Dear Martin

Stone, Nic. Dear Martin. 2017. 210p. ISBN 9781101939499. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Justyce McAllister is the top student at his private school, and is ready to graduate and attend an Ivy League school. A free scholarship student, Justyce managed to escape the thugs and drugs from his neighborhood, and is on the path to a valuable contribution to society. Coming back from a party, he notices a girl from his school passed out by the side of her car, and he helps her into the back seat. The police arrives at the same time, and the officer witnessing this scene handcuffs Justyce despite his protestation that he was just helping the girl. As an African-American, Justyce is keenly aware of the prejudices that many police officers have, but he is still surprised that it would happen to him. This incident is eventually dropped, but it mars Justyce’s conscience.

Throughout his senior year he writes letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, challenging the Reverend’s teachings on race relations and hopes for the future. Unfortunately all of the letters are one-sided, as Dr. King can’t write back. The police officer that arrested Justyce is killed, causing more questions to be asked. When Justyce and best friend Manny, also African-American, go for a ride in Manny’s Range Rover, they have a deadly encounter with another white police officer who turns out to be the partner of the first officer who arrested Justyce. Manny is shot to death at the wheel of his vehicle, and it takes Justyce all of his willpower to survive the fallout and the following court case. Throughout it all, Justyce questions the value of a life, the negative issue that plaque society, and his role in it. Can Justyce find some justice in what happened?

Dear Martin deftly addresses several current issues, including race relations, social media exploitation, gang violence, and police shootings of unarmed African-American men. Readers interested in the immediate impact and aftermath of a shooting, as well as those attracted by social justice will appreciate Justyce’s quest to find answers to his questions and see if Dr. King’s teachings remain valid fifty years later.

For a similar take on social justice and solving a gross miscarriage of justice, take a look at This is My America. A companion volume, Dear Manny, explore Justyce's friend electoral campaign in college.

Rebuttal

Hariharan, Jyotsna. Rebuttal. 2016. 100 mins. ISBN 9780062663474. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Alex is an expert debater, but she’s not looking forward to the all-expense paid trip to Europe if she wins first place in the upcoming debate tournament. She’d rather win second place, because she would then be able to attend the Nottingshire’s Writer Retreat in London, where Mary Noelle Simmons teaches. Simmons is Alex’s source of inspiration for life, from her attendance at a small South Dakota college to her writing career. Unfortunately, she needs to win in the local debates first, and her partner has just bailed on her due to an unforeseen romantic crisis. Now she needs to find a partner, and quick, for the next round of debates starts in less than ten minutes.

Jeremy works with the AV club, and he’s in the auditorium bringing a cable when Alex sees him and asks him to participate in the debate. Since he really needs to pass AP biology, Jeremy agrees to help her, but only if she will help him get his average up in bio. A transactional friendship is thus struck, but begins to grow as the two of them realize they share many characteristics, from overbearing and demanding parents to the desire to escape the future that has been planned for them. As they prepare for debates and for biology, they also begin to plan for a future they had not dreamed was possible.

Winner of HarperCollins’ audio drama contest, Rebuttal takes the listener through a short adventure where both Alex and Jeremy discover that they are worth more than the sum of their parents and that big plans are not just pipe dreams but, with support from friends, can indeed take place.