Book Review: The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Book: 117/150

Rating: 4.5/5

Ashley Bennett is in her senior year at high school spending more time skipping classes and hanging out with friends rather than going to school. In the backdrop to her senior year, protests and riots erupt in L.A. Ashley's older, newly married sister Jo becomes active in the riots and supporting the call for justice for Rodney King, and her parents who are convincing her to stay out of it. Ashley has a front row seat to both being active in the fight for justice and avoiding it, trying to take comfort in the privileged life they have built for themselves.

This slow burn of a book really packs a punch. Ashley was a great character to follow: she has incredible character development; she is flawed and confused, and has some incredible learning moments along the way. You can't help but like her and root for her. The Black Kids is an excellently written coming of age story exploring identity, what it means to be Black, and how ignoring a problem doesn't mean that it will go away or not impact you. Even though the story takes place in 1992, it is still incredibly relevant today.

Reading this was very similar to how I felt when I was reading The Vanishing Half. Reed's writing is so poignant and profound, at the end of every chapter or breaks within chapters I had to sit for a minute to digest what I just read. Reed takes the reader on a beautiful journey with Ashley in coming to terms with her identity and how her relationships with family and friends strengthen and fizzle out because of this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.