I Am Alfonso Jones
By Tony Medina
Illustrated by Stacey Robinson, John Jennings
Paperback: $18.95
Ebook
View the Teacher's GuideIn the first graphic novel for young readers to focus on police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, as in Hamlet, the dead shall speak—and the living yield even more surprises.
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.
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School Library Journal
Nikki Giovanni
LeVar Burton, Actor, Director, Author, and Reading Activist
Daniel José Older, award-winning author of SHADOWSHAPER
Gene Luen Yang, award-winning author of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE
Ibi Zoboi, award-winning author of AMERICAN STREET
Randy DuBurke, illustrator of YUMMY: THE LAST DAYS OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY
Katheryn Russell-Brown, University of Florida Law professor, Director, UF Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations, and author of LITTLE MELBA AND HER BIG TROMBONE
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About the Creators
Tony Medina - Author
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.
Stacey Robinson
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).
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.
Related Titles
About This Title
ISBN
Paperback: 9781620142639
E-Book: 9781620145913
Awards
Best Books for Teens
New York Public Library
The Latinidad List of Best Books of 2017
Latinidad
In the Margins Top Ten List
In the Margins
Starred Review
School Library Journal
Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens
American Library Association (ALA)
Ten Best Graphic Novels of 2017
Forbes
Choices
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Skipping Stones Honor Award
Skipping Stones Magazine
Best Books for Kids
New York Public Library
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Nominee
Maryland Association of School Libraries
Guided Reading:
Z+Lexile:
GN640LInterest Level:
Grades 6 - 12Reading Level:
Grades 6 - 12Themes
African/African American Interest, Civil Rights Movement, Coping with Death, Courage, Cultural Diversity, Discrimination, Empathy/Compassion, Families, Fathers, History, Latino/Hispanic/Mexican Interest, Mothers, Multiethnic interest, New York, Overcoming Obstacles, Persistence/Grit, Poetry, Protest, Realistic Fiction, Teen Interest, United States History, YA interest
Part of These Collections
African American English Collection High School, Black History Collection Grades 7-12, Fluent Dual Language , Teaching Tough Topics with Children's Literature Webinar, English Guided Reading Level Z+, Graphic Novel Collection, Young Adult Collection, Social and Emotional Learning Collection, Social Activism Collection, Trauma-Informed Collection, Civil Rights Book Collection, Anti-Racism Book Collection, Reconstruction Webinar Collection High-Low Books for Teens: Middle and High School,
