A few years back, I signed up for NetGalley, a website where you can get ARCs of upcoming books in exchange for reviewing things.
Let's just say I'm not super great about following through on all my grand ideas and leave it at that.
I was good this time around though, and actually read the book I received!
And now, the review...
I'm Not Dying with You Tonight is a young adult book, jointly written by debut authors Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones. Their novel is centered around two girls, Lena and Campbell, classmates of different races who end up stuck together when a riot breaks out in their neighborhood.
As I began to read, I was really reminded of Sharon Draper's Romiette and Julio. Part of that is because it's based in a major city, where the majority of residents are black. But I also felt the overall tone, where teens quickly end up in situations over their heads, was the same. Considering I read Draper's book multiple times as a teen, it's a good thing.
There were moments where I thought that Campbell, the white girl, was being made into a generic meek white girl character or when I thought Lena was too hard on her. Can't you see she's got problems too?
After remembering that no, Lena can't see into Campbell's head like I can, I took a step back and thought, How much of my defensiveness of Campbell is more defensive of what I see of myself in her? And how much of what I'm defending is worth defending?
Books like this that examine the same racially-charged event through different races' eyes are important; when they're engaging like this one, they're almost imperative for any teacher or school library interested in perspective to have on their shelves.
Rating: 4/5