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One of the Good Ones by Maika and Maritza Moulite
When Kezi Smith loses her life after an encounter with police at a Black Lives Matter protest, her sister Happi questions the media's portrayal of a sister she was never really close to. Pressed by her older sister and other friends, Happi joins a road trip along Route 66 to commemorate the memory of her sister, stopping at historical black safe houses noted in the "Negro Motorist Green Book." The journey prompts Happi and the other women to grieve, ponder personal ways to remember Kezi, and reflect on the scope and history of racial injustice.
Review from School Library Journal:
On Kezi Smith's 18th birthday, she was excited to attend her first in-person social justice rally after building a large YouTube following from videos sharing her thoughts about social justice. Kezi is arrested at the rally, then dies as a result of police brutality, and the book slowly reveals what happened that day. As they continue to mourn Kezi, her parents reluctantly give their two other daughters, Genny and Happi, permission to travel Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, stopping along the way to visit locations identified by Kezi in the Negro Motorist Green Book and providing updates and historical information for Kezi's YouTube channel. One of the stops is the bridge where their great-grandfather was lynched when his family ran out of gas in a sundown town. Throughout the journey, Happi learns more about her sister and struggles with the distance she had placed between them that she always hoped would be fixed with more time. In addition to Kezi's and Happi's perspectives, readers also hear from the girls' grandmother, Evelyn, and from another young girl in L.A., Shaqueria, who is trying to make it as an actress. Bahni Turpin, Jordan Cobb, and Carolyn Smith narrate the multiple voices in the novel making each one instantly recognizable as they take turns.
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