"Anger is a Gift"

By: Mark Oshiro

Moss Jefferies is a sixteen year old gay Black boy who attends West Oakland High. At his school, police conduct random locker searches and even installed a metal detector. Then, two of Moss's close friends as assaulted by a cop, and both times his friends were held blame instead of the police department, and it caused security at his school to become even tighter. Security against the students.

Moss, who watched his father get shot by the police when he was a kid, and his friends as sick of being treated like criminals in their own school. They're done with taking the blame. They're done with seeing the police every time they enter they're school. They're ready to protest, and they're ready to use their anger as a gift.

Warning: This one's a tear jerker. Triggers tears. Move forward with caution.

This is definitely one of the best social justice YA novels that I've ever read. This was part of the suggestion for our "Book of the month" at my middle school book club. It was a bit of a long read, but do I regret taking the time to read it? Not at all.

"Anger is a Gift" is everything I asked for in a realistic fiction social justice novel: diverse characters, information, emotion, true power and meaning in its words, achieves something at the end. This one is something that you should read.

"It held up a mirror and tried to show me the ugly side of society." I knew that there were places and schools where Black students were treated like criminals, but I never knew how bad things could get. I'm still shocked about the (mild spoiler) magnet thing.

I love the friendship and activism in this book. It got me riled up over racial injustice. It made me angry. It made me feel brave enough to speak out and research more. This is a book worth reading.

"'Anger is a gift. Remember that.'. She stood. 'You gotta grasp onto it, hold it tight, and use it as ammunition. You use that anger to get things done instead of stewing in it.'". ~Mark Oshiro

This book is a bit hard to read, but it definitely has a positive message. I thought that the ending was a bit unrealistic, but it was definitely a book worth reading. This is not exactly a short read, but it took me 3 hours to finish reading it ( and I'm a fast reader ). I recommend that you check this book out of the library, find a digital version, or buy it.

10/10

Sincerely,

~WritingLightning