Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Weblink
nicstone.info

DEAR MARTIN

Nic Stone

A heart-wrenching novel about race relations in 21st-century America told from the perspective of a black teen who writes letters to Martin Luther King Jr. in an attempt to follow in his path, but whose world falls apart after he is shot by an off-duty police officer.
Justyce McAllister is top of his class, captain of the debate team, and set for the Ivy League next year—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. He is eventually released without charges (or an apology), but the incident has Justyce spooked. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood, he can’t seem to escape the scorn of his former peers or the attitude of his prep school classmates. The only exception: Sarah Jane, Justyce’s gorgeous—and white—debate partner he wishes he didn’t have a thing for.

Struggling to cope with it all, Justyce starts a journal to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But do Dr. King’s teachings hold up in the modern world? Justyce isn’t so sure.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up. Way up. Much to the fury of the white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. And Justyce and Manny get caught in the crosshairs. In that media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack. The truth of what happened that night—some would kill to know. Justyce is dying to forget.

Nic Stone is a native of Atlanta and a Spelman College graduate. After working extensively in teen mentoring and living in Israel for a few years, she returned to the United States to write full-time. Dear Martin, her first novel, is loosely based on a series of true events involving the shooting deaths of unarmed African American teenagers. Shaken by the various responses to these incidents—and to the pro-justice movement that sprang up as a result—Stone began the project in an attempt to examine current affairs through the lens of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings.
Available products
Book

Published 2017-10-17 by Crown Books for Young Readers

Book

Published 2017-10-17 by Crown Books for Young Readers

Comments

Nic Stone's fresh, incisive voice gives us a perspective rarely seen: What does it mean to be a young black man in America?... Painfully timely and deeply moving, this is the novel the next generation should be reading.

Be warned: Dear Martin will charm your socks off and then smash your heart to pieces. Justyce's story is earnest, funny, achingly human, and unshakably hopeful. I am forever changed.

An unforgettable feast of fury and forgiveness, begging America's future to once more have a seat at the table to break bread over broken hearts. Stone offers an open invitation to hope with this exquisite debut all are welcome.

Dear Martin confronts America's race problem, head on and unflinching, with grace, beauty, and humor. It's a call, a march, an anthem.the sort of story you can't put down, with characters who set up permanent residence in your heart,and a voice that echoes in your mind long after the final page.

DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone is a Morris Award Nominee Read more...

Dear Martingrabs your heart from the first page and never let's go.a must read for every teen.

Absolutely incredible, honest, gut-wrenching! A must-read!

Dear America: Read this book and hear its clarion call. Nic Stone's Dear Martinis a mic drop of truth. I can see a teen audience DEVOURING this book. Hat's off.

A powerful, nuanced look at what it means to be black in America. At once shocking and relatable in its hard-hitting truths, this book is a necessary read for teens and adults of all races, genders, and backgrounds.