Dear Martin is a very good and uplifting book to read. Dear Martin is a story about a boy Justyce and his struggles with being someone of color at a mainly white school. Throughout the book he has an ongoing struggle of being treated differently, this was shown in Chapter One. It was a late night and Justyce dear friend Melo has had one too many and is now very drunk. Justyce sees this and knows she can’t drive home, he takes her, she stumbles, and loses all her belongings. He takes the keys, opens her car and puts her in the backseat. A cop comes and sees what’s happening, and jumps to many conclusions because he is black and Melo is white. In the end Justyce gets arrested for no reason and he feels if he was white there would be no problems. I think that this sparked the story and this really sets the tone for the story.
I feel after reading this book I feel I saw a side to some people's lives that shouldn’t be happening. I have personally never struggled with something like what Justyce has gone through. I love how instead of just accepting the fact that he has to deal with this racial barrier his whole life he strives for change. Change isn’t easy, it takes time, failures, drawbacks, retaliation, and hard work. Justyce knows what he’s going through isn’t overnight, a few months or year change. I feel that Justyce showed resilience through the whole book by not typically fighting back, he did it by speaking up, and sending letters.
The rating I would give this book is a solid 4.5/5. I think that this was a story that many classes should incorporate into curricula. The message it shares and the power behind speaking up after being knocked down constantly is something to want. I also loved how roller coasters like it were. At some moments I'm cheering Justyce on, and at some moments I’m sad and second guessing. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the layout of the book, I feel it was a little too scattered for my liking. For example, one moment he’s talking to a friend then the next page he’s writing a letter. I personally think there were also some questions and comments left unanswered.
I would not recommend this book to one of my friends personally. I feel that racism is a very heavy subject and not something to have somebody read for fun. I don’t think I would have read it if I saw it in a library but thanks to my wonderful English teacher she blessed me with this book so I had to read it. I know many of my friends like action, and comedy books, this sure isn’t that. I would recommend this book to a class. I think that this would be a perfect 6 grade and up book!!