All American Boys -

Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely

Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

2015

320 páginas

10h 40m

ISBN-13: 9781481463331

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Childrens Literature.

In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winning novel, two teens - one black, one white- grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

A bag of chips. Thats all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashads pleadings that hes stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashads resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashads every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

There were witnesses: Quinn Collins - a varsity basketball player and Rashads classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan - and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team - half of whom are Rashads best friends - start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred reviews tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.

Resenhas (3)

4 (Muito bom)

Rashad is absent again today

All American Boys conta a história de Rashad e Quinn. Rashad é um adolescente negro que foi ferido por um policial que achou que ele estava cometendo um crime quando não estava. Quinn é um garoto que passa a enfrentar sérias questões morais e sociais depois de presenciar um homem em quem ele confiou durante toda sua vida machucando um garoto de sua escola.

O que me motivou a ler esse livro foi ele ter sido recomendado pra quem gostou de The Hate U Give. Há grandes semelhanças na história, só que o incidente catalisador não é fatal, e por esse livro ser de dois pontos de vista, ele também mostra lado do policial branco que agiu injustamente contra um adolescente negro. Justamente por isso, ver o quanto o policial e sua família veementemente acreditavam que ele estava certo me deixou realmente incomodado e assustado com a realidade social na qual nós infelizmente ainda vivemos. Até quando "Ele só estava fazendo o trabalho dele" vai servir como justificativa pra atos racistas?