These two characters are from completely different worlds, and in each case Starr and Ashley have more in common with each other’s cousins than they do with themselves. Ashley lives in a ‘good’ (aka rich, majority white) neighbourhood in L.A. The tone is different, the attitudes, time period, etc. There’s more to separate these two than bind them, but both are amazingly fantastic books everyone should definitely check out.

In short, The Black Kids is a beautiful, lyrical coming-of-age tale, Ashley is a character lost, confused and struggling, her parents paying more attention to her wayward sister than her, and who is completely engaging. I can’t wait to see more from Christina Hammonds Reed.

I really really loved this. I had only watched the documentary LA 92 recently so when this popped up on my Goodreads I was buzzed to read it.

I read this in practically one sitting, only taking breaks for the bathroom and food and it is because I was so engrossed I wanted to know what happened next. I really liked Ashley, it was sad to see her struggle with her identity but it was amazing to watch her development throughout the story. I did not like Kimberly from the minute she was first mentioned.

The book deals with some important topics and issues that we need to be constantly speaking out about, not just when it is popular on social media. I am really trying to educate myself more because it is my duty to do so, the responsibility should not fall on others to do so.

Please please pick this book up when it comes out. I cannot wait to read what the author puts out next.