I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Kim Johnson for providing me with an ARC of the novel This Is My America!

What a gorgeous, unputdownable book! A title like this is so incredibly important, especially right now when our world is falling apart at the seams due to racial inequality. I know I will be enduring a book hangover after this one… I just need a few days to reflect on this and take it all in. This is a super powerful read that I recommend to everyone.

Thank you again to those named above for the chance to read and review this novel!

This is a voice and a perspective that is SO needed in our YA collection - not just because of the days we are walking right now but because it does different work from others that seem to have louder voices or more exposure right now. EAGER to promote it.

YA publication date July 28, 2020

A father on death row.
A brother accused of murder.
17 year old Tracy trying to find justice for both.

This is a compelling story about racial injustice that goes deeper and darker than expected. A true page-turner that would make a great movie or limited series.

Tracy’s family were hurricane refugees from New Orleans who landed in Texas; that’s where Dad’s involvement in a real estate deal ended in a double homicide, Dad unjustly jailed for the murder, and Dad’s partner killed by the police. Now a junior, Tracy has been writing to Steve Jones, director of Innocence X, once a week begging him to take on Dad’s case; Dad’s execution date is under a year away.

The family is doing their best to hold together. Big brother Jamal is heading to college on a track scholarship when a white girl he has been secretly dating is found murdered. Though innocent, Jamal goes on the run since experience has taught him he can find no justice with the police. Tracy teams up with long time friends Quincy, the son of her father’s murdered partner, and Dean, the son of her Mom’s employer, to uncover evidence the proves a police cover up in Dad’s case and the police department connections to the Klan. Innocence X finally agrees to take the cases and at last Tracy has allies with the power to make a difference.

Inspired by the Innocence Project and Black Lives Matter, Tracy’s story is ripped from the headlines and tragically rooted in the incontrovertible role of racism in U.S. history. A helpful Author’s Note connects the past with the present. A necessary story for all high schools and many middle schools.

Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for the eARC of This Is My America.

I couldn’t put this book down and stayed up way later than I intended until I was done.

What’s important about books like these is that it gives us insight into a world we don’t live in. It helps build our empathy to a life different than ours. It helps us understand what it’s like to be black in America.

This will be on my “young adult” shelves this summer, but I already know it’s a book we could all benefit from reading as adults.

Please be sure to keep reading past the last page, as the Author’s Note and resources are just as important as the story.

What a wonderful and timely novel! Well written with detailed and realistic characters. This is easily one of the best books of the year.

Have you read a book, and when you finish, you just set it in your lap and can't even move? That was this book for me. I feel like I will need a day or two before I can even begin to think about reading another book. This was that powerful.

This books is AMAZING! I don't even know what else I can say about it. I think it should be required reading for all high school students.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and Random House Books for Young Readers.

I can't say anything else about this book besides that I highly recommend everyone to read this book. I was completely captivated by this book and just couldn't put it down. I was completely sucked in. I really liked our main character. She was very headstrong and didn't let anyone silence her no matter how hard they tried. I liked seeing that in a main character and the narrative not punishing her for it. I loved the family dynamics in this book. They just completely came to life. All the characters did. The friendships also were amazing in this book and I liked how the main character had such a different relationship with all of her friends but she loved them all anyway. For the rest I just felt everything the main character felt and felt so anxious whenever she went out trying to find answers. I don't think I've ever felt so anxious during a mystery. I loved how this book didn't back down from any hard things happening and shone a light on a part of history and current day that most preffer to keep cover up. It just hurts me to say that all of the things happening in this book is so real because it shouldn't be. The police is supposed to protect everyone, not frame innocent black people.

Ah, This Is My America....⁣⁣
This book...⁣⁣
This book was exactly what i had thought and hoped it would be. Powerful.⁣⁣
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This was easily a 5 star powerhouse of a teen novel. The author wrote such a heart gripping compelling story highlighting the struggles of Black Americans in current times. Through a fictional but totally plausible story, the author tackles the issues of the death penalty, wrongful convictions, police brutality, and white supremacist groups.⁣⁣
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I felt Tracy's hurt and my heart was pulled and torn apart by the ugliness that people show and the TRUTH on this in the world. ⁣⁣
I believe this would be absolutely necessary to have in schools, for required reading.⁣⁣
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There's something to say about predicting what the words in a novel will do to you..all from just studying the cover. This is one of those times, one of those books. I had never read a Y/A like this before and I'm grateful that i was approved for this ARC.⁣⁣ Again, many thanks to netgalley and random house childrens

I will highly be recommending this to everyone!⁣⁣
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This book is amazingly written. The author wrote such a heart gripping compelling story highlighting the struggles of Black Americans in current times. It tackles the racial injustice in the criminal system. It’s release time couldn’t be better. Add this to your reading list ASAP. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Kim Johnson brings an important voice to the conversation with young people about race and the judicial system. This is an engaging story that takes on the death penalty head on. Perfect for middle and high school library and classroom collections. May work for upper elementary students as well.

This book is so important right now. Through a fictional but totally plausible story, Kim Johnson tackles the issues of the death penalty, wrongful convictions, police brutality, and white supremacist groups. Teens and adults should read this book.

WHEW. This is My America is an emotional rollercoaster. Tracy Beaumont's dad is sentence to death for a crime he didn't commit, and she's working against a ticking clock to prove his innocence. Set in small town Texas this story takes on racism, political injustice and bravery. Tracy will do anything it takes to prove her dads innocence. She is courageous and determined to fight the system that is stacked against the black community. This Is My America is powerful, poignant and important. I wept through this whole book. I can't recommended this book enough! Add this one to your TBRS!

Remember high school? So stressful – grades, drama, boys, not to mentioned the pressures from everyone telling you how much you need to figure out your future. You’re learning to drive, dating, dealing with hormones, and stuck at that awkward stage between adult and child.

Now, imagine all of those things, on top of having a father, wrongly accused, in prison on death row and a brother accused of murdering a friend from school. You have less than a year to save your father and your brother is on the run. Your family can’t afford a good lawyer and you’ve spent the last 7 years writing a letter to a law firm that helps in situations like that. Oh yeah, you’re also black and the Klu Klux Klan consists of part of the police.

This is the situation Tracy Beaumont finds herself in. She’s an outspoken, feisty young woman who knows exactly what she wants. To prove her father and brother are innocent. This is a powerful story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. You have so many emotions – anger, sadness, anxiety, excitement. I was crying so much. This was an incredible read. When it comes out, I’m buying it and making sure everyone reads it. Seriously — this is such a powerful book with a fun story attached that goes perfectly with the current situation.

Stunning. Realistic. Timely.
The description of this book is spot-on. Kim Johnson is an incredible author, able to make this moving, layered book an unputdownable teen read. Part mystery, part informational expose, part teen coming-of-age, part call-to-action, I gasped, smiled, yelled, teared up, had to calm my racing heart.
Put this on the shelf with greats like I’M NOT DYING WITH YOU TONIGHT, DEAR MARTIN, and THE HATE YOU GIVE.

This Is My America by Kim Johnson is an impressive book any day but even more so because of what is currently happening all around us. This story takes several different issues that black communities struggle with and presents it in a way that is easily understood in its idea even if we cannot say we understand what it actually feels like in real life. Racism and police brutality are what stand out the most but you also see the generational trauma, injustice, corruption, and the struggle to fit into a predominantly white community that still sees you as an outsider after many years of living there. Tracy has spent seven years writing letters to Innocence X, a death penalty legal aid society, to convince them to help her father, an innocent man on death row, who was charged wrongfully with the murder of a white community member. Now, so close to the graduation of her brother who is set to join the track team of a University in their state, a white classmate is found dead. The first person that everyone looks at is her brother Jamal. Facing the possibility of two family members losing their lives over crimes she is convinced they did not commit, it is a race against time for Tracy to find out the truth and hopefully set them free.

There were many educational moments for me in this book but one part that really struck me is how she has a character like Dean that admits to his faulty thinking and judgment due to the way that he was raised. I think it is great that he is striving to do better but also that Tracy herself does not take on the responsibility of making him feel better because it is not her job to educate him and accept his apologies. That moment was something that felt very personal to me as a white person and helped me understand my own confusing feelings that I had when I reached that point myself in the past.

Johnson did a great job of conveying the fear and (justified) anger that was felt by her characters. This story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. While I was reading this book, I was also following live videos of the Black Lives Matter protests around the country. The back and forth between this fictional story and the current events made this an even more compelling read and highlights why these issues need to be addressed right now, not later, not tomorrow, not next year, so that - finally - MY America can become THEIR America as well.

A story like this is always timely and I wish it wasn’t. But it is important to read about racism and inequality in the justice system. Great characters and a riveting story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Could not put down this book, and had to resist peeking at the end of the book to see if the mystery got solved. This book will not disappoint.

This book does an incredible job of taking some complex issues (justice, generational trauma, corruption, race and racism, the role of police, changes in family dynamics when a previously incarcerated parent returns home etc.) and packaging them in an engaging story. The mysteries of who committed the murders Tracy's father was accused of as well as who killed Angela were a captivating way of moving the story along and highlighting the book's themes.

I think parts of it had some pacing issues, but overall it's an excellent book.

In this gripping and compelling story, Tracy Beaumont has spent the past seven years writing to Innocence X, a death penalty legal aid society to help exonerate her father who is on death row, wrongly-convicted of a double murder he did not commit. Things get complicated fast when her brother is implicated in a shocking murder of a her white classmate. With her family facing increasing ostracism, Tracy takes matters into her own hands to investigate the murder, uncovering dark secrets of her town's past and present.

While the novel touches on serious issues facing America: racism in the criminal justice system, Black Lives Matter, and the white supremacy movement, it does so in an engrossing story with fully fleshed characters and a gamut of relationships (friendships, romance, family), while also intriguing the reader with the mystery.