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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Thomas, Angie. ON THE COME UP London : Walker Books, 2019 IL YA ISBN 9781406372168 2 booktalks |
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Booktalk #1 Brianna is growing accustomed to battles. From scorching rap battles in the Ring, to being labeled as “aggressive” at her predominantly white school for the arts, to the sudden loss of her mother’s job, it seems like life is handing her battles all the time and she’s not always able to choose them. With her reputation growing on the underground hip-hop scene, Bri decides the way to help her family is to try for the big time. She snags the attention of her rapper father’s former manager, and records a song that goes viral. However, her song does nothing to fight back against the misconceptions and labels she faces as a young black girl in America, and she finds that “free speech” doesn’t always mean the same thing for her. Bri has to decide how to use her voice; will she play into stereotypes for financial gain, or use her voice to speak her truth? (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2020-2021) Booktalk #2 Bri’s family is in trouble. Even though her brother has a college degree he can only find a minimum wage job. Worse, her mother just lost her job and being a recovered drug addict has made it nearly impossible to find a new one. Despite this, Bri has a plan. Not only was her father a local rap legend, but she can rap better than anyone she knows. If Bri can rap at the Ring and show off her skills in front of everyone, she knows that she is bound to get a record deal and provide for her family. She certainly gets noticed. But so did her father, and he ended up dead at the hands of a rival gang. Bri writes a song about being assaulted by a security guard at her school and even if it is true public opinion turns against her. This is her dream but can she change everyone’s opinion of her? And if she can’t, what does that mean for her family? (Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Awards, 2021) |
| SUBJECTS: Teenagers -- Juvenile fiction. Rap musicians -- Fiction. African Americans -- Fiction. Freedom of speech -- Fiction. Teenagers -- Fiction. Coming of age. Racism -- Fiction. Prejudices -- Fiction. Performing arts -- Fiction. Music -- Fiction. Young adult fiction. |
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