Book Review of Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

 

1.     Bibliography

Thomas, A. 2021. Concrete rose. Blazer + Bray. ISBN: 9780062846716

2.     Plot Summary

Maverick “Mav” Carter lives in a place called “The Garden” which is a predominantly black community.  Mav is 17 years old and after a DNA test comes back that he is the father of a three-month-old baby boy, his life is changed forever.  Now Mav must make choices is his life that are challenging because he is a member of the King Lords gang and deals drugs on the side to help pay for things.  Knowing he needs to make different life choices if he is going to be a good father for his new baby, he stops dealing drugs and starts working for his next-door neighbor Mr. Wyatt.  When his cousin Dre gets murdered, Mav is then put in another tough decision as to whether he should go after Dre’s killer or let it go and provide for his son.  In the end, Mav decides that he wants to be a father and not a killer and works his way to getting his GED and continues to work for Mr. Wyatt. 

3.     Critical Analysis

Thomas creates a powerful story about a teenager with some hard life choices and how to overcome your circumstances to better yourself.  Young adults reading this story can see the struggle Mav has with deciding how he wants to live his life, whether he wants to be a father to his son or stay loyal to the gang life.  Thomas also shows young readers’ character development of someone going from a teenager to having real adult responsibilities and how maturity and reality can hit you all at once.  This book highlights the relationship between father and son while showing the break in the cycle of black fathers being absent in their children’s lives.  You can also see the struggle for young black males to go down the road to gang life because it is easy and what is accessible to them.  Mav’s narrative voice in the book makes the book seem more meaningful because this is the typical way you would hear people in the area speaking, showing the reader a more diverse background.  The book shows how hope and resilience can help a person to make better choices for themselves and their families, showing young teens that they are the final deciding factor in their lives, and they can choose to better themselves.

4.     Review Excerpts

“This is the perfect example of a narrative that straddles the beauty and pain of belonging and having the courage to make your own choices…. Thomas writes with a depth of humor and clarity that really allows readers to bond with the characters.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

"Thomas delivers a poignant prequel to The Hate U Give…. Maverick's story is one that offers hope, encouragement, and optimism." — Booklist (starred review)

5.     Connections
*I would challenge the students to read the next book in the series and make a connection about how the books are similar or different.

*Other books by Angie Thomas:

On the come up

Find your voice