I Am Alfonso Jones

Gr 9 Up--Alfonso Jones loves to play trumpet and is thinking of trying out for his class's hip hop--themed Hamlet. On a shopping trip with his crush Danetta, the African American teen, who is looking for his first suit to wear in celebration of his father's release from jail, is shot by a white off-duty cop who incorrectly assumes the suit hanger is a gun. The rest of the graphic novel jumps among Alfonso's past, the aftermath of the shooting, and his experience on a possibly never-ending train ride with other victims of police violence, including Amadou Diallo as his guide. Medina's juggling of the three threads isn't always graceful, but the variation of Robinson and Jennings's panels and design pushes the narrative forward. A teacher's dialogue with Alfonso's classmates is illuminating and realistic. The outrage and grief are palpable, and the black-and-white illustrations enforce the gut-punching pull of each character's journey. And as Alfonso meets the historical figures who preceded him, readers will understand the systemic racism that underlies these violent cases. VERDICT A brutally honest and bleak but necessary selection for all graphic novel collections.--Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal

Readers might feel that Harlem high school student Alfonso Jones is almost too good: he studies hard and always returns from his bike messenger rounds promptly so his mother doesn't worry. But when he goes downtown with his crush to buy a new suit, a cop mistakes the clothes hanger he's holding for a gun and kills him. Readers who wondered at Alfonso's saintliness now watch as the media and justice system rush to vilify him. Alfonso, meanwhile, finds himself on a ghost train with his ancestors, other victims of police killings who share his agony and offer comfort. Enlivened by high-voltage sequential artwork from Robinson and Jennings, Medina (I and I Bob Marley) takes on a host of difficult questions. A hip-hop Hamlet created in Alfonso's English class frames his experience as ghostly murder victim. Alfonso's father, incarcerated for years, has just been exonerated; his triumphant return was the occasion for the suit purchase. At the story's heart is Alfonso's mother's plea: if the officer's school had taught him more about the world, she mourns, he might have seen Alfonso "as a teenager... as an American, as a human." Ages 12-up. (Oct.)