Light It Up
By Barbara Saunders,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Strong police shootings story lacks character development.
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What's the Story?
LIGHT IT UP by Kekla Magoon opens one year after an African American boy is shot to death by a police officer. A 13-year-old developmentally disabled Black girl is shot and killed in the same neighborhood. SCORE, an activist organization that takes its cues from the Black Lives Matter movement, gears up to stage a peaceful protest as the community awaits the grand jury's verdict about whether to prosecute. The book is narrated by 15 different individuals who react to these events. The narrators include two activists working at SCORE, other teens in the community, a police officer who serves during the protest, the daughter of the shooter, Black girls who live in the group home with the victim, Black and White college students, and a stepparent who's moved his family to a better neighborhood.
Is It Any Good?
This novel explores the important issue of police shootings of unarmed African American teens but slips into stereotypes and delivers some mixed messages. Light It Up explains the anger over police brutality against unarmed, innocent Black citizens, including children, and shows positive ways that community activists are addressing the issue. It shows how the media can get the story wrong, as well as the ways people can engage with media to get their voices heard. However, there are some weakness in the characterizations. First, selling drugs and being in a gang are normalized and even a bit romanticized. The book also presents graffiti as justified by the importance by the messages. The male-female relationships also present as normal troubling messages like "Girls give sex to get love and boys give love to get sex." The police are portrayed very stereotypically. The shooter also leaves bruises on his wife. Another officer narrates in poetic snippets that come across as robotic.
The multiple narrators help demonstrate how different community members are impacted by the situation, but character development suffers from this technique. Some of the characters seem two-dimensional. In many cases, they don't seem like real people but like personas created to make a point. The police and White characters in particular express points of view that read like caricature written by someone who can't actually empathize with what such a person might believe. The sexual and romantic dynamics between the boys and girls send some negative messages: There's a general theme that boys want it and girls give it, and a lot of girls are under the sway of "bad boys" (and a predatory man).
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the role of law breaking in Light It Up, including civil disobedience, alleged police misconduct, assault of a police officer in defense of a friend, drug dealing, and graffiti. Do you think any of the characters are justified in breaking the law? Why or why not?
How do various forms of media shape public perception and move people to action? Do the arguments on Twitter help or harm the causes people are trying to advance with their posts? How does the senator use the media to shape how the protest plays out?
In creating the numerous narrators, the author uses different styles of language. For example, Tina, a girl with autism, speaks in poems, as does Officer Young. What do you think of that choice? Did you enjoy it?
Book Details
- Author: Kekla Magoon
- Genre: Coming of Age
- Topics: Activism, Friendship, History
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Henry Holt
- Publication date: October 22, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 13 - 18
- Number of pages: 368
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: June 4, 2020
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