S&S UK acquires Hammonds Reed’s retelling of Rodney King riots

Simon & Schuster (S&S) Children’s UK has bought the UK and Commonwealth rights to The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed, which is set during the 1992 Rodney King riots.

Rodney King was a construction worker who was violently beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest. Most of the police officers were acquitted (and the jury failed to reach a verdict on the fourth). Riots broke out across Los Angeles after news footage of the beatings was shown around the world.

Hammonds Reed’s book is about a wealthy black teenager who lives in a privileged bubble. But when the riots close in on Ashley and her family the wall they have built around themselves starts to crumble.

Editorial director Jane Griffiths acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein and will publish alongside Simon & Schuster US in September next year.

Griffiths said: “Set against a backdrop of riots and bigotry, The Black Kids transported me instantly to LA in the stifling summer of 1992. An extraordinary coming-of-age novel, from an incredible new talent, The Black Kids may be set in the near-past but its message and heart feels completely relevant and critically important in the current climate.”