Angie Thomas talks about exploring violence and black fatherhood in her latest young adult novel – and why she’s hoping it won’t be banned
Angie Thomas does not hesitate when I ask whether her new novel will be banned somewhere. “Absolutely, I’m expecting it,” she replies. “Adults don’t like talking about teenage sex, they don’t want to get uncomfortable.” She has good reason to think so: The Hate U Give, her bestselling debut, was pulled from schools in the city of Katy, Texas. “The initial objection focused on swearing and the discussion of sexual acts and drugs. In her new young adult novel, Concrete Rose, drugs and violence are more than discussed: the book follows 17-year-old Maverick Carter, a self-described “drug-dealing, gangbanging, high school flunkout … who got two kids by two different girls”.
Readers of The Hate U Give will recognise Maverick as Starr Carter’s father, and Concrete Rose – Thomas’s third novel – is effectively its prequel. Once again, the reader is transported to the fictional US city of Garden Heights and the pacey, highly readable story of “Mav”, whose world is turned upside down when he becomes a father. How can he escape the gang he’s affiliated with, when the only routes out are prison or death?
