Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
Review by Oona K, grade 7, 2018 Teen Book Reviewer
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Moss is sick of the random locker checks, lack of supplies, and constantly being watched by the Oakland Police officers stationed in his school hallways. Why don’t the white schools have to deal with all of this “security protocol”? His father was wrongly murdered at the hands of a cop 6 years ago and Moss’ community expects him to be a leader for change. Moss has trouble with the expectations put on him until a tragic accident forces him to change and realize anger is truly a gift.
This book was great and I enjoyed reading it. The characters were extremely diverse and thought out. One of the downsides of reading about the large and diverse group of characters was remembering who was who. The only other thing about the book I disliked was a big moment in the book was totally unrealistic. Other than that I thought this book was a great story about the hardships facing lower income neighborhoods.
People might like this book if they liked The Hate U Give and Dear Martin.