Angie Thomas wrote The Hate U Give, a beautiful portrait of modern life in America. Thomas shows 16 year old Starr Carter, an African American girl and her torn life. From the rough Garden Heights neighborhood where she lives, to the completely different world of a mostly White private school she goes to in Williamson. Starr feels pulled between the two places, and feels forced to be two different people. However, when she witnesses her friend Kahlil get shot by a racist cop, Starr’s two world’s collide. She can’t help but be her full self and speak her true mind as she goes through grief. Starr becomes the key witness in the trial, and finds her voice with the experience of losing Kahlil. Thomas does an amazing job in showing the vulnerability of the character and pain Starr feels with the loss of Kahlil. This book grabs your attention and forces you to see the pain of the younger generation, the sadness mixed with frustration that can become rage. The support of her parents is a beautiful, very relatable and real picture of family. Yet, it shows that sometimes even having support kids still feel lost. This lost feeling is captured so well by the author in Starr’s disoriented and misguided actions. I could see it clearly, feel it with the character. Thomas has gotten the Michael L. Printz Award for this book, a well deserved award, and after reading the book myself I fell in love. I look forward to reading her next novel, On The Come Up , and sharing my thoughts on it.