Pitching Concrete Rose

Book cover for Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

About Concrete Rose 

Concrete Rose is a prequel to Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give. It follows Maverick, the father of Starr Carter in The Hate U Give, as a seventeen-year-old highschool student. He is a senior and a member of the King Lords gang in a fictional Black neighborhood called Garden Heights. This novel confronts toxic masculinity and the overall problem of young boys acting like men. 

Why Does this Book Matter?

This book matters because the characters provide a window or a mirror for young readers. The diverse characters in the story are confronted with life altering decisions, like teen pregnancy and being a part of a gang. Having these difficult and traumatic experiences throughout this novel can help anyone who is going through anything remotely similar. This novel also touches on toxic masculinity, poverty, identity and grief. Concrete Rose includes so many topics that young readers may find themselves in, therefore providing an extremely important mirror. 

This is also an extremely important window for others who have never considered these topics or been confronted with them before. It allows young readers to be exposed to other people’s experiences, and be able to understand the difficult circumstances they find themselves in while withholding judgment. Based on how many topics are touched on during this novel, I think any young reader would be able to recognize themselves or someone they know. 

Passage and Analysis

This passage highlights the difficult choices Maverick is confronted with. The dangerous aspects of drug dealing within the gang is perceived as dangerous by his cousin, Dre, who is also in the gang. Though Dre is part of the gang and is a father himself, he wants more for Maverick’s life. He wants Maverick to be able to have a normal life away from gangs, and a good, stable job to provide for his family. 

Maverick is only seventeen years old and has his life decided for him. However, Maverick is aware that he really does not have many options. Now that he is a teenage father, he must provide for his family. He needs to make more money, so he starts selling more drugs in order to do so. He is also completely aware that he cannot just leave the gang and work for Wal-mart, even if he wanted to. 

As the passage about Kenny reveals, there is no safe way to remove yourself from being part of a gang. As Maverick has a son to think about now, he knows he cannot leave the gang as that risks his life. He also knows the only other way to get away from the gang is to take a charge for another member. His choices become much clearer when this passage is read. He really is doing the best he can under his circumstances. 

This passage puts Maverick’s life in perspective. At first glance, Maverick seems to make questionable decisions which lead him to trouble. However, he is put into dangerous situations which are out of his control based on the necessity to provide for his family, and the dangerous expectations the gang has of its members. 

This novel tackles the idea that people judge others based on their questionable choices, but that these questionable choices are the only ones available to them. It creates a full picture moment, where Maverick’s struggles and limitations are clearly outlined. I think this passage in particular is a powerful moment in the novel to express this.

Here is the  passage that includes a conversation between Maverick and his cousin, Dre. They discuss Maverick’s options to provide for his family. As they discuss, it becomes clear that he has limited options, and his life is not as simple as some may perceive it to be.

Passage: “You claim you a man, prove it. Men own up to their shit. Own up to yours.”

Damn, he had to put it like that. I gotta admit I felt real bad hiding this from Dre. He the big brother I never had. We never keep secrets from each other. And even if I don’t admit it, he gon’ find a way to get the truth. That could be real bad for King. 

I set my son back in his car seat as he fade off to sleep. I can’t let my homeboy get in trouble. I gotta take this one for the team.

“A’ight, yeah,” I say. “I been selling other drugs on the side. Nobody helping. I found a way to get it myself.”

Dre sighs. “What the hell, Mav?”

“I wanna make money! You and Shawn wouldn’t let me sell nothing but

weed.”

“’Cause we looking out for you and the li’l homies. Selling that other shit is dangerous in more ways than one. You don’t need to be doing that.”

I  just look at him. “Fool, you do it!” For real,  he got some nerve lecturing me.

“I’m smart with mine, unlike you,” Dre says. “You probably careless enough to lead the cops right to you. You honestly need to leave this dealing shit alone, period. Weed, rocks, pills, powder, whatever. Let it all go.”

“What? See, now you tripping.”

“I’m serious, Mav. You got a son to think about now—”

“You got a daughter.”

“Yeah, and I want you to learn from my mistakes and be a better father than me,” Dre says. “I hate that this how I gotta provide for Andreanna, but I’m too caught up to get out. You not.” He poke my chest. “We could get you a regular job like Wal-Mart or Mickey D’s—”

“That ain’t no kinda money!”

“It’s clean money,” Dre says. 

“I can talk to Shawn ’bout letting you out the set, too.”

“Oh, you tripping for real,” I say. “Shawn can’t just ‘let me out.’ You know that. You saw what happened to Kenny.”

Kenny is this King Lord who once played football for Garden High. He got a full scholarship offer to one of them big universities and decided he wanted out. Guess he didn’t want the school discovering his  gang ties.There’s only a few ways to get out the King Lords—you either put in some major work like  taking a  charge  for  somebody,  or  you  get  jumped out.

Kenny got jumped. The big homies beat him so bad he ended up in a coma. When he woke up, he was too banged up to take that football scholarship anyway. Getting out ain’t worth it.

“Maybe we could figure out a different way for you,” Dre says.

I shake my head. “Quit lying to yourself, man. Why should I get out anyway? Kinging in our blood, remember?”

“You could break the cycle,” Dre says. “Be better than me, Unc, all of us. Do things the right way.”

“Yeah, that’s easy to say when you driving around in a Beamer,” I say.

“You a hypocrite, dawg. You also a damn fool if you think I’m walking away from this money, especially now that I got a kid.”

“It’s like that? A’ight,” Dre says, nodding. “Either you give it up or I tell Auntie and Uncle Don.”

“Then you’d have to admit to them that you let me sell weed.”

“I’m willing to own up to mine like a man.”

(Thomas 28-29).

Connection to "Adolescent Identites: The Untapped Power of YA."

The 2019 article discussing “Adolescent Identities: The Untapped Power Of YA,” written by Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and Leah Phillips, connects diverse representation in YA literature with activism. This article defines contemporary Western culture as promoting literature with “White, nondisabled, cisgender and heterosexual characters” (Bold and Philips 5) who are represented on a regular basis. They go on to discuss how these “norms” determine that anything other than these representations is not accepted as easily, and deemed as inferior to the Western norms we read about daily. 

This directly connects to Thomas’ Concrete Rose as the diverse representation of the characters fight against these contemporary Western culture norms within literature. Not only are the characters diverse, but the entire Black community, Garden Heights, is a central aspect to the novel. Maverick, the main character, faces issues like gang violence, drugs, and teenage pregnancy, while also trying to find his own identity alongside his unconditional family support and role models. Concrete Rose normalizes difficult subject matter by preventing readers from judging Maverick’s choices, and by encouraging readers to understand what he is being confronted with. What would you do if you were confronted with any of the things Maverick is?

In this article, authors Ramdarshan Bold and Phillips articulate that diverse books are crucial to YA readers because they have the ability to become activists. If young readers become aware of different racial and economic backgrounds and see them represented often, these young readers will inspire an overall change in the “norms” we see now. As well, having more diverse representations and stories will create more windows and mirrors for young readers, hopefully encouraging the future generation more empathetic and knowledgeable. 

Authors like Angie Thomas are an example of an activist working hard to change Western culture norms within YA literature, and evoking a wave of activism with Concrete Rose and her prequel The Hate U Give. With more and more diverse representation in YA literature, the more these norms will begin to change in order to include diverse experiences. With more and more diverse authors, there will eventually be windows and mirrors for every young reader.

Why Does This Book Belong on a Syllabus? 

This book belongs on the syllabus as it confronts so many diverse topics. There are representations of Black characters, a Black neighborhood dealing with gangs, and teenage pregnancy. The novel follows Maverick in orienting himself within a gang, dealing with grief and loss of family, and confronting two teenage pregnancies, all while he is trying to figure out his own identity in his formative highschool years. Identity is a common theme YA literature, so this is another readon that Concrete Rose belongs on the syllabus.

Video:

This video consists of a Cityline interview with Angie Thomas, where they discuss Concrete Rose. They touch on why and how Thomas decided on writing the prequel to The Hate U Give; she explains how inspired the fans were by Maverick who is an amazing character with a difficult past. Thomas believes that with this prequel, she is able to provide the best answers to her fans’ questions. She also addresses important themes included within the novel, primarily toxic masculinity, and why this is such an important topic.

“Angie Thomas on How Her New Book 'Concrete Rose' Was Inspired by the Fans.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Jan. 2021, https://youtu.be/YZn1naiSKz8. Accessed 16 April 2022.