Tracy Beaumont is desperate for Innocence X to take her dad's case. She knows he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted because he was home the entire night. But when fingers were pointed his way, the police did little to investigate what really happened. Seven years later, and her dad's execution is only 267 days away. She has written letter to Innocence X for most of those years and refuses to give up hope now. When her brother is accused of killing one of their classmates, it is easy for every one to say the son of a convicted murderer is clearly capapble of doing the same. Tracy knows that just like their father, Jamal is innocent. But how can she prove they both deserve more grace than they have been given?

Kim Johnson's writing fills another hole in YA literature that has been in desperate need of filling. I appreciate the way she approaches these serious topics of false imprisonment, racism in the criminal justice system, and a bevy of other social justice concerns. I believe that teens and adults alike will benefit from reading This Is My America. I will absolutely be recommending it to my students!

This is a powerful read and so necessary for our current landscape. Highly recommended for everyone. RTC.

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This is My America by Kim Johnson
by RICKI on JUNE 25, 2020 · LEAVE A COMMENT · in ASKING QUESTIONS, AUTHOR'S PURPOSE/PERSPECTIVE/BIAS, BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE, CHARACTERIZATION, CLASSROOM LIBRARY BUY, CLOSE READING/ANALYSIS, COMPARE/CONTRAST, CONFLICT, DIALOGUE, FORESHADOWING, LITERATURE CIRCLE/BOOK CLUBS, MULTICULTURAL, NOVEL, REALISTIC FICTION/CONTEMPORARY FICTION, THEME, VOICE [EDIT]
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This is My America
Author: Kim Johnson
Published: February 28, 2017 by Balzer + Bray

GoodReads Summary: Dear Martin meets Just Mercy in this unflinching yet uplifting YA novel that explores the racist injustices in the American justice system.

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?

Fans of Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds won’t want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.

Review: This is a book that will stick with me forever. The characters are powerfully written, and the plot unfolds itself beautifully. It tackles complex themes that offer excellent fodder for classroom discussion. Some of these include implicit and explicit racism, the ripple effects of White supremacy and racism, White privilege, and injustices in the judicial system. I could go on. This book is truly exceptional, and I envision it winning some big awards this year. There is so much to unpack and so much to admire in Johnson’s writing. It’s absolutely brilliant. If you buy no other book this summer, buy this one. It will make you think deeply about equity and justice.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I highlighted so many passages of this book while I was reading it. There are so many sections that would make phenomenal close readings in the classroom. I highly recommend pairing this text with portions or all of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

Discussion Questions: What are some of the injustices in this text?; How can we, as a society, work to change these injustices?; How do the injustices have a ripple effect on other characters?; How does Johnson layer the plot to elevate the reading and message of the text?

Flagged Passage: “Corinne never held that memory [of Daddy getting arrested], but I know she feels it in everything we breathe. It’s in the polite nods across the street we have to make, the way our family turns down our music when there are others around. Say yes ma’am and no sir. Leave our jackets and backpacks in the car when we go shopping.

It’s in the way I carry myself that tells our story now. I can’t risk being accused of anything. Because if something goes wrong or missing, I know it’s in the back of someone’s mind that maybe I had something to do with it. And it’s in the way that the voice of the strongest woman I know stumbles when saying, ‘Hello, Officer’ as she walks through the visitation gates to see Daddy.”

Read This If You Loved: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely; X by Ilyassah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon; The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon; How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon; Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles;

Recommended For:

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Ricki

This is My America caught my attention because of the title and that cover. It felt like a story that would be similar to some of the struggles between my own country and the US. The book is incredible.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read Kim Johnson's debut This is My America prior to it's July 28th release date.

Wow. This book was powerful and very, very relevant to today's world.

The story follows our main character Tracy as she is trying to get her father's case appealed, nine months before he is executed for his role in a double murder. While she is working to prove his innocence, her track star brother Jamal is accused of murdering the most popular girl (who is conveniently White) one night.

The story then takes off and tackles the subject of Black Lives Matter and the racial injustices that Black people face when it comes to police and the criminal justice system.

This book was a work of fiction, but it felt so real at the same time because the things that were happening to our characters are truly happening in today's world to individuals of color of all ages. Tracy's motivation and dedication to fighting her father's case for over seven years is remarkable. I found myself tearing up and very angry at so many different parts of this story because of the way that our main characters were being treated. The author also dabbled with the history of the KKK and integrate them into the story to remind readers that White Supremacists are still very much out there and active.

5+ stars

This book hit my heart like it is supposed to. It brought out strong emotions like courage and remorse. Books are powerful. Their family got answers and justice after 7 years. I hope every family can get those things one day. The definition of a relevant book during these times.

Time is running out…

Seven years ago, Tracy’s dad was arrested for murder. A murder Tracy is sure he did not commit. With his execution date drawing near, Tracy will stop at nothing to prove his innocence. But everything comes to a halt when Tracy’s brother, Jamal, is accused of murdering a white classmate. Will Tracy be able to save them both or will her family crumble ?

Time is running out…

“This is My America” is a glimpse at real life racial issues in America. While reading, I had to remind myself that this book was not set in the 1960’s but instead is set in the modern-day United States. This book touched on a variety of complex issues when it comes to race in America. The media’s bias was one of them. We see it every time we turn on the news. Other topics included lack of diversity , interracial relationships, duty versus self, and various areas of systematic racism . This book was heavy and even a little difficult to read at times given the present climate of the country. But it was so needed and necessary.

In short, this book held my attention from page one. There were moments that I was overcome by grief, by rage, by hope. The characters were all well developed and each one served a purpose. I loved the mystery aspect of it as well. As a mother to a Black male, this book definitely resonated with me in many, many ways. Tracy is a fierce, determined female lead who will stop at nothing to protect her family . I am in awe that this is a debut novel. I also enjoyed reading the author's note and list of resources that were included at the end of the book. I cannot wait to get a physical copy for my bookshelf. Definitely a must read in my opinion. Perfect for fans of The Hate You Give, Just Mercy, Dear Martin, and more.

I honestly feel that I cannot give this book the review it deserves. Not because the book was not good, it was so good that I cannot out into words how this book touched me. The bond of the family in the face of all they had to deal with is outstanding. The daughter in this book would not give up on her father who is in jail and, a brother who may face the same outcome of jail. This book should be a must read in high school as it touches on so many issues that are still being dealt with today. If you are looking for a good read, this is it. Kudos to the author. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review or rating.

Timely. Powerful, historic and entertaining. This debut author is now on my must-read list. I'm so glad the tradition of activism through literature is alive and unapologetic during the current climate of our country. This author follows in the footsteps of the greats: James Baldwin, Ann Petry, Lorraine Hansberry, Richard Wright, and other authors who spoke through their works in troubled times.

Walking this journey with Tracy humanizes the plight. The already dire situation her father finds himself in is further complicated with Jamal's situation. The story gives great insight into an inherently flawed system and a world this is periphery and foreign to so many. And a world that's all too familiar, and painfully real to so many.

Job well done.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. WOW. That’s all I can say! This book really reminded me of the show The Innocence Files on Netflix, but it touched on so much more than that. I love how the author didn’t hold anything back when it came to wrongful convictions and police brutality, but she also showed the growth law enforcement officers can make. She also touched on white supremacy and racist hate groups, the struggles/stereotypes of interracial dating, and how incarceration affects the family. It seems like a lot, but Kim Johnson weaved it all together beautifully!

I'm writing this review on 6/22/20 - I think this is important because we are in the midst of a revitalization in the public's interest in Black Lives Matter, so everyone knows exactly how important this book is.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not gonna lie, I read a mushy romance novel right before this because I knew in my heart of hearts this was going to be a difficult read. What I didn't anticipate was how close to home this was going to hit. As the sister of a tall, big, black young man, we have had to have the other talk time and time again. Not the police talk - the talk about dating white girls. About being careful. About knowing the family. And how one false statement can ruin his life.

In spite of all that, I wanted to make sure I gave this novel a truly honest review, and it completely deserves 5/5 stars. The writing is one of the absolute strongest I've seen in a debut novel. Compelling, and a not-annoying first person voice, that fully captured the nuance of what Tracy was feeling. Johnson did an incredible job for this reason - even though I had a strong idea what was happening, because of how people reacted to Tracy I was feeling gaslit as I was reading it, and like I was also going crazy.

Living in the South, if you ever had, is exactly what that is. There are confederate statues and monuments to white supremacy everywhere (I lived in a city with a segregated drinking fountain under a confederate monument) - and that's exactly how it feels. Like gaslighting. Kim Johnson put a voice to that sensation, about the ugly currents underneath a seemingly nice town. The racial divides when Tracy's brother is arrested, despite people who have known him for years. The difficulties for Tracy when her white best friend is in love with her, but has a mother who clearly doesn't like her. The assumptions people make because she shares a face with her father.

This is hands down one of the strongest debuts and murder mysteries, with the dangerous undercurrents of prejudice in a relatively small Texas town. But this story is not "unique" in that it reflects the realities of many people, and many missing people, who's stories will never be told because they have been covered up by law enforcement, or community, or time.

I couldn’t put this down. This Is My America is so relevant to current events, that I got chills. I loved the tenacity of Tracy and her unwavering belief in her brother and her father.

There were definitely a few twists that I didn’t expect and I enjoyed that very much. Unfortunately, there were a few confusing parts in the storyline and I thought I had missed previous books in this series or that perhaps it’s a parallel series to Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” books.

I felt conflicted about her love interests and I’m not sure if I agree with Tracy’s end pairing. It felt too easy in such a difficult story. I do want to say that it was so refreshing to see a smart Black teen lead who wasn’t hypersexualized or fetishized by either potential love interest and that both were good guys who genuinely respected and liked her exactly for herself.

I’d say if you love Ms Thomas’ books then you will definitely become a fan of Kim Johnson. I know I’m a new fan and can’t wait to read her next book.

Wow.
This story, six years in the making according to an author interview, is so incredibly timely. In a small Texas town near Galveston, 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont has been writing weekly letters for seven years to Innocence X, a legal aid group modeled after Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative. Her father is on death row for murders the family knows he didn’t commit, and Tracy is determined to get Innocence X’s attention so that they’ll take on her father’s case. Her popular brother has become more than friends with a white classmate. When Angela’s body is discovered near the bay, Jamal is the prime suspect. Knowing what happened when their father maintained his innocence, Jamal chooses to go into hiding rather than turn himself in. As Tracy learns more about Angela’s death, she begins to suspect that the police are covering things up and that there may be a connection between her father’s conviction and the manhunt for her brother. Her life-and-death race to clear their names could put her, along with her mother and sister, in danger.
While there are moments that dialog can teeter on didacticism and the resolution is almost certainly neater than “real life,” Johnson does an outstanding job of providing an accessible and fast-paced story that tackles our justice system, the prison industry, white supremacy groups, and the importance of #BlackLivesMatter.
Essential reading.

Thank you, Random House Books for Young Readers and NetGalley, for the electronic advance readers copy.

This story is beautiful and will make your heart hurt. Even though it’s a work of fiction- this book holds a lot of truth to what we see today for POC. Tracey is such a strong protagonist that does everything in her power to get the best representation for her father- who she knows is innocent.

Her brother Jamal is now found at the scene of a murder but what would Tracey do to protect her brother as well??

This story is deep and will be a great way for the younger generation to get a better understanding of the way the world is today. Great story!

I finished this book yesterday and yet I can't stop thinking about it. It's a compelling, powerful debut novel about the ways that Black men and boys are victims of systemic racism (via police and the justice system) and the families that are left to deal with the aftermath.

But beyond that, THIS IS MY AMERICA shows teen readers that they can work to demand change. The main character, Tracy, is not a self-identified activist, and yet she writes a social justice column for her high school newspaper, she mails weekly letters to an organization to ask for help in getting her wrongly convicted father off of death row, she leads Know Your Rights workshops for folks in her community. Teens who aren't old enough to vote or don't have money to donate or are unsure of how they can be a part of the call for justice will be inspired by Tracy to figure out what they can do and then do it. Hell yeah.

"This is My America" by first-time novelist Kim Johnson is the story of Tracy Beaumont, a high school student fighting for the freedom of her father and then her brother. This book purposefully highlights many issues that have been facing black communities for far too long - mass incarceration, unfair sentencing, racial profiling and racism. Also, it sheds light on the dire effects that having a loved one in prison, especially when their innocence is clear but good lawyers are expensive and hard to come by, imposes on a family. Additionally, one of the key characters and organizations in the book is influenced by a social justice hero and the organization that he founded! This novel should replace classic literature in high school classrooms as it meaningfully, thoughtfully, and fiercely addresses so many issues about which young people should be learning and discussing. I hope this is the first of many book that Johnson writes, and I could not recommend it enough.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for providing an ARC of This is My America by Kim Johnson.

Tracy writes letters to Innocence X to help get her father out of prison for a crime he didnt commit. For 7 years he has been sitting on death row. Then a crime is committed in their town in Texas and Tracy's brother Jamal is the main suspect.

This book is so revelant with everything that is happening today. With the black lives movement. Trying to get justice for these crimes that are being targeted against blacks all around the country. This is my favorite read so far this year A++

Not only is this book an indictment on the criminal justice system in America and the myriad ways, both subtle and overt, that white supremacy harms BIPOC, but it is also a page-turning mystery that will leave readers satisfied at the end.

I can’t think of a better story to reflect our current times than Kim Johnson’s This Is My America. I absolutely loved this YA novel and the ways that it reflected back to me much of what we here in America have publicly grappling with over the past month (and have actually been grappling with for hundreds of years, despite it’s absence from our headlines): the blight of police brutality, the importance of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and the divide between how America’s various citizens view and celebrate her history.

Tracy’s father has been wrongfully convicted of murder, and has less than a year left on death row. Tracy has spent the past seven years fighting for him and petitioning a justice organization, Innocence X, to take on her father’s case. In the midst of all this, Tracy’s brother is tangled up in a recent town tragedy, and Tracy finds herself fighting for him as well.

Johnson wove these storylines together beautifully, and invited her readers to really know her characters and their thoughts/feelings, particularly those of Tracy. As a white woman, it was incredibly illuminating to read the events of this book through a Black girl’s point of view. This novel added a narrative layer to all the “real world” reporting about injustice in the criminal justice system, and while it’s a fictional story, it humanized many of the headlines that have been circulating and offered insight that just can’t come from a 30-second news piece.

I could not put this book down, up to and including the author’s note at the end of the novel. Highly recommend this title!

Did you know that 1 in 9 people on death row are innocent? Tracy Beaumont's father, James, is that 1 in 9, and she won't stop until she proves it. For the past 7 years she has written a letter to an organization called Innocence X, and she even hijacked her big brother's TV interview to try and get their attention, all in the hopes of Innocence X taking on her father's case for an appeal, as he has less than a year left until his execution date. But when her brother, Jamal, is accused of killing a white girl in town, Tracy can't help but feel like everything that happened with her father is happening all over again.

What drew me to this book initially was its comparison to Just Mercy, (which is an accurate comparison) but what really pulled me in and kept me reading this book was the passion that Kim Johnson writes with. I knew VERY early on in this book that I was going to be recommending it to everyone, and that feeling only become stronger with each and every chapter. This book is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting. In one chapter, I started tearing up because Tracy's father didn't have Vaseline for his hands, something he shouldn't have to worry about because he shouldn't be on death row. The next chapter I was tearing up because I was so inspired by how unflinchingly Tracy was willing to fight for her family, even in moments when she was absolutely terrified. This book highlights the systemic racism and generational trauma that Black people in America have had to live with their entire life. Written in a way that makes you feel deeply connected to the characters and their story, while also educating you on these social justices in every city and town in our country, this is a phenomenal book that I will undoubtedly be buying a physical copy of when it's released. I truly cannot wait to see what Kim Johnson does next.