I Am Alfonso Jones

By Tony Medina, John Jennings, Stacey Robinson
Paperback: $18.95

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.

Description

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

About the Creators

Tony Medina

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

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

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).

Awards

  • Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Top Ten

    Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

  • Best Graphic Novels

    Forbes

  • CCBC Choices

    Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

  • Black-Eyed Susan Award Nominee

    Maryland Association of School Librarians

Reviews

  • * "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."

    - School Library Journal
  • "We are so fortunate that Tony Medina and his generation have taken on their shoulders the classic responsibilities of telling stories that embrace the hearts and souls of not only the individuals but the neighborhoods. A comic book is no longer something to laugh with but something to learn from. I Am Alfonso Jones is incredibly enlightening."

    - Nikki Giovanni
  • "In the aftermath of his senseless murder at the hands of a policeman, Alfonso's story powerfully illustrates the value inherent in every human life and the tragedy of loss by all who are impacted."

    - LeVar Burton, Actor, Director, Author, and Reading Activist
  • "Medina, Robinson, and Jennings do for us what the ghosts do for Alfonso in their story. They help us to see. They help us to remember. They help us to understand. A must read."

    - Gene Luen Yang, award-winning author of American Born Chinese
  • "Brimming with history and spirituality, I Am Alfonso Jones is a refreshing and necessary exploration into police brutality. With both word and art, Medina and Jennings have breathed new life into this longstanding movement."

    - Ibi Zoboi, award-winning author of American Street
  • "I can't say enough how important, beautiful, heartbreaking, and tremendous a book this is. Read it. Gift it to a young person in your life. Shout it from the rooftops. I Am Alfonso Jones is a crucial part of the conversation and it demands to be heard."

    - Daniel José Older, author of Shadowshaper and Shadowhouse Fall
  • "I Am Alfonso Jones is a wonderful, sad, anger inducing, slice of life and afterlife with a helping of Hamlet sprinkled in for flavor, of a graphic novel. It paints a searing portrait of the emotional heart break and pain at the origins of the Black Lives Matter movement."

    - Randy DuBurke, illustrator of Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
  • "I Am Alfonso Jones is many things—a thoughtful, multi-layered story, a history lesson, and a sobering tale of race and justice in these times. This riveting graphic novel is for young people who deserve a better world and for adults dedicated to helping them achieve it."

    - Katheryn Russell-Brown, author of Little Melba and her Big Trombone
  • "[Medina] preserves a thoughtful perspective and a sense of balanced humanity through Alfonso's loving family and his school cohort, and he staves off suffocating solemnity with a lyrical turn of phrase and insightful allusions to literary ghosts."

    - Booklist
  • "If readers pick up this graphic novel, with its edgy black and white artwork spilling rapidly from one visual genre to the next, looking for a bit of urban grit laced with a few squeaks of outrage, they will find instead an argument that cuts right past the polite give-and-take of community policing issues to the urgency of the Black Lives Matter call for immediate justice without excuses. . . Unapologetic about its anger, this title will resonate with readers for whom "No justice, no peace" is more than a meme."

    - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
  • "No contrived solutions or false sense of closure disrupt the narrative's expanding path as it touches on related issues of poverty and mass incarceration. An appended author's note, information about The Real-Life Ancestors of This Book (e.g., Eleanor Bumpurs, Amadou Diallo), and an Ancestors Wall listing the names, ages, and dates and places of death bring readers back to the real-life victims of police violence and leave them with a concluding call to action."

    - The Horn Book
  • "There are no pat solutions here, and readers are left to wonder if Alfonso will ever leave the ghost train. . . Painfully important."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "Enlivened by high-voltage sequential artwork from Robinson and Jennings, Medina takes on a host of difficult questions. . . 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.'"

    - Publishers Weekly
  • "Medina's characterizations are detailed and appealing, using language natural to teens. . . A valuable tool for educating young people about the history of police injustice."

    - Foreword Reviews

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781620142639
  • Publication Date Oct 10, 2017
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.75 lbs
  • Page Count 176
  • Interests

  • Audience Young Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 YAF / Comics & Graphic Novels / Paranormal
  • BISAC Category 2 YAF / Social Themes / Prejudice & Racism
  • BISAC Category 3 YAF / People & Places / United States / African American
  • Themes African / African American / Black, Civil Rights Movement, Coping with Death, Courage, Cultural Diversity, Discrimination, Empathy / Compassion, Families, Fathers, Fiction, Graphic Novel, History & Civics, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, Mothers, Multiple Ethnicities Represented, Overcoming Obstacles, Persistence / Grit, Poetry, Protest, Realistic Fiction, Social & Emotional Learning, Social Justice & Activism, Teen Interest, United States History, YA interest
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 12 - 18
  • Grade Range Grades 6 - 12
  • Guided Reading Z+
  • DRA 80
  • Interest Level Grades 6 - 12
  • Lexile Code GN
  • Lexile Level 640
  • Reading Level Grades 6 - 12
  • Bebop Reading Advanced
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