The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
★ Most-read book of 2017 · #1 on Best Books of 2017
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between her poor neighborhood and an affluent private school. After she witnesses a police officer kill her childhood friend, she begins speaking out publicly as tensions in her community rise.
Best for: Readers wanting a timely, discussion-worthy novel about justice, identity and speaking up
The Hate U Give is #1 on BookWard's Best Books of 2017, out of 73 2017 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Hate U Give is about
Starr Carter, sixteen, moves between two worlds. At home in Garden Heights, a poor neighborhood, she is one person. At Williamson Prep, an affluent and mostly white private school, she is carefully another. Her father, Maverick, who left the King Lords gang and now runs the neighborhood grocery store, has raised her to be proud and watchful.
The balance she has built breaks when her childhood friend Khalil is shot and killed by a white police officer after a traffic stop, and Starr is the one who saw it happen. As the media paints Khalil in an unkind light and the case moves toward a grand jury, she has to decide whether to speak, and what speaking might cost her, her family and her community.
Angie Thomas wrote this debut for young adults, growing it from a college short story written in response to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. It is urgent and emotional, and it asks readers to understand the Black Lives Matter movement through one girl's voice.
The Hate U Give on the Best Books of 2017
The Hate U Give came out in 2017. Of the 73 books first published in 2017 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #1 on our Best Books of 2017 list.
Why it made the list: 3,109 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.4 out of 5 (134 ratings); 160 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Most-read of 2017 and reader favorite and being read right now.
Nearby on the 2017 list
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid, #2
- A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas, #3
See all Best Books of 2017 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2016 Best Books of 2018.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 2,782 want to read it, 160 are reading it now and 167 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.4 out of 5 from 134 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 99 | 55% |
| Reader love | 95 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 99 | 20% |
Questions about The Hate U Give
When was The Hate U Give published?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was first published in 2017.
Was The Hate U Give one of the best books of 2017?
The Hate U Give is #1 on BookWard's Best Books of 2017, out of 73 2017 books that cleared our data bar. 3,109 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.4 out of 5 (134 ratings); 160 are reading it right now.
Why is The Hate U Give on the Best Books of 2017 list?
3,109 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.4 out of 5 (134 ratings); 160 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2017
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid, #2
- A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas, #3
- One of Us Is Lying Karen M. McManus, #4
- The Dark Prophecy Rick Riordan, #5
- Why We Sleep Matthew P. Walker, #6
- Turtles All the Way Down John Green, #7
See the full Best Books of 2017, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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