Dear Martin, by Nic Stone

This is the first book by author Nic Stone, and I'm not sure how to describe it, exactly. It isn't completely what I expected, although I don't really know what it was I was expecting. The premise of the story is the main character, Justyce, writes letters to a no-longer-living Martin Luther King, Jr., to help understand the world around him, a world full of racial inequality, racism, classism, and violence. There is a romantic strand to the story and much of the story takes place at the high school Justyce attends. Many elements of a good, realistic fiction story that exists in the middle of what would have been a Black Lives Matter setting, had it been written more recently than 2017.

The language here is strong and realistic - not quite The Hate U Give strong, but stronger than most YA books I've read. The situations Justyce and other characters face are often very heavy, and they don't seem to let up - this is a pretty heavy book, especially for it's seemingly short and light stature. And it's a good story, to be sure, just...hard. But the characters stayed in my mind after I finished, which is a sign, to me, of a good book.

I would probably give this first effort by Stone 3 paws, but because the story has stayed in my brain I'm adding a paw, for a total of 4 paws. There is a second book out now called Dear Justyce that I can see myself reading, but I may wait a few books for that one. I'm not sure I can manage the weight of the subject matter again so soon after Martin.