  | Good kind of trouble Author: Ramee, Lisa Moore | |
| Price: $21.88 | ||
Summary:
After attending a powerful protest, Shayla starts wearing an armband to school to support the Black Lives Matter movement, but when the school gives her an ultimatum, she is forced to choose between her education and her identity.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.50 Points: 9.0 Quiz: 501309 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 3-5 Reading Level: 4.40 Points: 16.0 Quiz: 76740 | |
Reviews:
School Library Journal (+) (00/02/19)
Booklist (12/15/18)
The Hornbook (00/03/19)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 12/15/2018 In her first novel, Ramée explores the concept that fear can stop you from doing the right thing. Shayla is a shy, bright middle-school student who deals with unwanted advances from boys, racial tensions, academic competition, and finding her own voice. Middle school is quite an adjustment for Shayla and her friends, a diverse trio dubbed “the United Nations,” but she decides to stand up for the rights of African Americans after a ruling is made in a controversial court case involving the shooting of a black man by a white police officer. Encouraged by her sister and peers, she joins the Black Lives Matter movement and passes out black armbands at school, an act that puts her at odds with her friends, principal, and students of different races. As civil unrest spreads, Shayla must determine whether creating awareness by causing trouble is worth risking her academic standing. This is a solid story for middle-schoolers dealing with issues such as friendship across racial lines, being strong girls, #BLM, #MeToo, civil rights, diversity, and justice. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 02/01/2019 Gr 4–8—Twelve-year-old Shayla is just starting middle school. She and her friends, Isabella and Julia, aka "The United Nations" because of their diverse backgrounds, want to stick together just like they did in elementary school. They soon discover that middle school is different and conflicts with friends and crushes ensue. In the midst of the typical middle school angst, a not guilty VERDICT in a legal case concerning a police officer shooting an African American man is announced and Shayla begins to relate to the Black Lives Matter movement in a way she never has before. Shayla, always trouble-averse, ends up challenging her school's administration when black armbands are banned. She grows through the experience and becomes more comfortable in her own skin. The author does a beautiful job illustrating the pain a family goes through in the wake of such a ruling. Reminiscent in writing style to works by Lauren Myracle and Jason Reynolds, this novel starts by showing Shayla having typical middle school problems, then switches to the very specific problems she faces as a young black girl in America. There is also a powerful subplot concerning Shayla's changing perception of her lab partner, Bernard, an African American boy, who she sees as a bully at the beginning of the novel and slowly comes to see as having been boxed into that role by systemic bias. VERDICT Give this to middle grade readers who aren't yet ready for Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give. Highly recommended.—Kristin Lee Anderson, Jackson County Library Services, OR - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
