Dear Martin
Plot
Dear Martin by Nic Stone is a realistic fiction book that takes place in the United States. It depicts identity, racism, and adolescence through the eyes of an African American teenager named Justyce McAllister. The novel follows Justyce McAllister, a 17-year-old black student who struggles with being a minority in his prep school. Despite the fact that he has a rough background and is different from most of the students at Braselton Prep, he becomes good friends with another black student named Manny Rivers. He also does well for himself academically and socially until one day when he gets arrested for something that wasn’t his fault because of racism. When people put him on trial without even asking what happened, it makes him feel like society doesn’t care about how hard African Americans have to work just to get by. The novel, Dear Martin begins before Justyce’s arrest. A senior at the elite school Braselton, he excels in his studies and is slated to become class valedictorian. He also has a standing offer to attend Yale University. However, his motivation for excelling stems from struggles at home: His family is poor and lives in a low-income neighborhood with high crime rates.
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Controversy
Jus is racially profiled by a police officer named Officer Castillo and wrongfully arrested. He was trying to help his ex-girlfriend, Melo, who is very drunk. However, Officer Castillo assumes Jus is trying to hurt Mel and uses undue force to detain him without first pausing to ask questions. [2]