The Black Kids

Starred review from August 24, 2020
Unfolding in the six days following the 1992 acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King, Reed’s poetic, layered, and seamlessly intersectional debut depicts the coming-to-consciousness of sheltered Ashley Bennett, one of the few Black students at a wealthy, largely white Los Angeles high school. Though Ashley encounters racism, she’s mostly concerned with fitting in with her white childhood friends; her college-dropout sister, Jo, meanwhile, spray paints Communist slogans on the scarred city. Ashley becomes aware of her own racism after accidentally starting a rumor that LaShawn, a Black basketball player on scholarship, may have looted his new sneakers. Getting to know LaShawn is just part of an education that includes a scary brush with the police, as well as long untold family stories about Black Wall Street and intergenerational depression. Although the novel skews a bit lengthy, Reed’s sharp cultural observations make it a pleasurable read, and the world she creates is notably difficult, complex, and funny. Ages 14–up. Agent: David Doerrer, Abrams Artists Agency.