Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.
Maverick Carter is seventeen years old and life ain’t perfect, but’s it’s not bad, either. He’s got a fly girlfriend and a cousin who loves him, and a set that’s always got his back.
Maverick Carter is seventeen years old and he thinks he’s got it under control. He brings in money the only way he knows how: drug dealing. It keeps the lights on and new kicks on his feet, and it’s not clean but it’s money.
Maverick Carter is seventeen years old when he finds out he is a father.
Left with a three-month-old baby, Maverick’s gotta rethink his priorities. For the first time in his life, he has someone whose continued existence depends on him—more responsibility than he feels equipped to handle. But he has to, because there’s no other option. Maverick is surviving, and he’s gonna do that however he can.
Except it’s hard to sling dope, stay in school, and raise a baby. So when a neighbor offers Maverick the chance to go straight, he takes it. Maybe, in this world where everybody’s lost somebody and is just trying to make it from one day to the next, he can do more than simply survive. With brilliant clarity and brutal, heartfelt honesty, Angie Thomas truly encompasses what life “in the concrete” is like, and finds each and every rose that grows from it. This prequel of The Hate U Give is not a backstory. It’s a life, a beautiful one, a tough one, and ultimately a life that’s worth living: a bud on the sidewalk, catching the rays of the sun.
