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I Am Alfonso Jones | LitPick Book Reviews
I Am Alfonso Jones
I Am Alfonso Jones
I Am Alfonso Jones
John Jennings, Stacey Robinson, Tony Medina
Named to the 2018 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens list (Young Adult Library Services Association) and the New York Public Library's list of Best Books for Teens.Alfonso Jones can't wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school's hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun, and he shoots Alfonso.When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he's on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso's family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. As they confront their new realities, both Alfonso and those he loves realize the work that lies ahead in the fight for justice.In the first graphic novel for young readers to focus on police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, as in Hamlet, the dead shall speak--and the living yield even more surprises. Featuring a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Manga/Graphic Novel
  • Paranormal

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

I Am Alfonso Jones is about a boy who lives in a rough neighborhood where there is a "war" between the police and the people who live there. The people are mad because they think that the police treat them wrong and that they are killing their children. Alfonso's dad is in jail and will be released soon. Since Alfonso is excited to see him and wants to look nice when they get his dad, he buys a nice suit. That's when he's shot and killed for no reason. When he dies, he wakes up on a train with people who have died from police cruelty, and they help him find his way.

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