So. This book. Holy wow. Was this such a necessary, brilliantly crafted read, which considering the echos I was getting from people who have read it before me was not surprising at all. But still, I was surprised by how everything was handled. I honestly believe this book should be required reading. Especially in the US. Especially with the current climate. It does many many things right and there is a lot to learn from it.

The writing is fairly simple and easy to get into, which with how heavy and important the issues the book deals with is really the only way to go, any other type of writing wouldn’t work at all. I loved how the chapters were separated by the letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, they served like a type of summary/reflection from Justyce’s part on the events that happened in the chapter and it added a little something to the book as a whole. The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 star is a formatting issue I had. The dialogue formats were inconsistent, some of it was written in the regular way, while another big chunk was written in manuscript format. It would’ve been better if it was just one or the other.

The story holds one hell of a punch, I would’ve never have thought in a million years, that a book just a little over 224 pages would be able to deconstruct and deal with important issues such as racism, racial profiling and police brutality as good as it is done in this book. Nic Stone does a fantastic job at giving a counter-points to a lot of Im-not-a-racist crowd’s arguments, like colorblindness, or thinking that racial profiling isn’t a thing, or that black people have it as good as white people etc… In short, the arguments of those who claim racism is dead.

Dear Martin sucked me in completely from the early pages and I only put it down when I absolutely had to -sleep, it didn’t only do a good job at tackling day to day real like situations but also actual arguments through debates where most of the time a white ally (who is Justyce’s love interest) opposes a racist and that was certainly very interesting to read.

Justyce was such a solid, realistic character, his character arc was strong and meaningful, seeing him struggle between what he thought things we like, what he hoped they were like and what they were really like was hard but needed and seeing break out of his shell and start speaking for himself was great as well. His voice is similar to that of many many black kids living in the US today, and that is important for them to read, to see that they’re not alone in their fear and struggles.

So as I said, this is a hard yet necessary read that I’d recommend to everyone. REQUIRED READING. REQUIRED READING. REQUIRED READING.

I love books like this one. They are so important in our lives! This is the type of book everyone should read.

It may not seem like it, but it talks about the reality of our world. It's the 21st century and racism still exists. After so long and so many things changing and evolving... Things might be different for the better, but that's not good enough. Racism should be a thing long gone and yet here we are with people getting murdered because of it, getting worse jobs, getting disrespected, among other things. Meanwhile, equality and freedom are the words spoken to describe nowadays...

I can’t imagine how is it possible to live with all that cargo… Knowing that you can get murdered because you, unfortunately, were born with the wrong colored skin?! Treated as if you are not even human because of that? Constantly being looked at through the corner of the eye because you are certainly up to something? Constantly being said that you are less than a white person? That you couldn’t ever be this or that because of that? … I mean… Is that even a life? Can you imagine how these people must feel? It’s terrifying.

But Justyce knows how that feels like… He has suffered injustice after injustice, until one day one changed everything.

This book is in a way similar to The Hate U Give, after all, the topic is the same. But the way that is approached is really different. I still do prefer THUG in terms of plot but I loved how in this book we have a male POV. Primarily because just like both books show, black teenage boys have it even tougher than girls, the racism is even worse since black teenage boys equal gangster, carrying a gun, selling drugs, capable of anything, etc. In THUG we see the life of a black boy through the eyes of a black girl, here we have that black boy… So that was really powerful in this book. Secondly, because I almost never read books with male POVs.

I really liked Justyce and I think he was a really good person, and his idea of writing letters to Martin Luther King Jr. was really interesting. But on the other side, I also think that he was a bit lost and clueless. He wanted equality and he saw that that was not happening and after that, he didn’t do much more? I liked the moral of the story but I just wanted a bit more passion from him? I felt that even SJ had more fire in her than him. God, even Manny, and he was the quietest of them all! Although he was definitely my favorite character… I just really liked to see him trying to fit in and being a bit oblivious and suddenly waking up… Just like Justyce – but I just didn’t connect as much…

I also really liked that how in this book we have different perspectives. We have white idiot boys, black idiot boys, white amazing girls, black amazing boys, racist black persons (which I really liked the addition) and racist white persons (I hated them so much… It made me so angry!). There’s a mix of everything and it made it a lot more interesting.

As for the plot, I really liked the debates in the book, they made it really realistic and gripping. But the best part was around halfway… This book was killing me! I was not expecting anything like that and it broke my heart. I feel so revolted! This book really hit me big time. I still have difficulty seeing the “why” things like this happen. How is it still possible after so much time… I feel really upset. There were some things I wanted a bit more, especially out of the plot and the main characters but it’s a fantastic book nonetheless and really… Just read this book!

This is an important, timeless, strong read. It’s gripping, it’s beautifully heartbreaking and it should be read by everyone. Definitely, recommend it.

Ever since I finished reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas earlier this year, I've really been looking for books similar to it and that's when Nic Stone's Dear Martin caught my attention.

In Dear Martin, we are introduced to Justyce, an African-American boy, who attends a private school and is set to enroll in an Ivy League college after graduation. Unfortunately for Justyce, none of these things matter when a police officer spots and arrests him in the middle of the night. Luckily, Justyce is able to get released - but it's not the last time he encounters a police officer and the next time, things don't end so well.

I was very lucky to be approved to read an eARC of this book and I've never read an ARC as quickly as I did this one! I had gotten an e-mail earlier in the day and kept finding myself thinking about the book, so I finally gave in and started reading. Three hours later I had finished the book. Nic Stone writes in a way that allows to the reader to read her work quickly while still delivering the punches. I remember reading the first fifth of the book and just getting so angry with certain characters and the way they spoke about racial issues and equality especially because they brought up the exact arguments we have seen so many times in the media in the past couple of years. And I really loved that aspect of Dear Martin because it helps hold up a mirror to the reader and hopefully makes them realize some of their own mistakes in dealing with the issues.

I remember reading the first fifth of the book (which in part is set during debate class) and just getting so angry with certain characters and the way they spoke about racial issues and equality especially because they brought up the exact arguments we have seen so many times in the media in the past couple of years. But I also really loved it because it helps hold up a mirror to the reader and hopefully makes them realize some of the mistakes in dealing with these issues.

Nic Stone's decision to have her characters be members of a debate club also made for some really important discussions within the story as it evolved and allowed them to realize what was happening and to change - some more than others.

And while I love seeing character growth, I feel like one story arc and how it progressed was too convenient. Especially the pacing of that story arc. I wish we would have gotten to explore the growth more and witness more of how we got from point A to point B.

We often talk about parents' roles in YA literature and how they are often absent or not as present in our protagonist's life and I feel like this was true for Justyce' mother too. It often felt like he had more of a connection with his debate class teacher than his mother. He was more willing to listen and give advice when Justyce needed it rather than - in a way - dismissing it.

Overall, I have to say I'm really glad and thankful that I got the chance to read this book earlier because I had been looking forward to it for quite a while and now I get to tell you guys to please go out there and read this book! Support Nic Stone and stories like this to make sure that we get a lot more of its kind in the future!

After getting racially profiled by police, Ivy League-bound Justyce McAllister decides to start writing letters to Martin Luther King to figure out how the late civil rights letter would handle such situations. However, he wonders whether the example of Dr. King is applicable to an environment where he is constantly judged based on his racial identity. Dear Martin focuses on a high school student and how he deals with racial profiling by both the police and his peers. Although the book does look at the larger issue of racial profiling by police, the book's strength is in how it looks at how he deals with the casual racism of some of his prep school classmates. At a little over 200 pages Dear Martin breezes by with its episodic chapters that do not delve deeper into the experiences of Justyce and his peers. Thus, decisions are made a bit too quickly, situations resolve themselves a little too conveniently, and the pieces fall a bit too neatly in service of the overall plot. Justyce is a likable character that readers could easily relate to. By keeping the focus on Justyce’s experiences, readers could get a sense of race affects the way he is perceived by others.

Dear Martin is an incredibly powerful story that everyone needs to read. Justyce is a young black man in a prestigious high school and never quite feels like he fits in, especially after he is unjustly arrested for helping an ex-girlfriend. He turns to Martin Luther King Jr., in the form of writing letters, to try and understand the world around him, but finds everything he knows being tested after yet another tragedy. The book is both tragic and hopeful, but only time will tell whether things will change.

This and The Hate U Give ought to be required reading now for high school students. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the free e-ARC and the chance to read this book early. It is so helpful for this librarian to read ahead for planning, purchasing, and promotion purposes!

5/5 stars for this powerful story. Justyce is one of the only black students at his prestigious private high school. He is from a rough neighborhood and has always felt like he doesn’t fit in with the other guys at school, with the exception of his best friend Manny. When Justyce is arrested for trying to help his white ex-girlfriend drive home safely after a night of drinking, he can’t stop seeing injustice everywhere he turns. He starts writing to Martin Luther King, Jr. in a journal, in an attempt to be more like Dr. King. But it’s hard, especially when Manny can’t see his racist friends the way Justyce does. He starts to think that maybe the best way to fight injustice really is through a gang in his mom’s neighborhood.

This belongs on a shelf with The Hate U Give and All-American boys; it is powerful, emotional, and timely. It belongs in all high school collections.

I reviewed a digital preview copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

My first reaction to this book is simply wow; I believe every student, teacher, and parent needs to read this impactful story. As middle-aged white female, I needed to read about the experiences of Justyce and his friend Manny. I needed to hear the conversations about race and bias in Doc’s classroom. I needed to see the frustration and hope through the eyes of SJ (Sarah Jane), Justyce's friend and eventual girlfriend. I needed to be reminded that everyone has bias and to reflect on my own and have those conversations with my children and my students. We know reading builds understanding and empathy and Dear Martin helps with both.

Justyce McAllister is an outstanding student at his elite private school. He is also one of the few African Americans at the school. He lives at his school as a boarding student and does not come from the wealth many of his classmates have; his mom in fact still lives in the rough part of town where gangs are prevalent and futures are dim for young African American men. She is adamant that he stay at school and get the education to make a difference in this world.

Readers are introduced to Justyce as he is on his way to help his off-on again girlfriend, Melo, who has had too much to drink and he wants to get her home safely. This girlfriend comes from a wealthy family, an African American father who is a former NFL player and a Caucasian mother. She passes for white more often than not. Why does mentioning race matter? It’s unfortunate, but it is because of his race, Justyce is falsely accused and verbally and physically mistreated by a white police officer when he walks to help his girlfriend. This awakens Justyce to the bias he subconsciously has always known existed in his life by those around him.

Justyce had started a project of letter writing to Martin Luther King Jr. and through those letters you learn of Justyce’s struggles to rise above this racism and criticisms. Writing those letters is his way to try to make sense of how he and others are treated simply because of the color of their skin. Justyce’s awakening also affects others around him, including his best friend Manny, another African American student in the senior class.

Manny’s family is very wealthy and he has been quite insulated from race issues because of his successful parents. That all begins to change as Manny listens to Justyce and begins to reflect on how his white friends talk about race. One day Manny and Justyce go for a ride in Manny’s Land Rover to just cruise and think about everything that’s been happening. They are listening to loud music with the windows rolled down when they pull up to a red light. Next to them is a middle aged white man who tells them to turn the music down. Manny says no and turns the music up even louder; a normal teenage reaction for many. BANG! BANG! BANG! That’s where the story takes a heartstopping turn.

Take the time to read this book and share with others. It is a story worth your time and worth the conversations it can start.

Dear Martin lives up to its hype. It is heart wrenching and an unflinchingly true depiction of life for young black men in America. Justyce, a 17- year-old high school senior and his best friend Manny have great lives ahead of them. But situations present themselves and Jus and Manny are in the wrong places at the wrong times and circumstances spiral out of control. As I read I was struck with the stark helplessness both Manny and Jus undoubtedly felt. This was heart breaking to read, but a novel I plan to share with my students. In the end, there is always hope that the teachings of Dr. King will make a difference in our nation. My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Nic Stone has an amazing ability to take real life events and turn them into the most realistic fiction I have read recently. This book spoke to my heart as it took me a journey through the perspectives of all players. Dear Martin made me think about daily life in different ways. It often felt as though a new perspective was presented on each page. I was forced to think about my biases and approaches while reading this. When I finished, I felt sad and at the same time empowered to speak up and speak out, while understanding different perspectives. I hope to see more from Nic Stone in the near future. Dear Martin is a book for everyone!

Justyce is an outstanding student at a prestigious prep school. He will be attending an Ivy League school next year. While he is a role-model student, Justyce is unjustly arrested by a white police officer when attempting to help a drunk ex-girlfriend home. Even though Justyce was trying to do the right thing and the police were in the wrong, no one ever apologizes or rights this racially motivated wrong. This traumatic event shocks Justyce into looking at the world with a new set of eyes. He attempts to live his life like Martin Luther King Jr, using King's writing to guide his actions. Justyce writes letters to King in attempt to work through the events in his life. While many of his white classmates believe that racism is dead, Justyce is finding that racism is just as pervasive a problem now as ever.

This book is wonderful! It is powerfully written. It is well-developed. It is engaging. This novel addresses race through a variety of avenues and truly presents its presence within today's society.

Justyce is a seventeen year old kid-- smart, driven, and smitten with the wrong girl. When he helps her out late one night, his good intentions are misinterpreted by a cop. So begins Justyce's soul-search for how to deal with institutional racism when no answer seems to be right. Written partially as a series of letters to Martin Luther King, Jr, Justyce struggles in school, love, and society.

The biggest successes in this book are the lack of easy answers. Stone draws her characters, both black and white, in shades of moral gray. Despite the heavy subject matter, this book reads quickly. Some of the formatting took some getting used to, particularly switching back and forth from an almost screenplay-like format to typical dialogue. Still, that choice makes sense when so much of the plot and character comes exclusively through conversation. Important conversations, at that.

A good read to bolster discussions, or, as fitting to the characters in the book, debates.

This was really touching and a great debut novel. Stone captures the larger themes of the modern day civil rights movement and mirrors them beautifully against the beliefs and actions of MLK Jr. through letters written in a diary by our MC. Justyce is a deep and complicated young man. He is absolutely brilliant, touchingly self-effacing, and torn apart by a world where his skin color means more than his actions. He is endlessly conflicted and, through his interactions with people from all walks of life, he realizes prejudice isn’t unidirectional. I took a star off simply because the small cast of characters made everything fit together a little too neatly. It was almost by-the-book how each person mentioned fit into their roles. But I chalk this up to her being a brand new author and to the fact that the themes of the story and Justyce’s experiences matter much much more than plot contrivances. The plot takes a much-needed backseat to more important issues. This is a perfect companion read to The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, another brilliant debut author with a lot to say about the state of young black Americans in our current political climate in America. As a white person, I feel like these books are educating me on a world I inherently can’t be part of, but still recognize as a portion of our population that is mistreated and abused. They make me want to act, use my unearned white privilege for the good of society as a whole.

This book is a great companion to Angie Thomas's amazing "The Hate U Give." Both stories deal with police brutality against black bodies, but with enough nuance to offer different and interesting yet relevant perspectives. I look forward to recommending it to teens and adults.

WOAH. Readers are fully immersed in Justyce's story, through Nic Stone's various approaches: screen play, epistolary, TV news anchors, clippings, and prose. The writing was fast-paced and heart-breaking.

Dear Martin is another great title for teens to address questions of racial inequality in the U.S. It shone most in Justyce's writing to Martin Luther King, Jr. and in the conversations that he had with his friends, teacher, and mother. It was in these places that the reader gets a true sense of how the constant, perpetuating racism still present in our country affects individuals personally. I admit that I found the components related to the gang somewhat distracting, and I'm not sure how I feel about the resolution of the situation with the corrupt officer. I will definitely purchase this book for my library and promote it widely with my students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s and Crown Books for Young Readers, for the ARC, Dear Martin by Nic Stone. Debut author, Nic Stone, has crafted a realistic fiction and urban fiction novel all teens will be clamoring to read. With the ripped from the headlines news of teens being shot by police and police violence, Stone has written a powerful, hard hitting novel I could not put down. I ached for Justyce, a black teen in a mostly white prep school who is unjustly judged by a white cop; roughed up and handcuffed, as he tries to help his drunk, white girlfriend. The title, Dear Martin, comes from the letters Justyce writes to Dr. King as a project to himself, as he tries to emulate King’s style and words to sort through racism, oppression, and injustice he encounters. Justyce’s problems intensify as he becomes more and more embroiled in incidents that involve him, his school friends, and his neighborhood acquaintances. As Martin leans on friends, his debate teacher, and debate partner (love interest), he becomes more and more disillusioned. Stone’s writing, her characters, and plot were all powerful reminders that there is still a great divide in our world and she raises many valid questions about problems our society needs to solve. Justyce’s world and struggle brings many needed diverse voices and issues to all readers. Today’s teens care about the heated, frustrating questions and concerns Nic Stone tackles in her haunting debut novel. Highly recommended!

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

This book is one of those few that will stay with you forever.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone follows the story of Justyce McAllister who is doing a project to be more like Dr Martin Luther King Jr. by writing him letters. The book covers how it is to be profiled based on only race and how it is to live with everyday racism. I do not want to say anything more because I do not want to give anything away. Just pick up this book.

I apologize for the mess this review will be because of my feels toward this book and toward life.
<spoiler>It is hard to review this book while not reflecting it on real life and my own life. Part of the reason I think this book will stick with me forever is that I am privileged enough to never experience this. I am a twenty-year old white European girl living in the rural areas of the Netherlands. Nobody here owns a gun unless they are police officers.
That doesn't mean there aren't racial problems, though. One of our biggest holidays features people in blackface (google Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet). People, even politicians, defend it by saying they don't want to ruin this tradition of a children's holiday but I don't think the children will care as much as their parents do. And that's excluding the negative effect it might how on children of colour. We call our days of trading in people "one of the black pages in our history" yet slavery is glossed over in most of the history classes I have had. Populist parties like the PVV and the refugee crisis have led to more Islamophobia and hate. And these are just a few problems.

In the first chapter, Justyce is arrested because of racial profiling. During the debates at school about race, some people made arguments that for example, affirmative action is discriminating the majority. Or even that racism is not a problem anymore. Yet, this book shows how it still is a problem. Only now it is more hidden and easier to close your eyes to. Or maybe it has always been that way, I am not sure. Please enlighten me because I feel like I still have a lot to learn about (American) racial problems.

And it shows it some more in the second part of the book. Manny and Justyce get shot at over something as stupid as having their music too loud, cussing and not listening to someone. It is just so awful to know that this could happen today. It is so awful knowing that with police brutality small things like this were enough to kill!
How does one live like this? The police who should protect everyone is scared of you. They don't see you but something else, something less. And of course not everyone does, but enough do. How I wish this wasn't still a problem, but it is.

Part of the impact comes because you spend time with both Justyce and Manny and they are these great, sweet guys. And I could not help but go back in my mind to Ferguson 2014 when the news broke here of protests in the US because of Micheal Brown, a boy, who was killed by a police officer.

How can I help to make it better? Maybe I am naive but I had always hoped that when my generations would be the grown ups this would all just stop. However, after the events in Charlottesville, I am not so sure anymore. So how can I help?

So yeah, Dear Martin was a devastating story to me which woke me up a little more. And I think that was the book's purpose or the author's intent.
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I have been dying to read this book forever and so when Penguin Random House gave me  a copy of this amazingly crafted book, I was ecstatic!

From the very first chapter of this book I knew this book was going to be breath taking. The book starts where Justyce is falsely charged of car jacking by a police officer and consequently  he starts a project called 'Dear Martin' where he writes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr . Justyce is a real character with an extremely realistic voice that I don't think I've ever related to more.

I have never read a book that has touched me more than  Dear Martin. Nic Stone writes in such an incredible style that is hard not to love. She writes a variety of relationships between white and black that are not your typical stereotypes. Thats another thing I loved about the way Nic wrote this book she did include your typical stereotypes she may have had the odd one but she developed them into real people and people that actually exist, people you would meet on the street! 

There was a group of character that I could not stand for the life of me,one stood out in particular but I realised once I got further in the book that the reason I could not deal with them was because I know someone like that and I always love finding something I can relate to in a book . Those group of characters were awful and made me angry repeatedly especially in one particular scene but thats why Nic put them in there because there are people out there like that.

For a book with less than 300 pages it sure did pack a punch and even while writing this review I can still remember exactly what it felt like while reading this book and I can feel the impact it's had on me.

Like I said before I don't think I've ever read a book that I've felt more connected to and I honestly hope it's not the last book we have from Nic Stone.

Excellent. Necessary topic.
I understand all of the comparison's to The Hate U Give, but I feel that one is being read by mostly adults while this one will find the correct audience with teens.
Only slightly odd thing is the sometimes awkward jumps in time.