Anger Is a Gift
A Novel
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4.6 • 27 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
*31st Annual Lammy Finalist for LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult category*
*2019 ALA Schneider Family Book Award Teen Winner*
*Buzzfeed's 24 Best YA Books of 2018*
*Vulture's 38 Best LGBTQ YA Novels*
*Book Riot's Best Books 2018*
*Hyable's Most Anticipated Queer YA Books of 2018*
*The Mary Sue's 18 Books You Should Read in 2018*
Moss Jeffries is many things—considerate student, devoted son, loyal friend and affectionate boyfriend, enthusiastic nerd.
But sometimes Moss still wishes he could be someone else—someone without panic attacks, someone whose father was still alive, someone who hadn’t become a rallying point for a community because of one horrible night.
And most of all, he wishes he didn’t feel so stuck.
Moss can’t even escape at school—he and his friends are subject to the lack of funds and crumbling infrastructure at West Oakland High, as well as constant intimidation by the resource officer stationed in their halls. That was even before the new regulations—it seems sometimes that the students are treated more like criminals.
Something will have to change—but who will listen to a group of teens?
When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes again, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oshiro, creator of the Mark Does Stuff website, takes readers on an emotional roller-coaster in this powerful and timely debut novel that conveys a community's bitter experience living within a culture of white supremacy. Sixteen-year-old Moss Jeffries, a gay African-American student attending run-down West Oakland High School, has experienced panic attacks since police shot his father six years earlier. A warm, mutually respectful relationship with his mother, an extended network of friends of diverse genders, sexual orientations, and family makeup, and a budding romance with Javier, a cute Latino comic book artist, all indicate a hopeful future. Yet violent incidents continue to threaten the community's well-being. In one improbable event that affects the story's plausibility, a boy with metal pins in his knee suffers a severe injury as a result of being forced to walk through a school metal detector. This event and several police assaults on students lead to organizing, with the community's fear building to a crescendo in a planned walkout gone awry. Oshiro deftly captures the simmering rage that ultimately transforms Moss from a quiet teenager to a committed activist against a brutal, menacing system. Ages 14 18.
Customer Reviews
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING
This is easily the best book I’ve ever read. It’s so realistic. I don’t have much to say, this book was surreal. I have faith that I’ll never read a better written book then this one. Please read it when you have the chance.
Beautiful and harrowing
Anger is a Gift is beautifully written: you are immersed in the world of the characters immediately and completely from the start. Oshiro builds tension effortlessly in a story that is timely in its exposure and confrontation of police brutality, white supremacy, and the effects of criminalizing students. The subject matter is intense, but the book is deft with moments of lightness and joy.