Common Sense Media Review
By Andrea Beach
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Moving story of teen caught in unfair justice system.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
DEAR JUSTYCE is the story of Quan, who ever since he was a little kid has tried so hard to keep it together under tough circumstances. He's good at math and loves to read, but the one teacher he has a real connection with goes on maternity leave, and suddenly it's like no one in school even notices him. He tries to protect his younger siblings from his mom's abusive boyfriend. He has a loving and close relationship with his father, but witnesses his father's violent arrest and doesn't see or hear from his father for many years afterward. As he becomes a teen, he starts making some poor choices, but really, what were his alternatives? While spending two years in a juvenile detention facility awaiting trial for murder, he strikes up a correspondence with Justyce, an old friend from the neighborhood who's now a freshman at Yale. Through writing to Justyce, working toward getting a high-school diploma, and getting into therapy for his panic attacks, Quan starts to feel again like he's seen, heard, and valued as a human being, and like he has something to contribute to this world. But with a long jail sentence an almost certainty, how can he hold on to hope?
Is It Any Good?
This moving sequel is a realistic and powerful look at what happens when hope for your future trickles away drop by drop, starting when you're just 9 years old. Like Dear Martin, Quan's story in Dear Justyce has fully believable characters coping with events and circumstances that feel ripped from the headlines. And the story's also told in letters, movie-script dialogue, and straightforward narration. But this time author Nic Stone takes an unblinking look at what can happen to kids who don't have the same kind of support and resources that Justyce had. Thanks to the believable voices of Quan and Justyce, it's always compelling and sometimes frustrating or heartbreaking, sometimes funny, and sometimes even hopeful.
Fans of Justyce will be glad to catch up with him and a few other characters from Dear Martin. And whether readers are new to the franchise or not, there are plenty of new characters to root for and relate to as they ask themselves big, important questions about what people need to grow, thrive, and dream.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Dear Justyce portrays Quan and Justyce. Are they both role models? What are their character strengths and weaknesses?
Why is it important to see different types of people and different skin colors represented in media? How do you feel when there's a character you can identify with? What can you learn about people who are different from you?
Did you read Dear Martin? How does this book compare? Which do you like better? If you didn't read it, would you like to now?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Contemporary Fiction
- Topics : Friendship
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Crown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : September 29, 2020
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 17
- Number of pages : 288
- Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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