Genre: YA Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 55 minutes
First Published: 2020
View in Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.
Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids.
As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson.
With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?
Quotes from THe Black Kids
We all sew a few sequins on our stories to make them shine brighter.
What do you do when the people you love no longer feel like home?
Sometimes being different means hiding pieces of yourself away so other people’s mean can’t find them.
About Christina Hammonds Reed
Christina Hammonds Reed holds an MFA in Film and Television Production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her short fiction has previously appeared in the Santa Monica Review. She lives in Hermosa Beach, CA.
Featured In