The Hate You Give

Rating: [PG-13]

Common Sense Media

Based on author Angie Thomas' award-winning young-adult novel, The Hate You Give follows high schooler Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), who explains that she feels like she lives two lives.

In the first, she's part of a loving family in a predominantly black community in the underserved neighborhood of Garden Heights.

In the second, she's "Starr 2.0," one of very few kids of color at Williamson Prep, a posh private school on the affluent side of town. She never quite feels herself there, but she makes the best of it: She's popular, plays basketball, and has a romance with fellow sneaker-head Chris (K.J. Apa), who's white.

But then Starr's life takes a tragic turn after she leaves a Garden Heights house party with her childhood friend, the Tupac-loving Khalil (Algee Smith), and he's stopped by the police for a seemingly unnecessary reason. When Khalil reaches into the car for a hairbrush, the officer shoots — fatally, as it turns out. Starr is traumatized by Khalil's death and decides not to go public as the witness.

But after the story goes national, Starr feels conflicted by how her prep-school classmates respond and how Khalil is depicted in the media. So she re-evaluates her decision to speak out for her late friend.