Short chapters make the book compulsively readable -- super easy to keep turning the page, and each chapter ends with you wanting to keep turning page to find out what happens next. There are also super chunked paragraphs and sections with short sentences, making the text even more accessible.

I would recommend this book to students who are interested in social justice and the school to prison pipeline, potentially students who have enjoyed authors such as Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), Nic Stone (Dear Martin), and Jerry Craft (New Kid).

I think it is important that teachers/administrators take a minute to read the first chapter of this book and reflect on our own interactions with students. The language being directed towards Donte, a 12 year old black student, is disgusting and loaded with bias. Although the principal in the scene may not have intentionally attempted to silence Donte, Donte is very much dismissed and disregarded in the scene. This happens in the first chapter, but minor spoiler alert: the principal decides to escalate a situation of Donte throwing his backpack down and calls the police.
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3.5 Stars

Well that was a quick and engaging book about identity and finding your place.

I thought the audiobook was well narrated and am pleased to have found another sports focused book with a male protagonist. This will be a good one for NZ Year 9 novel studies as it examines at a few very topical issues about race and equality. A great addition to the library. ( )

Donte and Trey are biracial brothers - white dad, Black mom - but Donte is dark-skinned and Trey looks white, which means they experience life differently, especially when they move from New York to a rich white Boston suburb and attend a private school. There, Donte is framed and blamed by a racist classmate, and teachers and administration never even listen to his side; instead, they call the police on him without even contacting his parents. Donte decides he wants to get back at Alan, and the best way to do that is at Alan's own game - fencing - despite never having played a sport before. Trey finds a Black ex-Olympian fencer and Donte goes to the Boys & Girls Club to ask him to be his coach. From Arden Jones, Donte learns how to fence - and also, what motivations are truly important.

Quotes

(I wish Mom would stop talking. Everything she says, I know. But saying it out loud makes me feel worse.) (24)

I shiver. Never thought there'd be a time when Mom and Dad couldn't protect me. Is this growing up? (28)

"Swiftness, intelligence can win a match. But patience is the real necessary skill." (Coach, 90)

Ever since the arrest, I sometimes feel life is going to crash. Out of the blue. Unexpected. But not in a good way. I don't feel completely safe. (I used to. Not anymore.) (171)

I'm the one wasting energy, suppressing memories, words. (212) ( )

Gorgeous, and I'm not just saying that as an avid fencer who hardly ever gets to see fencing in print. Gorgeous family dynamics, gorgeous characters, gorgeous thinking about race and writing about identity. I've been a fan of Dr. Parker Rhodes' work for years, but this one just hits it out of the park for me. ( )

Donte is always in trouble at school even though he is a good kid and he's had enough of it. He and his brother are biracial, as the brother with much darker skin he sees the ways that he is treated differently (especially at their new private school). When he is arrested at school, he's shocked and he realizes that something has to change. He decides he needs revenge on his main tormentor and makes the decision to do this at what matters most to Alan, fencing. During his suspension from school he connects with a coach. He puts in a lot of hard work, becomes part of his team's community, and things (including his motivation) begin to shift within him. The family relationships depicted in this book group Donte in incredible support. His growing awareness of how other Black kids are treated by systems that don't care for them is eye opening. This book covers a lot of ground in such a short piece, but it works and works well. ( )