January 15, 2025
A white Ivy League student reconsiders his racial and class privilege when he runs for student government. After the death of his best friend, Manny Rivers--a Black teenager who was fatally shot by an off-duty cop--Jared Peter Christensen realized that his whiteness and wealth protected him from the bigotry that Manny couldn't escape. Now a rising junior at an elite college in Connecticut, Jared wants to make a meaningful impact on the world. He's also determined to block John Preston LePlante IV, a self-proclaimed "blue-blooded Florida boy," from winning junior class council president. But Jared's plans are thrown for a loop when he meets Dylan Marie Coleman, a Black transfer student who enters the campus election. Initially guarded, Dylan opens up to Jared, and a mutual yet fragile romantic attraction blooms. As Jared tries to sort out his conflicting feelings, he writes letters to Manny. Can he earn Dylan's heart and--more importantly--shed his old habits? In this final installment of Stone's trilogy that began withDear Martin (2017), Jared's fraught journey is depicted with nuance, emotional honesty, and accessible realism. Through his mistakes, Jared learns about the insidious consequences of white supremacy and his complicity in a corrupt system. The positive ending rightfully doesn't fully resolve all the lingering questions, and readers will wonder if Jared continues to evolve or if his resolutions are fleeting promises. A concise, thoughtful narrative that challenges the concept and ideals of allyship through an unexpected lens. (author's note)(Fiction. 14-18)
COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
March 1, 2025
This third book in the trilogy (Dear Martin, rev. 11/17; Dear Justyce, rev. 11/20) begins by bringing readers back to the moment Jared (who is white) receives the call that his best friend, Manny (who was Black), has been shot and killed. The novel then fast-forwards to when Jared, now a rising junior in college, decides to run for Junior Class Council president against John Preston LePlante IV. Like Jared, John is a legacy at their prestigious Connecticut university. Unlike Jared, John believes that the institution needs to reclaim its "founding standards and traditions"; he supports legacy admissions and the end of affirmative action. Jared knows that he must beat LePlante if change is going to happen. When another candidate, young Black woman Dylan M. Coleman, appears on the ballot, Jared starts to doubt his decision to run, for reasons including a secret from his past. Based on his friend Justyce's advice to keep a "journal of letters to someone who can't respond," Jared begins to write letters to Manny. Through third-person narration and Jared's letters, we learn about the challenges Jared faces as he attempts to reexamine his privilege and do what is right for all the students at their school. As in the previous installments, Stone again deals thoughtfully with issues that are relevant to teens today. Nicholl Denice Montgomery
(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from February 1, 2025
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Stone's duology Dear Martin (2017) and Dear Justyce (2020) becomes a de facto trilogy with Dear Manny, which has as its protagonist Jared Peter Christensen, a white secondary character from the first two volumes. Jared is a student at Yale, where his roommate and best friend is the eponymous Justyce, who suggests that Jared write letters to Manny, Jared's former best friend, who was shot and killed by a police officer. Meanwhile, Jared has decided to run for Junior Class Council President; his opponent is the insufferable John Preston LePlante IV, whose politics are to the right of Attila the Hun. Jared is surprised to learn that there will be a third candidate, Dylan, whom he doesn't know--and who turns out to be not just a Black girl but beautiful as well. They begin a friendship that is not without its complications, especially when Jared discovers Dylan's closely guarded secret. What impact will it have on their relationship and the election? Stone has done a brilliant job with this memorable character-driven novel. It's beautifully written (one character is "cooler than a polar bear's butt") with spot-on dialogue and clever plotting. It's great fun to read while also being thought-provoking. Dear Nic: congratulations on another great success.
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March 1, 2025
Gr 9 Up-This book ventures where no Stone book has gone before: into the mind of a white teenage boy. Jared P. Christensen was a total tool in Dear Martin, a surprising ally in Dear Justyce, and now he's progressed into a sympathetic protagonist. Readers join him during his second sophomore semester at Yale, where Jared somewhat begrudgingly enters the Junior Class Presidential race. There, he's sandwiched between two opponents-a galling conservative who "has zero qualms about tossing [the] campus back to 1869," and an attractive Black young woman with boundary-bashing liberal views. Stone brings her typical empathetic pleas for awareness into this new viewpoint. Jared is not perfect. He's still learning and making stupid mistakes. But his desire to recognize his privilege and use it for good is admirable. Along the way, Stone seamlessly educates readers about Constitutional rights and Black history, making a measured case for wider understanding when approaching all social issues. VERDICT A startlingly effective snapshot of cis white male frustration and growth, this also succinctly examines the societal effects of political moves. For high school collections.-Cat McCarrey
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