The nickel boys : a novel / Colson Whitehead.
As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men." In reality, the Nickel Academy is a grotesque chamber of horrors where the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear "out back." Stunned to find himself in such a vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold onto Dr. King's ringing assertion "Throw us in jail and we will still love you." His friend Turner thinks Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. The tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades. Formed in the crucible of the evils Jim Crow wrought, the boys' fates will be determined by what they endured at the Nickel Academy.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780385537070
- ISBN: 0385537077
- ISBN: 9780345804341
- ISBN: 0345804341
- Physical Description: 213 pages ; 22 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Doubleday, [2019]
Content descriptions
Awards Note: | Pulitzer Prize (Fiction), 2020 |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Historical fiction. Historical fiction. Bildungsromans. |
Available copies
- 6 of 6 copies available at Lehigh Valley Library System.
Holds
- 1 current hold with 6 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allentown Public Library | WHITEHEAD, COLSON (Text) | 34455006591792 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Bethlehem Coolidge Branch | f (Text) | 33062009229312 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Bethlehem Main Library | f (Text) | 33062009190654 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Bethlehem South Side Branch | f (Text) | 33062009217739 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Easton Main Library | WHITEHEAD (Text) | 31901004368835 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Easton Palmer Branch | WHITEHEAD (Text) | 31901004371888 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
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250 | . | ‡aFirst edition. | |
264 | 1. | ‡aNew York : ‡bDoubleday, ‡c[2019] | |
300 | . | ‡a213 pages ; ‡c22 cm | |
336 | . | ‡atext ‡btxt ‡2rdacontent | |
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520 | 8 | . | ‡aAs the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men." In reality, the Nickel Academy is a grotesque chamber of horrors where the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear "out back." Stunned to find himself in such a vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold onto Dr. King's ringing assertion "Throw us in jail and we will still love you." His friend Turner thinks Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. The tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades. Formed in the crucible of the evils Jim Crow wrought, the boys' fates will be determined by what they endured at the Nickel Academy. |
586 | . | ‡aPulitzer Prize (Fiction), 2020 | |
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650 | 0. | ‡aAfrican Americans ‡xCivil rights ‡vFiction. | |
650 | 0. | ‡aMale friendship ‡vFiction. | |
650 | 0. | ‡aTeenagers ‡vFiction. | |
651 | 0. | ‡aFrenchtown (Tallahassee, Fla.) ‡vFiction. | |
651 | 0. | ‡aFlorida ‡vFiction. | |
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