How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

The premise, as told by Amazon: "When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white. In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. Day by day, new twists further obscure the truth."

Initially, this book is a bit confusing; each character is so sure that he or she did or did not see a gun in Tariq's hand, for example. WIthin the first 10 pages, however, you quickly realize that each narrator is unreliable. 

This book starts to get great towards the end. It focuses less on plot and more what the characters' lives are like in the aftermath- how so many feel trapped by simply being born in "Kings territory." This is when I think kids would really gain empathy and understanding about how someone's life can be harder and unlucky just by being born somewhere else. 

I feel torn by how I feel about the structure. I think it's great that we get different perspectives, particularly about what it means to be black. (As a white female reader, this helps me continue to understand what it feels like to be a non-white American and how that can feel drastically different for some.) On the other hand, whenever there are so many characters, I have a hard time getting to know any of the characters deeply. I wanted to know more about Tyrell and less about Brick- more about Kimberly and and less about Will. 

Unfortunately the f-bombs abound on every page, so I won't be able to use this book in my 8th grade classroom, but it would be a great book in a high school literature circle- an interesting theme to explore for this might be "The American Experience." 

Rating: *****
Recommended: high school readers 
Diversity: Absolutely, though I would have liked it to go deeper with its discussions about race. 
If you liked: Monster, The Skin I'm In