Book Club Discussion Post: The Hate U Give

Welcome to our Banned Books book club! This go round we’ve selected three books that have been banned or challenged for various reasons. Each of our books – All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, The 1619 Project edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – have their own Discussion Posts. Even if you weren’t able to get your review written yet, don’t worry – all are welcome here in this post’s comments or our Social Media platform discussions. In our Facebook group, Cannonball Read Book Chat we’ll have some additional prompts so please join us there as well.

Registered participants in this year’s Cannonball Read 14 can join the #CannonBookClub Zoom Book Club on Saturday September 17 at 2 pm EDT/ 11 am PDT. Those Cannonballers should have already received connection details by email. (Contact us if you haven’t!) If you’re not registered, but would like to; please drop us a line to get signed up and receive the Zoom details. 

For those of you returning or who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome, you don’t have to be registered for CBR14. The topics are numbered, so please refer to them below by that number to help people find the conversations they are looking for; and only respond to one topic per comment to help keep things clear. If you are responding to someone else’s thoughts, please try to reply directly to that comment.

Now, onto the questions:

1. What do you think is valuable in this book for young and old readers alike?
2. Book Banning is the most widespread form of censorship in the United States. What other types of censorship do you experience?
3. Attempts to ban The Hate U Give often focus on the inclusion of profanity and accusations of promoting an anti-police message. Did you feel that there was an overbearance of profanity in this book? Of anti-police messaging?
4. This book continues to be relevant in a variety of ways. Which stood out to you? 
5. Starr feels as though she must present different versions of herself in different arenas, of constantly code-switching. What is the importance of how Angie Thomas uses language in various forms with her characters?
6. How does Starr define family? Compare this to how you define family in your own life.
7. The reader is presented with many lenses through which Khalil’s life and death are viewed. Is it possible for us to fully understand Khalil? For Starr to?
8. What did you think of Starr’s coming of age arc? Did this evoke any memories of your high school experience?
9. I’ve got something to talk about that isn’t covered above, meet me in the comments!