ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Stone, Nic

Dear Manny

224 pp. | Crown | March, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9780593308011 $19.99 | Library ISBN 9780593308028 $22.99 | Ebook ISBN 9780593308035 $10.99
(2) YA This third book in the trilogy (Dear Martin, rev. 11/17; Dear Justyce, rev. 11/20) begins by bringing readers back to the moment Jared (who is white) receives the call that his best friend, Manny (who was Black), has been shot and killed. The novel then fast-forwards to when Jared, now a rising junior in college, decides to run for Junior Class Council president against John Preston LePlante IV. Like Jared, John is a legacy at their prestigious Connecticut university. Unlike Jared, John believes that the institution needs to reclaim its "founding standards and traditions"; he supports legacy admissions and the end of affirmative action. Jared knows that he must beat LePlante if change is going to happen. When another candidate, young Black woman Dylan M. Coleman, appears on the ballot, Jared starts to doubt his decision to run, for reasons including a secret from his past. Based on his friend Justyce's advice to keep a "journal of letters to someone who can't respond," Jared begins to write letters to Manny. Through third-person narration and Jared's letters, we learn about the challenges Jared faces as he attempts to reexamine his privilege and do what is right for all the students at their school. As in the previous installments, Stone again deals thoughtfully with issues that are relevant to teens today.
Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?