By Dashka Slater
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. 305 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction
Sasha and Richard both live in Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country. With vastly different lives, their paths don’t intersect aside from the eight minute ride on the 57 bus. As Sasha naps on their ride home from school, Richard’s friends think it would be funny to light Sasha’s skirt on fire. It will be surprising, and then smolder out, they thought. Like a practical joke. With just a touch of Richard’s lighter, Sasha’s skirt erupts into flames, leaving their body badly burned. With that one reckless act, both Sasha’s and Richard’s lives are forever changed.
I’ve heard the author talk about this book and how she wondered if she could paint a sympathetic picture of both teens. While what Richard did was terrible, there’s also a lot of background that isn’t apparent when judging him from that one instance. Dashka Slater covered this crime for the New York Times magazine as it was happening, and her attention to detail and thorough research really paints a fascinating portrait of the two teens and their lives before, during, and after the incident. She explores the concepts of race, class, gender, crime, punishment, and how all of these different factors contributed to not only the incident, but also the public’s perception of it. Did she make me care and sympathize with both Sasha and Richard? Yes, she did. Very well done, I loved this book.
ACS
1 comment:
Two adolescent lives were forever changed during a public bus ride in Oakland, California. Richard, an Africa-American teen, set fire to the skirt of Sasha, an agender teen. Sasha received 3-degree burns on their legs, and needed extensive skin grafts. Richard was charged with assault and a hate crime. But, sometimes right and wrong, justice and injustice are more complicated than they first appear.
This is a heartbreaking true story about a stupid mistake and how that can change lives forever. Slater made me sympathetic to both Sasha and Richard, and I gained a deeper understanding and awareness of the juvenile justice system and genderqueer individuals. While the audio book is well done, I suggest reading the book as the story is divided into short segments, most only 1-2 pages long.
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