Anger is a Gift--"You gotta grasp on to it, hold it tight and use it as ammunition. You use that anger to get things done instead of just stewing in it."

Title: Anger is a Gift

Author: Mark Oshiro


LGBTQ+ Representation: Gay, lesbian, biromantic/bisexual, LGBTQ+ adults, transgender, asexual, nonbinary


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Moss is a sixteen-year-old African-American boy with a great group of friends and a new love interest (cute Javier!). But Moss wishes he could be someone else--someone who doesn't suffer from panic attacks as a result of witnessing the police kill his innocent father. When the school administration begins an "enhanced security program" at the financially-stressed high school, Moss and the community, tired of being treated like criminals, stand up for themselves via organized protests.


What I think: This story is amazing, and I couldn't put it down--except, of course, when I HAD to put it down due to my anger and frustration--

In which I tweet my displeasure at a major event in the story, claiming "never to speak to author again" while already picking up the book to finish reading it.

My goodness, I am not going to spoil the part I tweeted about, but I was surprised, heartbroken, and uncertain how Moss could go on with life after this event.

Sadly, I realize then these situations like these with police are all too familiar for people of color, especially for African-American man. While I, a white child attending a Catholic grade school, received cheerful coloring book pages featuring smiling police officers holding children's hands; minority children, in a nearby public school, watched their innocent neighbors be murdered at the hands of the police officers, the ones who are supposed to SERVE AND PROTECT.

I'M SO ANGRY AT THE SYSTEM. It's not fair and shouldn't be this way.

However, this book is not full of passive victims. The students enlist the help of the parents and the adults in their community to help them, and I was super impressed with the character of Moss's mother, Wanda. A common young adult trope is to get rid of the adults somehow so that the teenagers are alone to drive the story along and save the day--but Anger is a Gift avoids that trope entirely.

Wanda is a great mother; she holds Moss, cries with him, empathizes with him, and offers him unwavering support. Wanda is not the only supportive adult and parent found in the story, either: several of the parents of Moss's friends make appearances and support the school protests.

I also really appreciate the diversity in this book. White, black, latinx, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, disabled, epileptic, mental illnesses, PTSD and panic attacks, undocumented immigrant, a transracial adoption--what an amazing cast of characters! Even though I am not a teenager, I still enjoy reading characters with which I can identify, and not often do you have characters who are biromantic, asexual, and live with mental illnesses all in the same book.

I emphasize strongly with the teacher, trying to teach her class with tattered copies of (ironically) Things Fall Apart (I spent hundreds of my own dollars as a teacher to replace old copies of books). I worked with some outstanding resource officers at schools who had great relationships with students; the terrible behavior of the one in the book is horrifying.

I also, in a small, SMALL way, understand and perhaps relate to the administrator of the school. I definitely did NOT agree with him or support his choices, but I know how politics can be--he got into a situation that was out of his control. I also empathize with Esperanza; she is in a hard position; she doesn't quite understand her privilege; she's a self-centered teenage girl (which is not meant to be a criticism. Most teenagers ARE self-centered. It's a common part of being a teen).

Esperanza's parents, on the other hand: DO NOT relate and do NOT feel sympathy for them. The worst part about reading what they did is that I know probably hundreds of well-meaning people who would do the same thing. And that's terrifying to me.

Oshiro mentioned in an interview that he had originally planned for this story to be a sci-fi thriller, and although most of Anger is a Gift is realistic fiction, I can see bits and pieces of the sci-fi concept in the book, especially during a couple of intense chase scenes with some terrifying government-sanctioned weapons.

I would like to think that all of the surveillance equipment and weapons mentioned in the book are fictional--but I doubt it. I know some of the crowd and riot control techniques, such as tear gas, are very real.

I've worked at schools with metal detectors. And although the students were used to them and often went through the system, it seemed that most of them knew clever ways to get through them and sneak contraband in--the detectors were often much more a pain for the teachers than protection for the students, to be honest: fancy-looking technology that might reassure naive outsiders but did not impress insiders.


Enabling Text: I used Anger is a Gift for a project in my Reading and Literacy in Libraries class. For the assignment, I was to read a book that is an enabling text for African-American youth. "Enabling texts are those that encourage and empower young men to take action in their own lives and in the lives of others" (SOURCE). Learn more about enabling texts here, which is also where I found the rubric about identifying enabling texts.

Anger is a Gift easily checks almost every qualification on the enabling texts rubric; however I highlighted one definition in each characteristic to discuss with this book.

Enabling texts rubric. The highlighted portions will be reiterated and explained below.

Here are brief explanations of man of the ways in which Anger is a Gift meets the qualifications of an enabling text.

• Shows black youth defending themselves: Moss and his friends, even though they do express their sorrow and frustration at the events, they are not passive victims. They organize protests, they stand up for themselves, and Moss especially refuses to back down. I loved the very end of the book; no, it's not a happily-ever-after and I'd be surprised if it hasn't caused some controversy somewhere--but I found Moss's action deliciously satisfying.
      
• Takes place within the context of their [African-American youth's] life experience: Racism and corruption, not to mention police violence, is a part of many African-Americans' life experience.
      
• Contains content that will cause them to take action in their own lives: Nothing that Moss and the other characters do in this book is impossible for teenagers to do. This story may inspire teenagers to meet with their fellow students, parents, and community members to change their schools and neighborhoods.
       
• Speaks to the power of the individual and collective: Moss does not work alone, nor does he even consider working alone. He solicits help from his mom and friends right away, and they are more powerful together. However, Moss is pretty powerful and influential on his own, as a key event near the end of the story proves.
     
• Recognizes, honors, nurtures multiple identities: The book emphasizes all of these identities in some way, but the ones that stand out to me the most are sexuality (LGBTQ+ identities are represented, but homophobia is not an issue, due to more pressing issues) and economic (Esperanza might recognize her privilege, but she does not seem to understand how this makes her different from her friends).
      
• Shows black youth and/or adults as problem solvers: Again, both adults and students organize and participate in demonstrations and protests.
      
• Complex and Multi-layered: Definitely. The characters are complicated, flawed, and interesting. Not a simple story.
       
• Avoids caricatures: Anger is a Gift avoids all the listed caricatures except for one: fatherless. However, it is not a "cliche" fatherless story: Moss's father is not a criminal, nor does he abandon his family by choice; nor is he in prison.
       
• Provides guidance and/or offers wisdom to the protagonist: Easy answers to the problems in the story do not exist; therefore, the story does not have a happy, satisfying ending. However, a lot of lessons are there to learn, including not remaining complacent in the face of adversity and working together with community to facilitate change and improvements.

If you would like to view my Enabling Text Book Club Plan for Anger is a Gift, click here.


This book is on the 2019 Rainbow Book List.


My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): If you read The Hate U Give and All American Boys and couldn't put them down but got ABSOLUTELY INFURIATED at the state of the world, and if you need some righteous anger to motivate yourself work tirelessly to CHANGE THE WORLD, then read Anger is a Gift.

Plus, Moss is absolutely adorable and deserves all the good things. I'd love an update story about what he accomplishes in the future--Moss is bound for greatness.


Memorable quotes/passages from the book:

• "He cried because his world was split. He'd been cursed with violence and loss. He'd been blessed with love and support. He couldn't separate them, and he had to learn to live with both" (pg. 92).
     
• "Esperanza’s parents were well-meaning, but occasionally clueless, certainly unprepared for the complications of adopting a brown girl and raising her in a white home. . . It felt like they’d cemented a mutual bond that couldn’t be broken by anything" (pg. 146-147).
   
• “'Anger is a gift. Remember that.' She stood. 'You gotta grasp on to it, use it as ammunition. You use that anger to get things done instead of stewing it in'” (pg. 169).
      
• “It feels like we’re in one of those trendy dystopian novels . . . except a lot less white” (pg. 237)

Other reviews: Latinxs in Kid Lit and Breeny's Books


If you liked this book, you should read The 57 Bus, Symptoms of Being Human, and Wide Awake.


**********

This book is available here: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/

Learn more about the Rainbow Book List here: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt