If it seems like I always relate my posts back to Urban Education and teaching diverse youth, that's because I almost always do that while I'm reading and thinking about my future classroom. I intend to teach High School English when I finish my teaching degree at UWM, and I personally never anticipated wanting to teach in an urban setting this much.
So, obviously, when I read this book that hinges so much on themes of race, difference in class/socioeconomic status, and self-image of a young adult main character, I was constantly thinking of my future classroom. I would love to see how a room of ethnically diverse students would look at this book and how they would process the events within it.
Personally, I feel that this book is worth a read at any age, especially in a Young Adult classroom. This is because of the conversations that could be sparked by this novel, not only about race and self image, but the American justice system as a whole. It could start a debate on who was innocent in the crime and who wasn't, how the students felt about the ending and if they thought things should have went differently, the relationship between Steve and his lawyer, etc.
My overall personal thoughts on this story is that it is gripping, real, and worth the time to read it. I also would love to teach this book some day, because it could be helpful for students to see something like this that is based on a true story and try to understand the repercussions of it.
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