Has Angie Thomas done it again? Pretty much. Her third book--Concrete Rose–is the story of Maverick Carter, Star from THUG’s father. It’s a story about gang life, young ambition, teen fatherhood, and it’s so well-done. Thomas really creates such a resounding story with a fleshed out world, strong adherence to language and culture, it’s just a good book all around. I gave this one 4 stars, because while it’s good in general, it didn’t gut punch me like her other books did. But maybe I’m also thankful for that?

The novel begins with Maverick waiting for a phone call about a DNA test. He spent one night with the girl, Iesha, while he and Lisa were broken up–is Iesha’s baby his? Well…spoiler alert, it is, and when Iesha bails, Maverick ends up taking on the full care of Lil Man. He instantly goes from struggling high school student, selling drugs and doing gang things as is expected of him, to a father, having to find a way to take care of his son and get his life together. And then, when Maverick’s best-friend and cousin is killed, and Lisa announces she’s pregnant too, he’s got choices to make. Will he give into the lifestyle that’s expected of him or will he find a way to be his own man? Who will he be as a father–especially compared to his own father, who he visits in the prison three hours away. There’s a lot on the line, babies to be taken care of, and choices to be made.

I’ll be honest, I struggle with gang violence in books, because sometimes it makes me MAD and sometimes it stresses me out, and I was worried this book would be even more stressful in that sense then her previous two books because Maverick, as a dude, was more involved in this life, but it wasn’t too bad, for me at least. Dre’s death is tragic, obviously, and the ramifications of it create tense moments, but it wasn’t as “violent” as I was worried about, honestly. It’s an eye-opening read, especially if, obviously, you’re not as aware about gang expectations, growing up poor and struggling, etc, but I really enjoyed it. I was drawn into the world Thomas created on the page and I felt for Maverick along the way.

I also loved that this book portrayed, heavily, teen fatherhood. We see so many girls doing it alone, it was kind of–not cool, but interesting–to see the script get flipped.

Overall, I liked this book. It had a strong voice, I loved revisiting these characters, but I feel like the plot wasn’t as strong in this one and it was more character driven, which is fine, just something to keep in mind.

I just finished Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas! This is a prequel to The Hate U Give about Star's dad, Maverick. Maverick was my FAVORITE character in The Hate U Give, so I was super excited to read this one!

This novel follows Maverick in his late teen years. He's a gang member, but also finding himself a teen dad all of a sudden. It shows his struggles being a new dad, going to school, and trying to provide for his new family. There is a lot of back story in this novel that explains the relationship between Maverick and King that we see in The Hate You Give. If you haven't read The Hate U Give, you can definitely still read this novel, but if you've read the first one, you will spend this entire book connecting dots!

I LOVED this book for a couple of reasons. First, I feel like there is a lack of representation of teenage dads in novels. It's a perspective I have only seen a couple of times, so it was refreshing to read. Second, it shows Maverick being an involved dad. Let's be real, media, books, society as a whole are not kind to dads, especially Black dads. This novel provides a good, but not perfect, representation of a dad trying his best to provide for his family and make a better life for them. Kudos to Angie Thomas for providing a perspective that hits back at stereotypes!

If you're an Angie Thomas fan, you definitely need to pick this up when it comes out January 12! #NetGalley #ConcreteRose

To me, Maverick Carter was one of the most enigmatic and beautiful characters in The Hate U Give. When I saw that Concrete Rose would be his story, I could not have been more excited. Angie Thomas did not disappoint in this prequel to The Hate U Give. This is an important story, especially for those who do not know the true story of Black America. I hope that Angie Thomas never stops writing books like this.

The moment in THUG when Maverick is harassed and humiliated by the police in front of his children and community broke me and simultaneously reminded me of the power of representation. I saw my dad, my brother, and all of the Black men who are routinely abused by a system designed to serve and protect.

When Thomas announced ROSE, I was excited that another complex Black male protagonist was coming into the word and I was in no way disappointed. The novel takes us through Maverick's story and, although we know where he ends up, the scene in THUG mentioned above is all the more poignant when we learn how hard he fights to become the man, father, and leader his family and community need. I love that this isn't a rags to riches story: Maverick is who he is through and through. I think my students will love this prequel because it gives us flawed and noble hero. Thomas did it again!

I enjoyed this, though not quite as much as The Hate U Give or On the Come Up. The second half gave me strong Long Way Down vibes. With both On the Come Up and this, Thomas has proved that she's really great at writing complex protagonists.

Maverick thinks he has everything under control. He has a great girlfriend, he is about to start his senior year of high school, and he does a little side dealing to make some extra cash. His life begins to unravel when he finds out that a one-time hookup has made him a father. Now that Mav has a baby that depends on him, he decides to stop selling drugs, finish school, and raise his son. He quickly finds out that it isn’t easy to do any of those things, but he wants to prove everyone wrong. It isn’t easy being a young black man in Garden Heights and Mav must determine who he wants to be.

Concrete Rose is the prequel story to The Hate U Give. Thomas has taken readers back seventeen years before the events of the first book to give background and insight into the father we later see supporting his daughter. Even though this is a prequel book, it can be read before or after The Hate U Give. The family drama and hard choices portrayed make this coming of age story a great read for all readers. I’m sure everyone who loved The Hate U Give will quickly devour Concrete Rose.

4 stars

Who doesn't get nervous when they see that a great novel is getting a prequel or a sequel...? Set your fears aside!

This prequel to _The Hate U Give_ features Maverick (Star's dad, for those who know and love the aforementioned title) primarily in his senior year of high school. He is facing a lot of barriers: becoming a dad at a young age, being surrounded by gang violence, and connecting with a cast of important people in his life, including his incarcerated father. It's not an easy road for Maverick, and he makes some choices that make this road even more difficult to navigate, but his voice is authentic and clear, and it is impossible to lack empathy - or at least sympathy - as he travels and learns.

This is a satisfying sequel, and while it has a very different tone from its predecessor (in time not order), it's a great book all on its own. Recommended for fans of _THUG_ and for newcomers alike!

From the author of The Hate U Give and On the come Up. Angie Thomas writes an excellent prequel to The Hate You Give, telling the story of Maverick and the beginnings of his story with Lisa. So very good I didn’t want it to stop, I can’t say “end” ‘cause it leads to The Hate You Give. Maverick’s story is not a “coming of age” story but a “coming a man” story. The end of Chapter 13 - whew!

All kids have a coming of age moment, and they all deserve to have heir story told. Here’s one that is not about getting the girl (okay, it’s a little about that) or getting into the right college, but it is about a kid finding himself and his way. This book shows the child inside the troubled kid and we root for him to grow miraculously up from of his hard circumstances, his less-than-ideal choices made when he couldn’t see all of his options - and blossom.

I was beyond excited to get approved for an advanced copy of Angie Thomas’ newest book, and I was not left disappointed! I have been a huge fan of all of her books, and will be a fan for life! Here are my thoughts on her most recent:

**Angie Thomas will hands down be one of the most iconic writers of our time, and her writing will be popular for decades to come. Her strong voice captures so many issues of today and recent history, and her books will be used to inform many discussions among friends, classrooms, and book clubs.
**Thomas is a master at character development and exploring the many facets that make people who they are. We are not all good or all bad, and Thomas is able to expertly create those nuances in her characters, even her secondary characters.
**I so love Mav and his mom. Their relationship warmed my heart through its ups and downs. I also really appreciated the relationship between Mav and Mr. Lewis. All kids could benefit from having a mentor like him!
**As an educator, we always teach kids about writing with voice, and Thomas has such a strong voice in her writing. I would recommend using her books as an example of creating a strong voice.
**I love that tough issues are tackled. Life is messy, and teens need to know that they can come through on the other side of the mess. Unexpected things can happen, but life moves forward and you keep persevering and striving to be your best.
**Full disclosure – I read so extensively that my memory for books is not great. There were elements of this book that were very familiar as I was reading them, and I’m sure that is because there is overlap with The Hate U Give (but having been a few years since I read that book, my memory for the details was fuzzy). I might recommend picking up THUG before reading Concrete Rose if you are like me.
**I was a bit disappointed in the ending. There were some pretty significant loose ends that were not wrapped up. But……considering the bullet point above, maybe they are addressed at the beginning of THUG? Regardless, I was left wanting more resolution at the end of this one.

Overall, I highly recommend this read and encourage you to preorder it! You will not be disappointed!

It’s everything you wanted to know about Maverick & Garden Heights & King Lords... but it’s not just backstory. It’s Maverick’s story. It’s black magic, black power, and black love. It’s profound story telling and masterful exploration of humanity in Angie Thomas’s skilled hands. You don’t have to have read any of her other works to read this one. It stands alone on its own merit.

You may remember Maverick Carter as the father of Starr Carter in the breakout hit novel, The Hate U Give. With Concrete Rose, author Angie Thomas takes us back to Garden Heights in a prequel/origin story centered around Mav.

Readers will meet Mav as a young adult and witness his struggles with providing for his family. As the son of an infamous drug lord who is now in prison, he's expected to follow down that path in order to keep his mom afloat. But soon, Mav becomes a father himself and it's getting harder and harder to deal drugs, take care of an infant and finish high school. So he takes a job that'll keep him on the straight and narrow - it's not easy, but it's right.

The streets have a way of pulling you back in though, and when a family member is murdered, Mav will have to decide which path is truly his destiny.

Like all of Angie Thomas' books, this was such a good and necessary read. Thomas, who wanted to portray black men more positively in her stories, the character of Maverick is “perfectly imperfect." "It was important to me above all to humanize him because that’s the bare minimum we owe young Black boys. As a writer, the least I could do is to have a fully three-dimensional figure on the page," she said at The New England Independent Booksellers Association virtual conference. Not only does she challenge the stereotypes associated with being black, but she also challenges those surrounding what it's like to be a man. Maverick's character has a tough exterior, but learns it's okay to feel and show emotion.

This book tells the story if Starr’s dad from THUG as a teenager, becoming a dad at a young age while dealing with life as a Black teen in the fictional Garden. Obviously, anyone who has enjoyed Thomas’s other books will enjoy this one, but there are also extra tidbits that made Concrete Rose particularly compelling. First, as someone who grew up in the 90s, I very much enjoyed the cultural references. I also appreciated the depiction of fatherhood, which I don’t often read about no matter the race or class. Highly recommend!

If you loved The Hate U Give you have to read Concrete Rose, the story of Starr's dad, Maverick, as an adolescent. Remember him, the well respected store owner and pillar of the community?
I am so grateful that Angie Thomas told Mav's story and in that story once again challenges our misconceptions of black boyhood in the inner city. Angie sheds light on some serious stereotypes regarding teen pregnancy & fatherhood , gangs & selling drugs , and what it means to be a man. I won't be surprised to see this added to some challenged book lists next year but this is once again an important read for teens and

Powerful prequel to The Hate U Give. We get to know Maverick Carter and Lisa Montgomery when they were teens. The story helps answer some questions readers may have had, such as how is Maverick allowed to leave the gang but still respected and still friends with King? Why did he choose to run a store? How long has that nosy old barbershop guy been in the neighborhood, anyway?

This is good tight writing that presents strong characters, further development of the fictional Garden Heights neighborhood, and a tense, well-constructed conflict that flows believably and inevitably toward its climax. Even though I am also a woman, I think Angie Thomas did an incredible job portraying the journey to manhood of an African American male. It bears some resemblance to those real-life books like the Bluford High series, but it is real literature, beautifully written. Like The Hate U Give, I think anyone of any age should be able to be completely absorbed in the story.

I would recommend it for older teens and up due to lots of drug use, sex, and gun violence. None of this is glorified, though. Mav has sex two times and has two children, basically.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was exactly what I needed this year. It was fantastic!

After reading The Hate U Give, I came into this book thinking I'd know most of what was going to happen. That turned out to not be true. There were surprises and tears for both Maverick and me. Was it fun to have more information on some things than Maverick? Definitely!

It was great reading about all the familiar names and getting a little more background on some of them. At least one of the names brought up caused me to burst into tears...

I don't want to give anything away because I think it's better for people to just know that it's a prequel to The Hate U Give and discover the greatness of it on their own.

I'm still in awe over how great this book is. I can't wait to buy a print copy for my personal collection.

I was so thankful I was approved to read Concrete Rose! Thank you!! Mav’s story was everything I’d hoped it would be... and I’m
Hoping for a second book to fill in the gaps between the end of CR and THUG. Please???

Angie Thomas has done it again. This is the engrossing backstory of The Hate U Give's father character, Maverick Carter. Readers go back to Garden Heights and follow Maverick as he navigates life as a surprise new father, student, and boy being forced to grow up fast. If there is a person left in the world that hasn't read THUG, this book will stand on its own for them. But fans of Thomas's first novel will really become re-emerged in the life of the Carters, and realize how deep Maverick's love for his kids go. This novel is beautiful.

It has been a while since I read The Hate U Give, but I loved it, so I was really looking forward to this. I don't read a lot of books that have exclusively male protagonists, but it was nice to read from the perspective of a character I already knew. This prequel to The Hate U Give focuses on Starr's (from that novel) parents in their own teenage years, just before she is born. Her father, Maverick, is a high school student who finds out right away that he is the father of his friend's girlfriend's baby. After the DNA test, she asks him to take the kid (King, Jr., though Mav renames him Seven), and then she disappears for quite a while. Mav - a member of the local King Lords gang, son of a well-known gang member who is long-term incarcerated, and whose whole inner circle is involved with the gang - has to figure out how to care for his infant son, go to school, try to convince his girlfriend to take him back even though he got someone else pregnant, and try to hold down a regular job. His closest confidante is his cousin Dre, but a tragic event interrupts that. This was pretty heavy, though someone maybe not as heavy as The Hate U Give, perhaps because it is set more than 20 years ago and feels a little more removed from our current crises. I really liked seeing characters who show up later in The Hate U Give as teenagers (and even babies, like Seven and Khalil). A really solid prequel and one I would recommend for any fans of Angie Thomas.

This made my heart sing! I loved learning more about Mav and how he came to be the man he is in THUG.