Welcome to today's meeting of the Valshi Band Book Club.

Today we have two incredibly powerful books that are frustratingly timely, even years after their publication.

All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Keely and Dear Martin by Nick Stone.

While the characters, premise, and writing styles differ greatly between the two books,

they both masterfully explore what it means to be a young black

person growing up with the fear that flashing blue and red lights or the arrival of a police

officer could turn deadly. Aside from books written by or about LGBTQ plus individuals,

black stories are the second most targeted for ban in the United States.

And is that any surprise? Black stories and black authors highlight injustices in American society

with clarity that other authors simply cannot. Reynolds and Stone are writing about what they

know and what they've personally experienced.

And if you're lucky enough not to understand those experiences,

then reading this book is just as crucial for empathy and a little bit more understanding.

And of course, there's the crucial issue of representation.

Imagine how it might feel to be a black student walking between the shelves in the

library who cannot find a single story about a kid like them. That is the true power of stories

like All-American Boys and Dear Martin. Let's start with all-American boys.

There's a party at Jill's house on Friday night, and everybody's going, including Rashad, a 16-year-old black teen who loves drawing cartoons of his family and hanging out with

his three best friends.

And Quinn, a white jock of the same age, who now takes

care of his younger brother since his dad died in Afghanistan. Rashad and Quinn don't know each other,

but they both find themselves together at the local convenience store before the party starts.

...