Language: R (100+ swears, 55 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 (drinking, drugs, ; Violence:
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
17yo Ashley is living the high life in a posh LA suburb in the 1990’s. As one of a few black girls in her high school, she sees some racism, but her money mostly protects her from any real belligerence. Then the white police officers who were filmed beating Rodney King, a black man, are acquitted, and the world around her erupts. Now she finds out who her real friends are as they take sides and point fingers. Now her family can’t ignore the problems that they thought their money had bought them out of – not problems that they created, but problems caused by systemic racism that linger and lurk, waiting to make everyone’s lives miserable.
Ashley and her family let us see life as it was in LA in early 1992 – the racism that didn’t disappear after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and hasn’t disappeared in 2020. However, it also depicts the casual sex, drinking, and drug use among high school students of any decade – exacerbated by their monied, privileged lives. Ashley herself is not particularly a sympathetic character, making this harder for adults to read than teens.
Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
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