The Hate U Give

Title: The Hate U Give

Author: Angie Thomas

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

# of pages: 444

Reading Level: 590L, 9th-12th

Summary: The Hate U Give tells the story of a young black girl, Starr, who has seen police brutality and racism first-hand. The story explores her constant struggle to fit in, in both her home city, Garden Heights, and in her private school where she is one of only two black students. Her world is turned upside down when her childhood friend, Khalil, is shot by a cop after they are pulled over. Between threats from a local gang and their leader, King, and the overwhelming fear of retribution, Starr must decide who she is and find her voice to fight for the people she loves. Starr’s deeply personal narration of the story gives the reader a perspective most are privileged to not understand. In a world where police brutality and racism run rampant, The Hate U Give is an engaging narrative that brings to light the harsh truth that minority groups “...in situations like this become hashtags, but rarely get justice.” (Thomas, 2022).

Genre: The Hate U Give is classified as fiction, but specifically contemporary realistic fiction. This is because the story touches on real and pressing issues that children may go through in their lives. The Hate U Give snuggly fits into this genre classification with a large focus of the novel highlighting the stark differences between what life is like for Starr in the “run-down” city of Garden Heights and the mainly white Williamson Prep. It also tackles difficult social issues like social classes, racism, and violence. 

Reading the Novel: In my opinion, The Hate U Give would be best read as a class. Because of the mature themes and somewhat mature language, I think students would benefit from having a guide through the book that can highlight why it is so important for them to understand that these issues are prominent and real in the world they are growing up in.

Teaching the Novel: This novel, like The Midnight Library, explores mature themes. However, as racism is prevalent and police brutality does not seem to be diminishing, these are topics everyone needs to be aware of. Ignorance is bliss until we are raising a generation of kids who do not understand the automatic disadvantages society places on minority groups. This novel has a Lexile level of 590 which roughly associates with a 3rd-grade reading level. The way it is written is easy to understand even if the content is harder to grasp. 

Cross-Curriculum: The Hate U Give would pair well in a social studies classroom as the teacher could relate Starr’s experience to any number of examples of systematic racism throughout history. This is a clear representation of how racism may not look the same as it did 100 years ago, but it continues to find its way into the modern world.