It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant.

The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city.

Starr becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil.

The Hate U Give was published on February 28, 2017, by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray, which had won a bidding war for the rights to the novel.

"[3] The deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Sandra Bland drew Thomas back to expand the project into a novel,[2] which she titled after Tupac's "THUG LIFE" concept: "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.

"[4] Events surrounding the killings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile[5] and Michael Brown,[6] and widespread ensuing protests against racism and police brutality, also informed moments in the book.

Unsure whether publishers would be interested in the Black Lives Matter-inspired material, Thomas reached out to literary agent Brooks Sherman on Twitter in June 2015 to ask for advice.

[7] In February 2016, HarperCollins' imprint Balzer + Bray bought the rights to the novel in an auction, outbidding 13 other publishing houses,[8] and signed a two-book deal with Thomas.

Following his release, Maverick left the gang and became the owner of the Garden Heights grocery store where Starr and her older half-brother Seven work.

The failure of the criminal justice system to hold One-Fifteen accountable pushes Starr to take an increasingly public role, first giving a television interview and then speaking out during the protests, which are met by police in riot gear.

[11] By maintaining realism, and explicitly naming real-world victims of police brutality, Haddad contends that Thomas is able to spur action in her readers.

[11] By contrast, Vox's Constance Grady argues that this realism is what makes the novel ultimately work to larger purposes: "The specificity and whimsy of ideas like the anger scale of breakup songs is what keeps The Hate U Give moving so deftly through its heavy subject matter; it stays warm and focused and grounded in character even when it's dealing with big, amorphous ideas like systemic racism.

[14][16] The novel also shows Starr's parents' struggles with remaining connected to their community while needing to protect and give opportunity to their children.

[18] Before its publication, exploring a female perspective on the isolation and need to be a model minority at an elite private school was something which had not been conducted in literature or film with the same frequency as for males.

But, as Khalil explains to Starr, just minutes before the cop pulls them over, it's really an indictment of systemic inequality and hostility: “What society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out.” [10] The novel does not shy away from the realities of urban life, exemplified by the title's reference to the Tupac Shakur quote.

[22] As Starr finds her own agency, she is able to challenge this narrative first for herself and then for others, recognizing that Khalil was forced into these circumstances by poverty, hunger, and a desire to care for his drug addict mother.

[28] In the Christian Science Monitor, Katie Ward Beim-Esche wrote, "Believe the hype: The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas's extraordinary and fearless debut, really is that good.

"[24] While praising the overall book in a starred review, School Library Journal's Mahnaz Dar criticized the writing of several characters as "slightly uneven.

[34] The Horn Book Magazine,[35] Kirkus Reviews,[6] Publishers Weekly,[36] and Shelf Awareness,[37] among others, named it one of the best young adult novels of 2017.

"[76] In July 2018, a South Carolina police union raised objections to the inclusion of the book, as well as the similarly themed All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, in the summer reading list for ninth-grade students of Wando High School.

A woman is revealed to be a sex worker.” [80] Fox 2000 optioned The Hate U Give for a film adaption in March 2017, shortly after the book's auction.

[2] The movie also features Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, KJ Apa, Lamar Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Common,[81] and Sabrina Carpenter.

[92] Odyssey committee chair Joan Schroeder Kindig said, "Bahni Turpin's powerful narration of this timely novel will inspire listeners to find their own voices.

"[90] Publishers Weekly, in its starred review of the audiobook, praised Turpin's abilities to convey "the complexity of the 16-year-old protagonist who sounds both youthful and mature for her age, as she relies on code-switching to navigate two different social settings.