By Kim Johnson 

Random House, 2023. 404 pages. Young Adult 

After spending two months at the start of 2022 in a juvenile detention center for a crime he did not commit, 17-year-old Andre Jackson returns home to Portland, Oregon and tries to adapt to a world that is changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and finds that his best friend is missing. After talking with his friends and the adults in his life, Andre realizes that things aren’t adding up and that there’s more going on with his friend’s disappearance than anyone seems to realize. 

This is the first book I’ve picked up that really focused on the first half of 2020 and all that entails. This felt very raw and honest, and I really appreciated that. It was very thought-provoking, and I’m glad I could read about someone’s experience (even though it was fictional) that was so different from my own. Because of the emotional intensity and focus on recent events, this is definitely something I would recommend being mentally prepared for before reading. Invisible Son is excellent and I’m glad I read it, but I don’t know if I’m ready to regularly read pandemic fiction yet. 

Promise Boys  

By Nick Brooks 

Henry Holt and Company, 2023. 294 pages. Young Adult 

J.B., Ramón, and Trey, students of the Urban Promise Prep School, must follow the school's strict rules, but when their principal is murdered, the three boys must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. 

The Hate U Give  

By Angie Thomas 

Balzer + Bray, 2017. 444 pages. Young Adult 

After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died. 

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