Lerner Publications
January 2025
48 pages
For ages: 4–8
ISBN: 979-8765649145
Angie Thomas:
Hip-Hop Author and Voice of Change
Written by Keenan Jones
Angie Thomas was a teen rapper before writing the New York Times bestsellers The Hate U Give and On the Come Up.
As a child in Jackson, Mississippi, Angie Thomas was surrounded by civil rights history. But instead of the equality her elders had fought for, she grew up amid poverty and gun violence. When she didn’t see herself in books, she developed a love of hip-hop music and even wrote her own rhymes. Going to a mostly white, affluent college showed her just how different her upbringing was from that of her classmates.
As Thomas grew into adulthood, she became more and more frustrated with the frequent news stories of police officers killing Black men and boys. The Black Lives Matter movement was growing, and Thomas channeled her anger into fiction. Her first book, The Hate U Give, resonated with young people across the country and became an award-winning movie. Explore Angie Thomas’s journey from bullied teenager to famed YA author who inspires young Black readers and writers around the world.
To learn more about Angie Thomas and her books, visit her website.
Look Inside
A read-aloud as sharp and stylish as a fresh cut.
In his bustling picture book debut, Jones pays nuanced homage to barbershops through the eyes of one child “geeked to go spend/ the day at the ’Shop.” On a Saturday morning, the title’s young narrator, a Black child wearing a ball cap, is dropped off as Mom heads to work. … Across the day, reiterative phrases describe how “the ’Shop is our” sound booth, gallery, sports show, comedy club, playground, classroom, and more: “The ’Shop is our mini-mart// Two dollars will get you right;/ five dollars will have you full.” And through it all, the barbershop is “our studio.// Hair is the canvas/ clippers are the brush,/ creating walking pieces of art.”