Summary

Starr Carter is at a spring break party at the home of a boy named “Big D” in her neighborhood of Garden Heights [3]. Starr is caught between two worlds – this neighborhood, where her father used to be a famous gang member, and the world of Williamson, the white private school she attends. She is at the party with her best friend Kenya, and she runs into an old friend, Khalil Harris, who she has not seen in a while. They talk about his mother, who is a crack user trying to get sober, and the rival gangs in the neighborhood, the Garden Disciples, and the King Lords. Starr's father was a King Lord. Gunshots ring out at the party, and Khalil and Starr flee in Khalil's car. She gets a text from her brother Seven (who is also Kenya's brother). He wants to...