True True

By Don P. Hooper

Book Overview

In this powerful and fast-paced YA contemporary debut, a Black teen from Brooklyn struggles to fit in at his almost entirely-white Manhattan prep school, resulting in a fight and a plan for vengeance.

This is not how seventeen-year-old Gil imagined beginning his senior year--on the subway dressed in a tie and khakis headed towards Manhattan instead of his old public school in Brooklyn. Augustin Prep may only be a borough away, but the exclusive private school feels like it's a different world entirely compared to Gil's predominately Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn.

If it weren't for the partial scholarship, the school's robotic program and the chance for a better future, Gil wouldn't have even considered going. Then after a racist run-in with the school's golden boy on the first day ends in a fight that leaves only Gil suspended, Gil understands the truth about his new school--Augustin may pay lip service to diversity, but that isn't the same as truly accepting him and the other Black students as equal. But Gil intends to leave his mark on Augustin anyway.

If the school isn't going to carve out a space for him, he will carve it out for himself. Using Sun Tzu's The Art of War as his guide, Gil wages his own clandestine war against the racist administration, parents and students, and works with the other Black students to ensure their voices are finally heard. But the more enmeshed Gil becomes in school politics, the more difficult it becomes to balance not only his life at home with his friends and family, but a possible new romance with a girl he'd move mountains for. In the end, his war could cost him everything he wants the most.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593462106
• ISBN13: 9780593462102
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.7" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Well written, relevant and powerful

True, True follows Gil, a 17-year-old Black student as he starts his senior year at an elite, mostly white prep school in Manhattan, commuting in from his Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. Gil is dealing with a lot. His father is in Jamaica trying to work on immigration documents to be able to live in the US and his Granma has early-stage dementia. Gil is excited about the academic opportunities at Augustin Prep, especially the school's well-funded robotics team. He is blindsided when he is taunted with a racist slur and attacked by three of the school's football players. He discovers that institutionalized racism runs deep at the school when he is the only one suspended. He looks to Sun Tzu's The Art of War for guidance to fight racism at Augustin. Gil organizes with the other black students who have also encountered everything from microaggressions to overt racism. He becomes overwhelmed juggling this fight with his academics, old friends from Brooklyn, new friends, and family commitments and must learn to prioritize and communicate better with those he cares about. Gil is a likeable character who feels very real, because he sometimes makes poor choices. He grows considerably throughout the course of the story. He realizes that even The Art of War doesn't have all the answers and must forge his own path. True True is often difficult to read because of the appalling racism encountered by Gil and the other students of color. True True is a well-written, immersive, relevant and powerful YA contemporary novel.