Balancing three characters is tricky, but Jawando was doing a great job at it until this storyline was introduced. Another outstanding Young Adult book, I would recommend this book to any fan of The Hate U Give book. Racism against black people are seriously discussed throughout the plot, along with violence and deaths were mentioned multiple times. Some of the students who previously showed little interest in writing as a career have already approached me to discuss further some of the ideas Danielle suggested yesterday.

This book is a sensitive, yet hard-hitting exploration of knife crime and its impact on communities, racism and the everyday microaggressions faced by young black people, and what a family is. I loved how the teens come from different backgrounds but had shared experiences that resulted from the colour of their skin. In None of the Above, Alabanza looks at seven sentences people have directed at them about their gender identity, turning a mirror back on social attitudes. He is not known to Jackson, but 14 year old Shaq becomes a significant character for the three teenagers who stop to offer assistance. Their experiences going forward, together and apart, lead them to reassess their relationships, expectations, and abilities to succeed in such a way none of them are the same as they were before that fateful afternoon.Sunny Singh, the director of the prize, said both winning books were “timely and timeless, courageous as well as meticulously crafted”. Obviously this is only a small slice of what people actually go through (still, in the twenty-first century! Having grown up in the area the novel is set, and attended the sister college, of the college our protagonists were aspiring to, these personal connections only enhanced the reading experience for me.

And winning the award will encourage people to look at transgender and gender non-conforming people “in a celebratory way, to look at how our art is able to be successful,” they added. She provided our students with a lovely day, sharing her knowledge and experience in an approachable and relatable manner.The white characters in this book didn’t seem to have any idea that they had been tricked by institutional racism in the news, social media and police. Danielle Jawando has a way of not just bringing these characters to life, but also of revealing their hearts and minds. The language and phrases used by the white characters in this book are all too familiar for many of the POC who I know. It resonates on what is happening now and gets you thinking on how the police deal with matters that are very close to home and what is currently in the news. But together, they face the ugly racism head on, knowing exactly what needs to change—but with how rooted racism is all around them, it’s never going to be easy.