This book was a challenge in the shifting points of view and time, but it was well worth it by the end. It all came together In such a haunting and beautiful way. I don’t even know what to say without spoiling it, but you don’t have to be one of the good ones for your life to matter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the preview copy. I really enjoyed this book. Didn't expect to be really engaged, but found it part a mystery/ part typical YA angst, and a huge part of social justice, although couched in a manner that made it meaningful.

I was surprised by the twists in the storyline, but really enjoyed the way Happi found her way back to her family through the trip via the route in The Negro Motorist Green Book. It strongly made the point that social justice is not just for "the good ones" but to allow all to be treated fairly.

I had a hard time wrapping my head around this book. I wanted to like it... I wanted to love it, but I didn't.

There is a lot going on in this story, perhaps too much to take in in one book. The main plot revolves around the untimely death of Kezi ,an activist and vlogger with a huge Youtube following, including a few people who seem to stalk her and post unsettling comments.. Her attendance at a rally results in her arrest for protesting the police, and this leads to her death while in custody. Meanwhile, her sister Happi is guilt ridden over their last conversation having been a terse one, as well as the fact that their relationship had been less than perfect.. Genny, their elder sister puts together a plan for the sisters and two friends to take the trip that Kezi had planned throughout the country via the Negro Motorist Green Book. While at first nearly impossible to convince their parents, both of whom are pastors, they eventually set off on their cross country trip, visiting some of the places where their ancestors had lived.

Meanwhile, Happi is lamenting the end of a relationship with her boyfriend, another character is arrested with Kezi and coincidentally had been at an audition with Happi. Her presence in the book results in another story line, as do the stories of some of the sisters' ancestors. (This was also true in the authors' first book).

The story takes a major turn in the second half, but to discuss it here would be to spoil.

I like that the story presents the reader with an activist -- this is excellent for young adult readers, for whom the book is intended. I also like that Kezi is a lesbian, in a committed relationship, much to her religious parents' chagrin. And, the book takes on the notion of who is a "good" Black person in the eyes of the white gaze. However, the fact that there is so much going on in the book made it feel disjointed to me, and diminished my ability to really enjoy it.

"Unfortunately, it takes books like this to humanize black people and show that, like everyone else, we deserve to have peace."

When I saw the Moulite sisters had a second book coming out, I was totally on board. I really enjoyed their first book and was curious what their sophomore efforts would bring. And Wow! Overall, this book was great and unique. I don't even know what genre you would label this one. It was almost 2 different books in one and that could go either way with readers in their enjoyment of it.

Told from multiple POVs we concentrate mostly on Kezi, Happi and Shaqueria in the first half along with the sister's grandmother, Evelyn. Kezi is in her last year of high school, is a history buff and becoming a YouTube sensation by her activism and her researching society issues for the masses. The first half really held me captive with all the timely issues they dealt with including activism, racism, societal issues, sexuality and even differences within families. It hit the nail on so many heads for a young adult. I liked seeing Kezi come into herself and question what she was being taught and having a mind of her own. It's what so many young adults are looking for. But with the added race issues, I just really enjoyed her character and her relationship she had with her friends and older sister, Genny.

Happi is the youngest sister to Kezi and Genny. And while she is only a year younger than Kezi, she feels like the outcast in their family. She has her boyfriend Santiago, but she is all about her acting and not much else. So, for the first half, I didn't really have a connection with her. She was too self involved. But don't worry. That changes in the second half. As does the story. We take a complete 180 and are now dealing with 'after the arrest' and what the family is experiencing in the second half. We shift from hearing about Kezi and the build up to her arrest in the first half to her family and friends traveling across America by following the plans that Kezi had by using The Negro Motorist Green-Book. It is history and it's an adventure that I enjoyed following and connected the girls' to their ancestors and to their friends and family in a way that they didn't expect. It allowed for me to change my opinion of the relationship the sisters had and to see Happi grow as a character. My admiration grew for her. But the second half is also where an added twist came in and caught me off guard. I'm still not sure what to think about that twist. This is where it seemed like 2 different books. It worked, but the way that twist played into the ending seemed a little too quick in it's resolution. I still enjoyed the journey and seeing the sisters and mother and father come together, but I'm still questioning that twist.

Overall, this was an engaging story that I would recommend to young adults in our current state of affairs. It is an important book because of the issues dealt with. The writing was done well and the characters really stood out. I wanted to be on the cross country adventure with these people and take in the history and how much we have and have not changed. The messages were quite clear and the title says it all. Who is to say who is a good one and who is not, just based on your skin color? We are all human and should all be given the same chances.

"We may be young but we are bold. We will inherit this earth so we must speak up and act when we see injustices.

If you want a timely book that has an extra element to it that you didn't see coming, this book will be for you. It will also be a book that just may expand your mind no matter your age. And that cover? Gorgeous!

One of the Good Ones - addressed social justice issues, activism, and the impact of family dynamics. This story wove the lives of family and complete strangers together flawlessly. I would highly recommend this story to my students!

Although just a year apart in age, Happi and Kezi Smith aren't close. Kezi is an activist YouTuber with a hundred thousand or so subscribers, and Happi mostly wants to be left alone. And then she is. Kezi dies in police custody, and Happi, their family, and Kezi's closest friends have to figure out what to do with their grief. Happi and Kezi's oldest sister, Genny, proposes the surviving sibs and friends follow a route Kezi had planned to take over the summer, one that utilizes an old copy of The Green Book. They have a physical copy but also give props to the Schomburg Center's digitized Green Book collection https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-green-book#/?tab=about.

There is a lot going on in One of the Good Ones, which as much as anything takes on the idea that some Black people deserve to die less than others. Kezi is a star student, a YouTube star, and a preacher's kid. She has a secret or two, but generally, to the public, she is "one of the good ones." The Moulite sisters want readers to understand that, all Black lives matter.

"They deemed her One of the Good Ones. Sometimes the phrasing was different--A Nice Kid, A Child with Promise--but the intent was always the same: this little girl was worth listening to *because look how composed she was*! If we read her report card, we would see all As. If we spoke to any of her teachers, they'd call her a star student. Her father, Jamal Coleman, immortalized on the internet, if not in the history books, took her to church every Sunday. The cognitive dissonance of it all was something I couldn't take. If I had been the one to die that day in the hands of police instead of my sister--what would they have said about me? I skipped school like I was allergic to desks? I got messy drunk at parties? I could have been a better sibling and daughter? And though that was all true, should those facts have any bearing on whether the world was livid at the injustice of my death or mourned for me? For Jamal Coleman? For Kezi? All the rest?"

The story is told in more than one voice, and it may take a minute to really get who's who and what's going on, but even so, OotGO is an accessible and compelling read. It's about police violence and white silence, but it's also about one family working through their problems, and occasionally joys, even when processing a tragedy. And it's surprising, too!

This book had an interesting premise, but the storyline was far-fetched, the resolution was unsatisfying, and there were too many side stories going on that were confusing. And a book set in 2020, based on current events, with ZERO mention of Covid-19? This book needs to go back to the editor for a rewrite.

Happi is devastated by her sister Kezi’s death in police custody, and at one of the many events to honor Kezi in the months that follow, Happi realizes how little effort she made to get to know her sister. Through flashbacks, we learn that Kezi died on her 18th birthday; although her co-pastor parents opposed it, Kezi attended a demonstration to protest yet another Black man killed by police. Older sister Genny, younger sister Happi, and secret love Ximena didn’t want to come, but Kezi was determined to document the event for her YouTube followers.

Multiple narrators take the story forward and backward in time, connecting the lynching of a family member in the 1950s to present day racism, which are vividly depicted when Genny, Happi, Ximena, and family friend Derek take a road trip on Route 66 with the help of an old copy of the Green Book, which Kezi had planned for after her graduation.

There are so many things to like about One of the Good Ones. The different ways that the surviving sisters experience grief rings true, as does the response of their well-intentioned parents who struggle when they learn that Kezi was gay. Happi’s conflicted relationship with her high-achieving sisters is well-portrayed. Although the multiple narrator format and time shifts can be hard to follow, the way that the past racial trauma impacts the present is rarely shown so clearly.

However when the story shifted to a survival adventure halfway through, I could not continue to suspend my disbelief. The first half of the book had my strong interest and respect but the second half was a disappointment.

One of the Good Ones is a multi-layered book that took me by storm. Each page I fell more in love with the sister relationship between Kezi, Happi, and Genny. Their relationship of grief, competition, resentment, and love. This multiple POV and timeline book explores the racism of the past and the ways its effects are still rippling into today. How it pervades into education and history books. The scars in our family albums, on our skin, and in the cells of our DNA. All the violence against ourselves, our sisters, our families, our communities, our identities.

While reading, I was constantly awed at the writing. The ways the POVs intersected, layered on top of each other, heard each other's echos throughout history. It's one of those books that has fabulous and masterful writing, emotional characters, and plot twists that will make you scream. Considering this year's Black Lives Matter protests, it's even more emotional and haunting. The ways that it doesn't matter if we're doing the right thing because we exist in a world where doing the right thing can get us killed.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed getting to know the characters. It was a great plot and I look forward to more from the author.

Wow. That was like two completely different books in one. I think I need some more time to process my overall reaction. In general, I thought the book made some important points really well, and I liked exploring the sisters' relationships. I also wanted to love the way the great-grandmother was included in the story, but I didn't think enough was done with her storyline. Her perspective wasn't explored sufficiently, IMHO, so including her felt like trying to do too much with one book. I'm really interested to see how other readers feel about this book when it comes out! It was definitely a page-turner and I finished it in two days.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This was an excellent read that took a twist about three-quarters of the way through. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the twist, but I ended up really loving how the authors pulled all of the storylines together. I also found all the history that was woven throughout the book very interesting. The authors clearly did their research on the Green Book and the sundown towns of the Jim Crow South.

Happi's sister Kezi was a bright star: smart and driven, she used her YouTube channel to educate folks about civil rights issues past and present. On her eighteenth birthday, she attended a protest and died in police custody. Though they often clashed, Happi is devastated by her sister's death. In her honor, she goes on the road trip Kezi had planned using the Green Book, learning about herself, her sister, their family, and Black history en route. Lesser POVs from the girls' ancestors and another protest attendee expand the narrative in unexpected directions. A late plot twist helps an already powerful narrative knock it out of the park.

Told from multiple points of view, both current and historic, this YA novel is an enthralling, informative, unsettling look at the young black experience in the current US, as well as black history of the past 100 years.

This book has some of everything, which makes it both a rich, engaging, thought-provoking novel at the same time that it almost seems to try to do too much. Black history, racism and civil rights are front and center throughout the novel along with issues related to social media dangers, sexual identity, families and parenting and police brutality. There is a coming-of-age, history-inspired road journey as well as twists and turns and connections with the past that are fascinating.

Characters are well-developed, particularly the current generation of black youths, Kezi, Happi, Genny, Ximena and Derek.

For me this book was a very good read although I found the pace a bit uneven. The first half flew by and the next quarter was very slow for me. Also, I think the book tried to cram too many issues into one place, an aspect that made it seem disjointed.

Regardless, I recommend this engaging novel, filled with memorable stories and characters, that gives insight into black experience in our current culture as well as historical details linking the present with events of the past.

This book sounded amazing but I had a really hard time getting into it. It could be a timing issue, so I might try at a later time.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this powerful book! This is one of those books that you think is one thing, and it turns out to be not only that thing, but several unexpected things as well. This is a story of racism and police brutality, and it is also a story of sisters struggling to understand each other and themselves. This is a story of a girl who is killed senselessly, and it's also a story of a family struggling to make sense of each other and the world around them. It's a story of the present, and also a story of the past. I absolutely loved the way that Kezi's and Happi's stories were intertwined with the stories of their ancestors, as well as the story of another character who, on the face of it, doesn't seem to have anything to do with them at all. There is an incredible plot twist that I did not see coming, and the ending of the story was not at all what I expected it to be. This is truly an incredible book, and I highly recommend it to pretty much anyone!

4 stars

Buckle up for a wild ride.

This novel is told from the perspectives of several characters at different points in history, and that timing all centers on the day of a main character's - Kezi's - arrest...and 18th birthday. As is the case with all multi-perspective novels, it's easy to get invested in the characters' experiences and outcomes when seeing the world and other people through their lenses. That absolutely happens here, and since empathy - and failed allyship - are major thematic aspects, the structure works especially well.

For much of the work, I struggled to get on board with the way that the historical sections are integrated. They felt a bit detached from what I viewed as the central plotline. By the end, I grew to appreciate the connections quite a bit.

Aside from too many convenient coincidences and nicely tied up loose ends, I found this novel really fresh. It's a relevant and timely commentary on our trash heap of a society with an added dash or two of hope.

I couldn't put this book down - I read all of it in one day, which is unusual for me. Then I spent a few days mulling it over. I usually don't enjoy the "road trip as a way toward self-discovery" trope, but it worked well here. It made me think a lot about how the media frames different victims; "one of the good ones" is all too true as a way people think. I felt that some of the coincidences and the plot twist in the last quarter of the book (no spoilers here!) weakened the story, though that won't stop me recommending the book to others.

This book is going to be a best seller. It is so powerful and packed with emotion, and then that TWIST! OMG I didn't see it coming. I was SHOOK.

Ok, so I'm a fan of the Moulite sisters. I own Dear Haiti, Love Alaine, and I thought it was pretty good, but One Of the Good Ones is INCREDIBLE. Like a once in a generation book. It's so raw and real. The storytelling is next level. I love how the perspectives shifted from different time periods and also different characters. It sounds confusing, but it was remarkably easy to follow and all came together so beautifully.

I feel absolutely honored to be given an advanced copy of this book. I can't wait until it is shared with the rest of the world. The world ain't ready.

I just finished the book, so I'm a bit flabbergasted, but maybe I'll add to the review later. I seriously loved this book. It might be one of my favorites ever.

THANK YOU FOR THIS GIFT MAIKA AND MARITZA!

Based on the title, I anticipated there would be a lot to think about while reading. Told in multiple points of view, the blending of voices, history, and present day was perfect. Upon completing this book I was wrung out. Are you only valued if you are “one of the good ones?” There is so much work that we need to do in this country to ensure equality and justice for all. My Black students will appreciate and see themselves in this book. I will be recommending this to the white students. There is such an important message here that needs to be recognized and acknowledged. Perhaps the author was heavy handed. She has to be. It’s too late to infer this message. This will be an important title on my Antiracist Book Club’s list of titles and my high school library’s #ownvoices collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.