{"product_id":"random-minis-dear-martinisbn-9780593126196","title":"Random Minis: Dear Martin","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller and William C. Morris Award finalist \u003ci\u003eDear Martin\u003c\/i\u003e in a groundbreaking new mini format, perfect for on-the-go reading!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJustyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJustyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up--way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRandom Minis are super-light, cellphone-sized, unabridged books made to fit into a pocket or one hand without sacrificing readability. Other titles include All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Every Day by David Levithan, Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez, and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eNic Stone\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of many novels, including the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eDear Martin \u003c\/i\u003eand its \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling sequel, \u003ci\u003eDear Justyce\u003c\/i\u003e. She also penned the young adult titles \u003ci\u003eOdd One Out\u003c\/i\u003e, an NPR Best Book and an ALA Rainbow Book Top Ten, \u003ci\u003eJackpot\u003c\/i\u003e, a love-\u003cu\u003eish\u003c\/u\u003e story that takes a searing look at economic inequality, and \u003ci\u003eChaos Theory\u003c\/i\u003e, a Southern Book Prize finalist and a YALSA Quick Pick Selection. Her middle-grade novels include \u003ci\u003eClean Getaway\u003c\/i\u003e, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller, and \u003ci\u003eFast Pitch\u003c\/i\u003e, which received two starred reviews including from \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, which said, “Black girl magic hits a home run in Stone’s latest.” Nic lives in Atlanta with her adorable little family.From where he’s standing across the street, Justyce can see her: Melo Taylor, ex-­girlfriend, slumped over beside her Benz on the damp concrete of the FarmFresh parking lot. She’s missing a shoe, and the contents of her purse are scattered around her like the guts of a pulled party popper. He knows she’s stone drunk, but this is too much, even for her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jus shakes his head, remembering the judgment all over his best friend Manny’s face as he left Manny’s house not fifteen minutes ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The walk symbol appears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As he approaches, she opens her eyes, and he waves and pulls his earbuds out just in time to hear her say, “What the hell are you doing here?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce asks himself the same question as he watches her try—­and fail—­to shift to her knees. She falls over sideways and hits her face against the car door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He drops down and reaches for her cheek—­which is as red as the candy-­apple paint job. “Damn, Melo, are you okay?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e She pushes his hand away. “What do you care?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Stung, Justyce takes a deep breath. He cares a lot. Obviously. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t’ve walked a mile from Manny’s house at three in the morning (Manny’s of the opinion that Melo’s “the worst thing that ever happened” to Jus, so of course he refused to give his boy a ride). All to keep his drunken disaster of an ex from driving.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He should walk away right now, Justyce should.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But he doesn’t.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Jessa called me,” he tells her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “That skank—­”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Don’t be like that, babe. She only called me because she cares about you.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jessa had planned to take Melo home herself, but Mel threatened to call the cops and say she’d been kidnapped if Jessa didn’t drop her at her car.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Melo can be a little dramatic when she’s drunk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I’m totally unfollowing her,” she says (case in point). “In life and online. Nosy bitch.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce shakes his head again. “I just came to make sure you get home okay.” That’s when it hits Justyce that while he might succeed in getting Melo home, he has no idea how he’ll get back. He closes his eyes as Manny’s words ring through his head: This Captain Save-­A-­Ho thing is gonna get you in trouble, dawg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He looks Melo over. She’s now sitting with her head leaned back against the car door, half-­asleep, mouth open.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He sighs. Even drunk, Jus can’t deny Melo’s the finest girl he’s ever laid eyes—­not to mention hands—­on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e She starts to tilt, and Justyce catches her by the shoulders to keep her from falling. She startles, looking at him wide-­eyed, and Jus can see everything about her that initially caught his attention. Melo’s dad is this Hall of Fame NFL linebacker (biiiiig black dude), but her mom is from Norway. She got Mrs. Taylor’s milky Norwegian complexion, wavy hair the color of honey, and amazing green eyes that are kind of purple around the edge, but she has really full lips, a small waist, crazy curvy hips, and probably the nicest butt Jus has ever seen in his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e That’s part of his problem: he gets too tripped up by how beautiful she is. He never would’ve dreamed a girl as fine as her would be into him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Now he’s got the urge to kiss her even though her eyes are red and her hair’s a mess and she smells like vodka and cigarettes and weed. But when he goes to push her hair out of her face, she shoves his hand away again. “Don’t touch me, Justyce.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e She starts shifting her stuff around on the ground—­lipstick, Kleenex, tampons, one of those circular thingies with the makeup in one half and a mirror in the other, a flask. “Ugh, where are my keeeeeeeys?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce spots them in front of the back tire and snatches them up. “You’re not driving, Melo.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Give ’em.” She swipes for the keys but falls into his arms instead. Justyce props her against the car again and gathers the rest of her stuff to put it back in her bag—­which is large enough to hold a week’s worth of groceries (what is it with girls and purses the size of duffel bags?). He unlocks the car, tosses the bag on the floor of the backseat, and tries to get Melo up off the ground.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Then everything goes really wrong, really fast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e First, she throws up all over the hoodie Jus is wearing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Which belongs to Manny. Who specifically said, “Don’t come back here with throw-­up on my hoodie.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Perfect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jus takes off the sweatshirt and tosses it in the backseat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When he tries to pick Melo up again, she slaps him. Hard. “Leave me alone, Justyce,” she says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I can’t do that, Mel. There’s no way you’ll make it home if you try to drive yourself.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He tries to lift her by the armpits and she spits in his face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He considers walking away again. He could call her parents, stick her keys in his pocket, and bounce. Oak Ridge is probably the safest neighborhood in Atlanta. She’d be fine for the twenty-­five minutes it would take Mr. Taylor to get here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But he can’t. Despite Manny’s assertion that Melo needs to “suffer some consequences for once,” leaving her here all vulnerable doesn’t seem like the right thing to do. So he picks her up and tosses her over his shoulder.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Melo responds in her usual delicate fashion: she screams and beats him on the back with her fists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce struggles to get the back door open and is lowering her into the car when he hears the WHOOOOP of a short siren and sees the blue lights. In the few seconds it takes the police car to screech to a stop behind him, Justyce settles Melo into the backseat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Now she’s gone catatonic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce can hear the approaching footsteps, but he stays focused on getting Melo strapped in. He wants it to be clear to the cop that she wasn’t gonna drive so she won’t be in even worse trouble.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Before he can get his head out of the car, he feels a tug on his shirt and is yanked backward. His head smacks the doorframe just before a hand clamps down on the back of his neck. His upper body slams onto the trunk with so much force, he bites the inside of his cheek, and his mouth fills with blood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jus swallows, head spinning, unable to get his bearings. The sting of cold metal around his wrists pulls him back to reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Handcuffs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It hits him: Melo’s drunk beyond belief in the backseat of a car she fully intended to drive, yet Jus is the one in handcuffs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The cop shoves him to the ground beside the police cruiser as he asks if Justyce understands his rights. Justyce doesn’t remember hearing any rights, but his ears had been ringing from the two blows to the head, so maybe he missed them. He swallows more blood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Officer, this is a big misundersta—­” he starts to say, but he doesn’t get to finish because the officer hits him in the face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Don’t you say shit to me, you son of a bitch. I knew your punk ass was up to no good when I saw you walking down the road with that goddamn hood on.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e So the hood was a bad idea. Earbuds too. Probably would’ve noticed he was being trailed without them. “But, Officer, I—­”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “You keep your mouth shut.” The cop squats and gets right in Justyce’s face. “I know your kind: punks like you wander the streets of nice neighborhoods searching for prey. Just couldn’t resist the pretty white girl who’d locked her keys in her car, could ya?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Except that doesn’t even make sense. If Mel had locked the keys in the car, Jus wouldn’t have been able to get her inside it, would he? Justyce finds the officer’s nameplate; castillo, it reads, though the guy looks like a regular white dude. Mama told him how to handle this type of situation, though he must admit he never expected to actually need the advice: Be respectful; keep the anger in check; make sure the police can see your hands (though that’s impossible right now). “Officer Castillo, I mean you no disresp—­”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I told your punk ass to shut the fuck up!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He wishes he could see Melo. Get her to tell this cop the truth. But the dude is blocking his view.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Now, if you know what’s good for you, you won’t move or speak. Resistance will only land you in deeper shit. Got it?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cigarette breath and flecks of spit hit Justyce’s face as the cop speaks, but Justyce fixes his gaze on the glowing green F of the FarmFresh sign.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Look at me when I’m talking to you, boy.” He grabs Justyce’s chin. “I asked you a question.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Justyce swallows. Meets the cold blue of Officer Castillo’s eyes. Clears his throat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Yes sir,” he says. “I got it.”","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303484805349,"sku":"NP9780593126196","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593126196.jpg?v=1730754452","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/random-minis-dear-martinisbn-9780593126196","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}