Slater, Dashka The 57 Bus

Slater, Dashka            The 57 Bus    Macmillan/Farrar Strauss    2017   300p   17.99  978-1-374-30323-5            hs                    E-BN   

The true story of an agender teen whose skirt is set on fire on an Oakland public bus. Sasha is agender, meaning they do not identify as either male or female. Born as a boy named Luke, Sasha picked their own name, loves wearing skirts and found a wonderful group of friends at their private high school. Notice the use of “their” instead of “he” or “she”: Sasha prefers these pronouns. Richard is a 16 year old African American boy whose mother had him at 14, has been locked up once for fighting, but has a good heart and wants to do better. When Sasha falls asleep on the bus and Richard’s friend suggest lighting their skirt on fire, Richard does it, thinking it will be a harmless prank causing no real damage. When Sasha needs several surgeries and Richard is incarcerated, the story may seem to be over. But this book goes into the detail of the type of people Richard and Sasha are. Their background stories at the beginning will lead readers on a journey that will be much different than simply hearing “a black kid set a white boy in a skirt on fire on a bus”. Because this is a true story, the ending is no secret, but getting to know Richard and Sasha in short chapters that touch on so many aspects of their lives and the case will make readers look at the world differently. Slater has written something that will inspire readers to stop judging, to forgive and to hope.
Daley, Erin            Gender identify, hate crimes, law