On The Come Up

-
In 2017, Angie Thomas burst into the book world with her pivotal YA novel, The Hate U Give. Both amazing and gut-wrenching, this book is now highly acclaimed, award-winning and has been made into a film. THUG quickly became one of the most essential, spectacular reads seen in a long time.
Now...in just a few short weeks, we will have the release of the highly anticipated second novel from this new voice of a generation, On The Come Up and it does not disappoint.
On The Come Up tells the story of 16-year-old Bri. She dreams of being one of the greatest underground rappers of all time. But Bri has quite a battle ahead of her. Living in a poor black neighbourhood; the daughter of a great street rapper who was murdered just before he hit it big , a mother recovering from drug-addiction; Bri is label as 'trouble' at school. She is fighting prejudice in the community, racism on a national scale, old-fashioned ideas within her own family and poverty. Her mother loses her job, there's no electric because the bill hasn't been paid, there's no food in the fridge... Bri pours all her frustration and anger into a rap about misunderstanding and stereotyping and it goes viral, but for all the wrong reasons. Bri now finds herself at the centre of a controversy, portrayed by the media as a menace and a thug. Now, on the edge of homelessness, Bri sees her success as the only thing that can hold her family together. She doing it for herself, for them and for the memory of her father. Bri doesn't just want to make it; she HAS to. And if that means becoming what they already say she is, so be it.
Moving and incisive, On The Come Up gives an indictment of current social systems, values, mores and attitudes. A story of freedom of speech, following your dreams and finding a way to rage against a system that will keep you down. A raw, poignant portrait of the lives lived by so many people in the world today, it causes you to think, really think. Pulling the reader in to the story immediately, it wraps you up, makes you part of the tale and refuses to let go. Bri is a dynamic character in a state of flux. Caught in a web of survival, she is struggling to stay exactly who she is and, in the end, emerges from that battle triumphant. But it is, truly, a hard battle. The surrounding characters give a complex, diverse cast, all of whom have their own agendas and idiosyncrasies. A fluid writing style gives the whole text an atmosphere that echoes its' subject; the language allows the story to unfold visually in the mind of the reader. You are there; gripped and enthralled in a very contemporary, very timely situation. We are speaking a lot about diversity and inclusiveness in literature now, and rightly so. It has been too long that stories concerning the wider spread of society and culture have been ignored,; swept aside. But it is not enough for a book to simply be diverse and inclusive; it has to be good and it has to tell a story worth telling. On The Come Up is that book; a must-read of the year. YA fiction at its' very best, it speaks with a genuine voice. This book is real.
(ages 14+)
ON THE COME UP
author: Angie Thomas
Walker Books (7 February 2019)
ISBN: 9781406372168

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Joyous Jolabokaflod!!!!

-
Image
For a book lover, Iceland has a very special tradition. Each year, in the few months before Christmas, Icelandic publishers release the majority of their books. This is "Jolabokaflod", or the Christmas Book Flood. Hundreds of books are published each year at this time, revealing just how strong a literary tradition exists in this small Northern island, dating back to medieval times. During World War II, there were strict currency restrictions, which limited the amount of imported giftware Iceland could take in. But paper itself was less restricted than other items, so this really led to books being seen as an ideal gift. Add that to the traditionally strong literary sector in Iceland, and the annual Book Flood really began in earnest. As Christmas nears, sometime around the end of October-beginning of November, a catalog is delivered to every house in Iceland, detailing the books available for that year. Iceland now represents one of the strongest book publishing countri
Read more