Christina Hammonds Reed

Christina Hammonds Reed ‘s work has appeared in ELLE, Teen Vogue, the Santa Monica Review and One Teen Story. The Black Kids (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), Hammonds Reed ‘s debut novel, is set in Los Angeles, 1992. It’s the end of senior year and Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. As the city burns, the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble, and her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots, while Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. With her world splintering around her, she is left to question: who is the us? And who is the them? In a starred review, School Library Journal called The Black Kids “Incredibly nuanced…An excellent addition to all teen collections with a relatable main character who will lead readers through this heated moment in time.”