Author: Dashka Slater
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Sasha is an agender nonbinary teenager who attends a private school for academically gifted students. Richard attends Oakland High School, is turning his life around, and is determined to graduate. One day they are both on the bus, and Richard is joking around with a lighter and sets Sasha's skirt on fire. Sasha spends months in the hospital, and Richard is arrested, charged as an adult, and could face life in prison if convicted.
What I think (in 250 words or fewer): When I was a teenager, I watched the movie Twelve Angry Men, a story of jurors serving on a murder trial. A lot of damning evidence is presented at the trial, and eleven of the jurors want to immediately come to a guilty verdict. But one juror decides that they need to reexamine the evidence, and in the process, they discover enough reasonable doubt that each juror eventually changes his vote to not guilty.
