Nic Stone does it again. This book was amazingly written and had me instantly hooked. One of the best books that I have read in awhile.

Nic Stone is an amazing writer. Both younger and older readers need to read Dear Justyce.
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Reading about their two different stories was provocative, engaging and necessary.

This was a fantastic companion to Dear Martin. I liked this one even better. The juxtaposition of the two boys and how their backgrounds affect how the world perceives them was well done.

I used this book BOTH with preservice teachers and high schoolers this Spring. It's beautifully done.

This book is a compelling companion to Dear Martin that was so beautifully written and powerfully structured. My favorite thing about a Nic Stone book is that it is so abundantly clear on every single page how much she cares about the young people she writes for and about. Stone also excels at writing books with interesting narrative structures, and this book is no exception. Highly recommend.

In the follow up to Dear Martin, we hear from Quan as he waits for his trial accused of murdering a police officer. He chooses to write to Justyce. Quan didn't actually kill the cop, but he doesn't want to tell them who did. Waiting for over two years to go to trial, with a lawyer who doesn't believe him, Quan is ready to spend the rest of his life in jail. Until Justyce decides to do something with his letters that offers him a glimmer of hope. A powerful story about an all to common story. Highly recommended.

I am a huge fan of Nic Stone's books and Dear Justyce is no exception. Our Project Lit book club read this several months ago and all the students loved it!

Nic Stone is one of those authors that makes you feel when she writes. I love Dear Justyce, the follow up to Dear Martin. Hearing Quan’s story and how he ended up where he is should make everyone stop and think about how prejudiced they are. I want to know more about what happens to Quan after Dear Justyce ends and I think every reader will feel the same.

This hard-hitting sequel to Dear Martin came out at the perfect time in my opinion. While our world is seeing the effects of racism first hand and the movement spurred behind it, many of us don't understand the day to day fears that black individuals have - especially the fears black mothers have for their sons. Taking a look at the prison system & the injustices that have been systematically enabled for years through the eyes of someone who is directly dealing with them was very eye opening for me. I really enjoyed reading this & thought it was a great learning device for myself and think it would be a great asset to any classroom. It's never too early to learn about other people & what they are faced with daily.

I gave this book to my 14 year old daughter & she gave it two thumbs up. Will look for more by this author .

Fantastic follow up to Dear Martin. The characters and situations are realistic and relatable. It was an important story to tell because it offered a counter balance to Martin's journey.

A likely hit with readers who enjoyed DEAR MARTIN, this book picks up the story of Justyce's childhood friend, Quan, currently in a juvenile detention center for a murder he didn't commit. Through the exchange of letters and personal reflections, Quan considers how the boys' paths diverged and ways Quan might change his personal direction.

Stone's use of various formatting styles veered toward melodramatic but the story itself was compelling and the underlying messages -- encouraging readers to reexamine the school-to-prison pipeline and the ability of an advocate or ally to help you make change -- resonate.

Audio production voiced entirely by Dion Graham is a great option for listeners.

Strong follow up to Dear Justyce. Stone has strong character development through Quan and all of his layers. An important book.

I know that I am late with my review, but I couldn't allow the opportunity to praise this book to pass. Nic Stone delivers another powerful novel that is thought provoking and impactful. Readers of all ages will benefit from hearing Quan's story. I welcome the opportunity to put this in the hands of library patrons.

This follow-up to Dear Martin features Quan writing letters to Justyce from his prison cell. It's an insightful look into the failures of the justice system, as well as how those that are supposed to support black youth can fail them.

An excellent follow-up to <i>Dear Martin</i>, Nic Stone certainly knows how to really tug at the heartstrings. But given our current social and political climate, more books like <i>Dear Martin</i> and <i>Dear Justyce</i> are needed and NEED to be included in curriculum. Perhaps then, more support will be offered to young African Americans and Black Americans to help them see the good that they can do.

One of the things I noticed in previous reviewers' comments is that there's a question to the believability in Quan's story. And while I might agree in part, readers also need to consider 1) Stone does address this in her Afterward and 2) there needs to be hope that the system CAN change for the better. I would prefer a story to have much more hope in the end and that readers of color can and will see that hope as well.

I highly recommend <i>Dear Justyce</i> to any reader.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited to see this book on here. I loved Dear Martin and Dear Justyce didn't disappoint. These books are such a great way to approach a serious issue currently happening- racism. I loved these books and I highly recommend them to everyone!

Don't get me wrong, this book was good. It just didn't grab me immediately like Dear Martin did. I also took issue with a bit of the pacing of the book and with the sudden savior like behavior of Justyce and his friends. Nic Stone addresses this in the author's note at the end of the book and that note is worth reading.

This book is worth reading too, even if it wasn't my absolute favorite. It's important.

Another fantastic Nic Stone book about the justice system and the wrongful incarceration of a young Black boy.

Dear Justyce is a companion novel to Nic Stone's extremely successful debut novel Dear Martin. Both books could be read independently of each other. In Dear Justyce, Stone turns her critical eye to the broken and injust criminal justice system. Though Quan and Martin were both raised in the same neighborhood and came from fractured family homes, their lives were led in two completely different directions: Martin to an Ivy school and Quan from the school to prison pipeline.
With his father in prison, Quan works hard to excel in school, avoids his mother’s abusive boyfriend, and has the added responsibility to raise and protect his younger siblings. Fast-forward to the present is an incarcerated Quan, remembering the day his father was arrested two years after that meeting. While in custody, Quan writes to Justyce at Yale. Through "snapshots" and letters we learn the circumstances and decisions that led to Quan's arrest as well as his tumultuous friendship with Justyce. When Quan professes that he didn't commit the crime for which he was incarcerated, Justyce becomes committed to clearing his name.
Through Quan, we see not just an incarcerated Black youth, but as a whole, humanized person with their trauma, hopelessness, and awareness of the impact of racial disparities in their lives and how it shapes their future. Unlike Dear Martin, I had a hard time with the narrative structure of the book. Though I understand Stone's purpose, I felt the constant back and forth of the timeline took me out of the story and I was often confused as to when the event was taking place. I found Quan's letters to be powerful and compelling much more than the fairy-tale like ending of Quan's fate (which is incredibly heartbreaking to think of it that way and it is addressed in an author's note). Once again Justyce can be seen as the 'exceptional' Black man and his ability to help Quan needed a suspension of disbelief. Though I am happy with the uplifting ending, I don't think it would have made a stronger impact if Stone chose to stick with gritty reality.
I also wanted to point out having the gang be named "Black jihad" made me feel incredibly uncomfortable as a Muslim reader. Jihad is often defined as 'holy war' in western media. Jihad simply means struggle. To use jihad as part of a gang name is to perpetuate the ideology that Islam and violence are intertwined, though that might have not been Stone's intention. Like Dear Martin, I did wish the secondary characters were a bit fleshed out. Overall Dear Justyce has a great message, but for me it is not as strong as Dear Martin.