The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give was a ”game changer for both YA fiction and BAME publishing”, according to this year’s Children’s Book of the Year judges, who described the début novel from US author Angie Thomas as both timely and essential.

Thomas penned the story about Starr—a girl whose life is divided between the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised, and her high school in the suburbs—for all the black girls who want to see themselves in books, saying: “We often see blackness in the media perceived in a negative light and I wanted to fight against that.”

The judges were impressed with Walker Books’ campaign to reach beyond traditional book-buying audiences, which included a collaboration with marketing agency Livity to create social media hype, and an event with the Mayor of London’s office. Performers from the black British community, as well as Matthew Ryder, deputy mayor for social mobility, spoke to the 300 attendees at the event, creating dialogues about race, culture and social change.

Walker Books sold more than 35,000 copies of the book in the UK through Nielsen’s Total Consumer Market and 32,000 export copies, making The Hate U Give its biggest-selling YA début ever. Last month the book was crowned the overall winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and it has won two Goodreads Choice Awards; one for Best Début Author and the other for Best YA Fiction.

It shares the prize with The Lost Words. There was a genuine split in the judges’ room, with the panel unanimous that both books should win.