Dear Martin
Dear Martin, published in 2017 by Crown Publishing Group, is a young adult novel by Nic Stone. It is Stone's debut novel, written as a reaction to the murder of Jordan Davis. The book appeared as #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Development and publication. Stone began writing the book after a series of racially-charge events, including the 2012 murder of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old who was killed by a man who shot several rounds into a car of teenagers over a dispute about loud rap music, and the 2014 shooting  of Michael Brown. Stone was also inspired to write the book for her sons. Stone sold her book as a proposal, resulting in her writing and researching simultaneously over an eight-week period to develop a draft. Stone described the experience as "excruciating" and stated that she was not interested in repeating it. "Dear Martin" has been published and translated in Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, UK, Turkey, and Romania. Plot. "Dear Martin" follows Justyce McAllister, a high school student living in Atlanta and attending a predominantly white preparatory high school on a scholarship. Justyce is thrown to the ground  and handcuffed by a white police officer. After the incident, Justyce attempts to make sense of life as a black teenager in the current political climate and begins writing letters to the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, asking himself, "What would Dr. King do if he were alive today?". Reception. The book received a starred review from "Booklist". In February 2020, two years after it was first published, "Dear Martin" again hit the "New York Times" bestseller list, as the #1 Young Adult Paperback. "Dear Martin" received the following accolades: Sequel. Stone wrote a sequel, "Dear Justyce," which  was published in October 2020. The book is about an incarcerated teen, Quan, who is on trial for murder charges. Quan first appears in "Dear Martin" as the cousin of Justyce's best friend. Stone was not planning on writing a sequel, but was encouraged by her publisher and decided to write a book about a "black boy that everybody is afraid of."