I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by debut authors Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal is an action-packed, issue-oriented YA novel that examines the current state of race relations and violence in our country through the eyes of two teenage girls, one white, one black. A fight breaks out at McPherson High School under the Friday night lights. Lena, resident "it girl," was at the game to watch the dance team before meeting up with her boyfriend, while Campbell, the new girl at school, was working the concession stand. The two young girls find themselves unexpectedly thrust together during a night of terror, literally depending on each other to save their lives, as an unexpected series of events drags them through the volatile streets of Atlanta one October night. Lena and Campbell just want to escape with their lives, but just maybe they will walk away with knowledge and a better understanding of each other.
What makes I'm Not Dying with You Tonight, a story that focuses on how the color of our skin colors our world and our perception of the events that happen within it, unique is that is written by two authors - one white, one black. This "own voices" approach to a novel about race provides an authentic reading experience - we do not have a white author presuming how it feels to be black, nor do we have a black author presuming how it feels to be white. Both sides are given equal representation.
The novel switches back and forth between Lena's and Campbell's viewpoint of the night's events with alternating chapters. This "24 hour story" moves quickly & is action-packed, although the authors do manage to mix in a good deal of character development. I appreciated how the differences in Lena & Campbell's personalities, backgrounds, & experiences provided a contrasting, yet similar examination of the acts violence spreading throughout the streets of Atlanta. This novel does as much to show how we are different as to show how we are the same.
Easy-to-read, compelling, and heart-stopping, I'm Not Dying with You Tonight will be enjoyed by readers of the YA genre who love page-turning books with a lesson to be learned by the last page.
Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it)
- Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
AWARDS: YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2020 GENRE: African American Fiction; Books for Reluctant Readers; Multiple Perspectives; Realistic Fiction THEME: Facing Racism (Whether individual or systemic, racism is a lived experience for the characters in these books.​) PACE: Fast-Paced CHARACTER: Culturally Diverse STORYLINE: Issue-Oriented; Own Voices LOCATION: Atlanta, Georgia SUBJECT: African American Teenage Girls; Cooperation; Personal Perspective; Race Relations; Race Riots; Racism; Riots; Sports Rivalry; Survival; Teenage Girls
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