The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book for teens that chronicles the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.
Two ends of the same line. Two sides of the same crime. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a Black teen, lived in the economically challenged flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight. But in The 57 Bus, award-winning journalist Dashka Slater shows that what might at first seem like a simple matter of right and wrong, justice and injustice, victim and criminal, is something more complicated--and far more heartbreaking. Awards and Accolades for The 57 Bus:A New York Times Bestseller
Stonewall Book Award Winner
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book Winner
A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Don't miss Dashka Slater's newest propulsive and thought-provoking nonfiction book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed, the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner which National Book Award winner Ibram X. Kendi hails as "powerful, timely, and delicately written."
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A New York Time Bestseller
Stonewall Book Award--Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children's & Young Adult Literature Award Winner
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book
A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
A TAYSHAS Reading List Selection
School Library Journal Best LGBTQIA+ Book
A Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List Selection
An Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award Nominee
A James Cook Honor Book for Diversity in Teen Literature
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Top Ten Book for Teens
California Library Association's Beatty Award Winner
An ILA Notable Book for a Global Society
An OLA Sequoyah Book Award Winner
A Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award Nominee
A Florida Teens Read Book List Selection
Green Mountain Book Award Winner
A Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee
"A powerful story of class and race (Sasha is white), gender and identity, justice and mercy, love and hate. Slater has crafted a compelling true-crime story with ramifications for our most vulnerable youth." --The Horn Book "This book challenged my views and it started a conversation in my house that I thought I'd never have. We all changed, at least in my house, because of this book." --Kate Terbush, Burbank Leader "Slater approaches both students' perspectives with nuance and complexity, and while there are no easy answers in this narrative, her compassionate writing shows that there's often more to the story than we see." --TIME Magazine "A thought-provoking tale of class, race, gender, morality and forgiveness . . . 'The 57 Bus' will leave you with a hole in your heart and tears running down your cheeks. For a book about a horrible crime, the amount of love is remarkable." --The Daily Californian
