I Am Alfonso Jones by Medina, Tony

The Hate U Give meets The Lovely Bones in this unflinching graphic novel about the afterlife of a young man killed by an off-duty police officer, co-illustrated by New York Times bestselling artist John Jennings.

Alfonso Jones can't wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school's hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun, and he shoots Alfonso.

When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he's on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso's family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. As they confront their new realities, both Alfonso and those he loves realize the work that lies ahead in the fight for justice.

Foreword by Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy

Author: Tony Medina
Publisher: Tu Books
Published: 10/10/2017
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781620142639
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.2
Point Value: 2
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 198184 / I Am Alfonso Jones


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2017
Booklist 09/15/2017 pg. 43
School Library Journal 10/01/2017 pg. 115
Publishers Weekly 10/02/2017
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2017
Voice of Youth Advocates 10/01/2017 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Foreword 10/26/2017
Library Journal 01/01/2018 pg. 85
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2018 pg. 90
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2018 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author

Tony Medina is the author of six beloved books for young readers, as well as multiple volumes of poetry for adults. A Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and a professor of creative writing at Howard University, Dr. Medina is a two-time winner of the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. He lives in the Washington, DC area.

John Jennings co-edited the Eisner-nominated anthology The Blacker the Ink. He is a professor of media and cultural studies at the University of California, Riverside, and the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship at Harvard's Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. Jennings lives in California.

Stacey Robinson is an assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois and an Arthur Schomburg Fellow with an MFA from the University at Buffalo. As part of the team "Black Kirby," he works with fellow artist John Jennings to create graphic novels, gallery exhibitions, and lectures that deconstruct the work of comic book legend Jack Kirby into re-imagined Black resistance spaces inspired by hip-hop, religion, the arts, and sciences. Robinson lives in Illinois and can be found on Twitter (@ProfSARobinson) and Instagram (@StaceyARobinson).