Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

An account of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, focusing particularly on the stories of Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Eddie Lee.Protests erupted in Los Angeles County in April 1992, following the shocking acquittal of four police officers accused of using excessive force in brutally beating King, an unarmed Black man, during a traffic arrest in March 1991. Latasha, a 15-year-old Black girl, also died in March 1991, after being fatally shot from behind by South Korean immigrant store owner Soon Ja Du following a dispute over a bottle of orange juice. Readers get to know King as a loving father, Latasha as a poet and honor student, and Du as a wife and mother working 14-hour days without respite. With tensions already high due to Du's incredibly lenient sentencing in November 1991, violence exploded hours after the acquittal of King's attackers a few months later. Eddie Lee, an 18-year-old Korean American college student, went with friends-against his mother's wishes-to help protect Koreatown shops that were going up in flames and was shot to death, caught in the crossfire between demonstrators and store owners and becoming a symbol of the tragedy. Using scores of interviews, direct quotes, news reports, and archival photographs to sculpt this thoroughly researched history, Yoo vividly and movingly conveys the broader historical context and the many lives that were affected, shedding light on systemic challenges that continue today.A nuanced and necessary narrative. (maps, author's note, in memoriam list, endnotes, bibliography, credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 6 Up— As news quickly spread that the four officers accused of using excessive force in the beating of Rodney King in 1992 received "not guilty" verdicts, protests and violence unfolded across Los Angeles. The city on fire and loss of life was just the culmination of years of unrest and racial tensions. Yoo explores the historical and social contributions to the riots, anchoring the narrative through the lives of King; Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl shot by a Korean store owner; and Eddie Lee, who was shot and killed during the uprising. In a relatively brief text, Yoo offers a complex and nuanced look at racial inequities, the war on drugs, and policing. The impossible task of distilling years of conflict and turmoil into a condensed space is achieved with grace and representation, including interviews, photos, news reports, and more. The narrative unfolding of events is sometimes interrupted by the changing of perspectives or contextual background on a new subject being introduced; however, the overall flow and delivery of information are solid. The photos, which include crime scene photos of gunshot wound victims, may be triggering for some readers. VERDICT Yoo's book is an important, balanced text for collections working to build digestible historical titles related to race and America.— Kaitlin Malixi

Kirkus Reviews

An account of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, focusing particularly on the stories of Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Eddie Lee.Protests erupted in Los Angeles County in April 1992, following the shocking acquittal of four police officers accused of using excessive force in brutally beating King, an unarmed Black man, during a traffic arrest in March 1991. Latasha, a 15-year-old Black girl, also died in March 1991, after being fatally shot from behind by South Korean immigrant store owner Soon Ja Du following a dispute over a bottle of orange juice. Readers get to know King as a loving father, Latasha as a poet and honor student, and Du as a wife and mother working 14-hour days without respite. With tensions already high due to Du's incredibly lenient sentencing in November 1991, violence exploded hours after the acquittal of King's attackers a few months later. Eddie Lee, an 18-year-old Korean American college student, went with friends-against his mother's wishes-to help protect Koreatown shops that were going up in flames and was shot to death, caught in the crossfire between demonstrators and store owners and becoming a symbol of the tragedy. Using scores of interviews, direct quotes, news reports, and archival photographs to sculpt this thoroughly researched history, Yoo vividly and movingly conveys the broader historical context and the many lives that were affected, shedding light on systemic challenges that continue today.A nuanced and necessary narrative. (maps, author's note, in memoriam list, endnotes, bibliography, credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)