Learning the back story of Maverick, Starr's dad from The Hate U Give, was so incredibly enjoyable, endearing, and challenging. Maverick's story is one I think we all need to hear: how sometimes there seems to only be one path, and it's ugly. In the beginning of the novel, Maverick finds out he is a father at 17, after a one-night mistake. The baby's mother bolts and Mav finds himself juggling fatherhood and life as a son of a hardworking mother and a father in prison, a friend, a gang member, a sometimes-boyfriend, and a student. Gang life is part of his identity as the son of a former gang lord ... but look where that got his Pops? Is it really what Maverick wants for his life? 

This book is honest and real to the life of teens like Mav. I SO HIGHLY recommend the audiobook done by Dion Graham, who is amazing. I am hoping as I hear more stories like Mav's (and Quan's in Dear Justyce), I will be able to work through my own embedded racist ideas and come out a more compassionate person.