The SAG awards, the Golden Globes, and the Academy Awards. It’s awards season! So much talk of the year’s best television series, movies, actors, screenplays, etc. And so many of the best movies started as books. Or at least we think so.

So for March, we’re trying to get ahead of the game and read a new book that’s soon to be a new movie favorite. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was published just last February. This is Thomas’s debut novel, and a huge success. It opened at number one the NYT young-adult bestseller list. Thomas was inspired to write this story after the shooting of Oscar Grant in 2009. What started as a short story quickly evolved into her first novel, and soon a major motion picture coming out this year or early next (directed by George Tillman Jr., written by Audrey Wells, starring Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, Sabrina Carpenter, Issa Rae, Lamar Johnson, and Common).

The Hate U Give tells the story of 16-year-old black student Starr Carter who witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend. She lives a life between two worlds; the privileged prep school she attends, and the impoverished black neighborhood where she lives. And now her life is turned upside down by what she witnesses. She faces risks and dangers no one her age should have to face. But Thomas tells a story that faces us with some of the cruel realities in our country.

Critics have widely praised this book as a must-read for everyone, no matter your age. The fantastic buzz around this book makes us eager to dig in! And we hope you’ll read along with us! Share on social media using #booklymark, or comment below ↓