As we enter 2021, there’s no hotter author anywhere than Angie Thomas. She currently rules the New York Times Hardcover Young Adult list with two revolutionary and relatable novels about Black lives in America in the top five. Her newest, Concrete Rose, occupies the top spot, while The Hate U Give (THUG), which has been on the list for more than 200 weeks, comes in at number four. With THUG in particular, and in part due to the success of the 2018 film adaptation, Thomas is fast approaching a level of popularity more commonly associated with franchises like the Harry Potter series and The Hunger Games.
What makes her books stand apart from these other hugely successful stories are her themes of racial inequality and police brutality— topics that are unfortunately all too familiar from the news. What Thomas has done with THUG in particular is make these topics accessible to young adult readers through her appealing protagonist, Starr, a teenage girl torn between the two worlds of her Black neighborhood and the white private school she attends. And it’s not just teens who are taking notice.
All over the country, from Connecticut to the Central Coast, high school and even middle school teachers are reconsidering the readings they require in light of the Black Lives Matter movement and other initiatives toward social justice. Move over, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck! In today’s English classes, an unprecedented number of new books are being recognized as teachable modern masterpieces, and books like THUG and Concrete Rose featuring characters such as Starr and her gang-member-turned-militant father, Maverick, are leading the change.