Promise Boys - Timely Thriller

Promise Boys

Author: Nick Brooks. Date: 2023.

ISBN: 9781250866974.

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co

Genre: Thriller.

Reading Level: Grades 9-12.

Trailer: They say that Promise Academy can change a young man's life. Give him new opportunities that People of Color don't usually get. They say a lot. In reality, one afternoon could take away every opportunity three young men could have hoped for. That is, unless they can figure out what really happened.

Before we get started here I think this video is a great way to introduce yourself to this book and its impressive author, Nick Brooks:

So! If you made it through that video you'll know that this book is being adapted into a Netflix show! Super cool. I think you'll under stand why soon.

Promise Boys starts with a bang. Literally. When the strict principal of the elite all-boys school the Promise Academy is found shot dead in his office the lives of three students are forever changed. On that afternoon, each young man becomes a suspect in the principals' murder and faces a lifetime of incarceration. J.B is a young Black man with a good family and a new girlfriend he is eager to spend time with. On the day of the murder he was at school after hours for detention and was seen covered in someone's blood after the shooting. Ramón is a young Latino man with a chef's heart. He was at the school after hours in detention for selling his pupusas on campus. Finally, there is Trey, a young Black man who plays on the Promise Academy basketball team. He was in detention for getting into a physical altercation with the principal the day he was murdered. This The novel follows the three main characters and their closest confidants as they try to prove their innocence and find the true culprit in their principal's murder.

Created by: Nick Brooks is probably one of the coolest humans ever. Truly. He worked as a writer on the popular Star Wars spinoff show The Mandalorian, he writes and directs short films, he has a music career under the moniker Ben Kenobe, and, of course, he write YA fiction (Home, Nick Brooks, n.d). Much of Brooks' work is centered on Black experiences and the Washington D.C area. He wrote and directed a short film called Hoop Dreamin' that received the George Lucas Scholar Award (Home, Nick Brooks, n.d)

Here is his short film, Hoop Dreamin'! I cried, but I'm a crier. Be warned!

Analysis: Promise Boys is a heavy book in a lot of ways, but it is also a lot of fun. Brooks cultivated a great mystery, and the way he incorporates modern communication mediums (like texts) and witness testimony makes the reader feel included in the problem solving process. Brooks masterfully plays with the audience's suspicions and trust. At one moment the reader might question a character and the next they feel bad for even having a doubt. The authenticity of the teen's speech makes the characters all the more real. I personally felt invested in each character introduced, invested AND suspicious.

The heaviness comes from the harsh realities discussed in the book. Namely, the book focuses on the ways People of Color are discriminated against because of their race, background, neighborhood. One dynamic explored was that of a guardian who uses physical violence as punishment and his young ward. It felt valuable to lay out the conflicting perspectives side by side. While the guardian feels that using violence in the home is teaching valuable lessons, the young man experiencing the violence is suffering because he thought it was acceptable to use violence instead of communicating.

Potential Issues: This book discusses some very serious topics and if an individual had issues with any of the content they should be encouraged to use the book as a jumping off point for difficult conversations or leave the book in the Do Not Finish pile.

In the Library: I would love to do a screening of Nick Brooks' short films, possibly in a showing of a collection of short films focused on empowering Black voices. Additionally, it might be fun to feature the book in a book club and then have participants vote on who should be cast in the Netflix adaptation.

Reason for Inclusion: I really wanted to find a book that heavily featured masculine voices. This book is totally focused on dudes and what it means to be a young man.

Sources:

Home. (n.d). Nick Brooks. https://www.thenickbrooks.com/

Nick Brooks. (2018, October 1). Hoop dreamin'. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/292729571

Promise Boys. (2023). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61144954

Tamron Hall Show. (2023). Award-winning author Nick Brooks’ book “Promise Boys” is being adapted for Netflix. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA5w0t78-xE&t=268s

#BlackStories

#thriller

#mystery