Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

Jul 23, 2018LPL_CentennialC rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This book tells the true story of two teens, Sasha and Richard, and the crime that links them. Sasha is a white teen who attended the local private school and identifies as agender, using they/them pronouns. Richard is a black teen who attended the a public school where the majority of students don’t graduate and had lost multiple friends to murder. On November 4th, 2013 in Oakland, California, two teens, Sasha and Richard were both riding the 57 bus. Sasha fell asleep. Richard and his friends were playing with a lighter. The lighter caught on Sasha’s skirt and they were engulfed in flames. Sasha spent weeks in hospitals for third degree burns and Richard was charged with hate crimes as an adult at only 16 years old, facing life imprisonment. This story is complicated and captivating, and everyone will who reads it will walk away having learned something. The book is well-researched, full of interviews with family, text message records, and even poetry interspersed throughout. There are nuanced discussions about gender and sexuality, racial justice, and what it means to really have reconciliation. I've heard lots of folks who said they didn’t like to read non-fiction, but they couldn’t put this book down.