All American Boys by J. Reynolds & B. Kiely

• All Rashad Butler wanted was a bag of chips when he stops in the corner store on Friday night.   Instead, he found cop Paul Galluzzo who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter and beats him to a pulp.
• Varsity basketball player Quinn Collins witnesses the altercation and can't reconcile the Paul who's been like a surrogate-father to him after his dad died in Afghanistan with the brutal Officer Galluzzo who he sees beating his classmate.
• In the aftermath of the incident as students and the community take sides, the basketball team is divided, and Rashad and Quinn both struggle with how to move forward, having to decide what kind of men they want to become.
  

This is a topical book that examines what's going on in our society today in terms of race and police brutality -- but more importantly, it's a well-written story told from the perspectives of an African-American teen and a white teen, and the authors explore both sides with finesse.

Grades 8-12