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Dashka Slater

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A book based on a true story

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The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives Kindle Edition

by Dashka Slater (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 3,822 ratings

in Teen & Young Adult Law & Crime Nonfiction eBooks

See all formats and editions

The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book for teens that chronicles the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.

Two ends of the same line. Two sides of the same crime.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a Black teen, lived in the economically challenged flatlands and attended a large public one.

Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight. But in The 57 Bus, award-winning journalist Dashka Slater shows that what might at first seem like a simple matter of right and wrong, justice and injustice, victim and criminal, is something more complicated—and far more heartbreaking.

Awards and Accolades for The 57 Bus:
A New York Times Bestseller
Stonewall Book Award Winner
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book Winner
A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

Don’t miss Dashka Slater’s newest propulsive and thought-provoking nonfiction book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed, which National Book Award winner Ibram X. Kendi hails as “powerful, timely, and delicately written.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The text shifts from straightforward reporting to lyrical meditations, never veering into oversentimentality or simple platitudes. Readers are bound to come away with deep empathy for both Sasha and Richard. VERDICT Slater artfully unfolds a complex and layered tale about two teens whose lives intersect with painful consequences. This work will spark discussions about identity, community, and what it means to achieve justice." --School Library Journal starred review

"With a journalist's eye for overlooked details, Slater does a masterful job debunking the myths of the hate-crime monster and the African-American thug, probing the line between adolescent stupidity and irredeemable depravity. Few readers will traverse this exploration of gender identity, adolescent crime, and penal racism without having a few assumptions challenged. An outstanding book that links the diversity of creed and the impact of impulsive actions to themes of tolerance and forgiveness." --Kirkus starred review

"Using details gleaned from interviews, social media, surveillance video, public records, and other sources, Slater skillfully conveys the complexities of both young people's lives and the courage and compassion of their families, friends, and advocates, while exploring the challenges and moral ambiguities of the criminal justice system. This painful story illuminates, cautions, and inspires." --Publishers Weekly starred review

"It is likely that this account will spark conversations, debates, and contemplation, perhaps leading readers to define for themselves what justice means."--VOYA

"[A] multi-layered lesson on the healing power of humanity." --Shelf Awareness starred review

The text shifts from straightforward reporting to lyrical meditations, never veering into oversentimentality or simple platitudes. Readers are bound to come away with deep empathy for both Sasha and Richard. VERDICT Slater artfully unfolds a complex and layered tale about two teens whose lives intersect with painful consequences. This work will spark discussions about identity, community, and what it means to achieve justice. --SLJ starred review

A School Library Journal Best Booksof 2017!
A Washing Post Best Book of 2017!
One of The New York City Public Librariy's Notable 50 Best Books for Teens!

"The text shifts from straightforward reporting to lyrical meditations, never veering into oversentimentality or simple platitudes. Readers are bound to come away with deep empathy for both Sasha and Richard. VERDICT Slater artfully unfolds a complex and layered tale about two teens whose lives intersect with painful consequences. This work will spark discussions about identity, community, and what it means to achieve justice." --School Library Journal starred review

"With a journalist's eye for overlooked details, Slater does a masterful job debunking the myths of the hate-crime monster and the African-American thug, probing the line between adolescent stupidity and irredeemable depravity. Few readers will traverse this exploration of gender identity, adolescent crime, and penal racism without having a few assumptions challenged. An outstanding book that links the diversity of creed and the impact of impulsive actions to themes of tolerance and forgiveness." --Kirkus starred review

"Using details gleaned from interviews, social media, surveillance video, public records, and other sources, Slater skillfully conveys the complexities of both young people's lives and the courage and compassion of their families, friends, and advocates, while exploring the challenges and moral ambiguities of the criminal justice system. This painful story illuminates, cautions, and inspires." --Publishers Weekly starred review

"It is likely that this account will spark conversations, debates, and contemplation, perhaps leading readers to define for themselves what justice means."--VOYA

"[A] multi-layered lesson on the healing power of humanity." --Shelf Awareness starred review

About the Author

Dashka Slater has written many books, including Baby Shoes, The Sea Serpent and Me, which was a Junior Library Guild Selection, Escargot, and Dangerously Ever After. She is also an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, and Mother Jones. She lives in California.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06XVWZ136
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (October 17, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 17899 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 317 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1531178995

Best Sellers Rank: #50,168 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1 in Teen & Young Adult Law & Crime Nonfiction eBooks
- #6 in Teen & Young Adult LGBTQ+ Issues
- #45 in Teen & Young Adult Social Issues eBooks

Customer Reviews:
4.5 3,822 ratings

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Dashka Slater

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New York Times-bestselling author Dashka Slater has been telling stories since she could talk. An award-winning journalist who writes for such publications as The New York Times Magazine and Mother Jones, she is also the author of fifteen books of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and has won many awards, including the Wanda Gág Read Aloud Award.

Dashka’s true crime narrative, The 57 Bus, has received numerous accolades, including the 2018 Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association, the 2018 Beatty Award from the California Library Association, the California Book Award Gold Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. It was a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist and an LA Times Book Award Finalist, in addition to receiving four starred reviews and being named to more than 20 separate lists of the year’s best books, including ones compiled by the Washington Post, the New York Public Library, and School Library Journal. In 2021, The 57 Bus was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time.

The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Dashka teaches at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She has spent most of her adult life in Oakland, California, where she is always working on far too many writing projects.

Learn more at www.dashkaslater.com.

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4.5 out of 5

3,822 global ratings

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Sandra K. Stiles

Must Read

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023

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This is a true story that took place in 2013. It explores many issues and how they are handled. Sasha is an agender, autistic teen who likes wearing skirts. Richard is a teen who decides to set Sasha’s skirt on fire while they are sleeping. It was meant to be a prank. Many things played a role in the sentence that Richard was given. The actual event was horrific no matter what gender. However, when you look at all the facts several things come to mind. So let me start by saying that the incident, no matter what race or gender the victim and perpetrator were needed to be punished. When reading the book I noticed a couple of things in particular. The first thing I noticed was that Sasha was white and Richard was African American. The second thing we notice is their gender identification and their financial status. When you read a book and the victim’s family stands up for the person accused of the crime and it is ignored then you have to imagine something is wrong with the system. Richard is questions without a lawyer and makes statements that paint him as homophobic. Due to this and other circumstances he is tried as an adult. Yes I do believe what he did was wrong on so many levels. Do I believe he should have been tried as an adult? No. This crime changed both lives. By the press and everyone involved focusing on race and gender there was a lot of bias found in this case. The author brings a human side to the story. By telling what happened to both teens and telling us both sides of the story we get a better picture of the humans these two are. So often the news takes a story and puts their own slant on it to fit the politics of the time. I can’t have it on my shelves, but I can sure recommend students check it out from their local library.

3 people found this helpful

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JB

thought provoking quick read

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2024

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My Only Banned Books Club picked this to read and it was powerful. You will find yourself questioning who/what is right, empathizing with both sides, and wanting to change everything about the world when you are finished. It’s a quick read at a middle school/early high school reading level and short chapters. Good luck putting it down!

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Teeker

Based on a True Story

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024

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The book was good quality, no ripped or folded over pages. The dust jacket had a nice feel to it and I enjoyed reading the physical book. As far as the story goes, it's a research type story. It seems that this is based on a true story (I didn't know anything of it when I purchased it). The book reads well if you like non-fiction. If you don't like stories about teens who are questioning their gender and identity, you probably won't like this book. But, if you want to educate yourself or just read a story about how kids feel/handle peer pressure, this is a good little dive into reality. It takes place in the 21st century and tells the story from both teens points of view. It researches their background and gives the reader a dive into the emotions of those directly and indirectly involved. Did all of the interviews and tidbits relate to the story? Yes. Did the book flow as well as a fiction or historical fiction? No. Am I likely to read this again? Probably not. Would I recommend this to a friend? Only if they were interested in this topic. There are some recollections of the violence that took place and could be a trigger for teens or adults. I would not recommend it to a pre-teen, but would recommend it to a teen or adult.

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2019

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I really liked The 57 Bus i thought it was a great book, the characters were interesting. Richard was one of the main characters and Sasha was the other they both lived in Oakland California. Oakland is a city with more than 400,000 people in it, in 2013 Oakland was ranked seventh in American cities in income inequality. Oakland is considered one of the most diverse cities in America. Sasha is the character that was lit on fire and Richard was the one that lit them on fire, it happened because Sasha was wearing a skirt, Sasha is considered agender. Richard wasn't a bad kid he just did it as a joke he didn't think the skirt would burn the way it did he just thought the when he lit it on fire it would just go out pretty quick. Richard was with a friend and his cousin Lloyd when it happened but in court they were never mentioned even though the friend and Lloyd were telling him to do it and Lloyd was the one that gave him the lighter in the first place. When the accident happened Sasha was sleeping on The 57 Bus on the way home after school. The 57 Bus was a bus two times bigger then the average bus so when Sasha was burning the bus didn't stop right away. Sasha was burnt really bad on 40% of their body on their legs and lower torso. Richard was sentenced to 7 years of prison after about a year of going to court but if he did well in school there and didn’t cause any trouble he could have his sentence reduced to 5 years. Within a week of the accident Richard wrote Sasha two apology letters but they wouldn’t get them till 14 months later which would end up being one of the key factors to Richard getting his sentenced reduced, by that time Sasha and her parents had forgiven Richard and could see that he wasn’t so bad after all. By the time Richard had his sentence reduced it would have already been 2 years meaning he had 3 years to go and would get out right before his 21st Birthday. Richard wasn’t such a bad kid even though what he did was really messed up he wasn’t doing great in school but he was getting help and was getting put back on track but then the accident happened and basically ruined what he had going. This really affected Richards mother though she was working 2 jobs already and struggled to find the time to be able to go to court but she was able to figure it out. All in all The 57 Bus was a great book.

13 people found this helpful

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Briana Norton

Emotional, moving, thoughtful

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024

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It's based on a true crime. I'm really glad with how it all ended. He was just a stupid kid, who made a mistake, he learned from it. They all did.

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024

Verified Purchase

Could not put it down. Gave visibility for justice in lights majority of literature does not. Advocate and educate for every age.

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Manda

2 lives changed forever from 1 incident

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018

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I know many that really enjoyed this book but I didn't, I understand that there are many people that live life differently and I guess I just didn't connect to either of the students involved. I hate that this was a true event that happened and I pray for the families involved. I believe if the book was written in any way other than journalistic (never care for these) I would have enjoyed it more.

4 people found this helpful

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Jo

Thought provoking.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

I found this really thought provoking. Gender, media coverage, social media and justice systems. All being topics running through the narrative.
I found it difficult to put down!

~kim~

Excellent story

Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

Loved how it was written from so many different perspectives. I read the whole thing in 2 sittings because I just couldn’t put it down!! It’s definitely a binge read! The way the the media portrays a story, or how people run with it and it goes viral, can result in assumptions and judgements. Things are not always as they seems. There are many sides to a story and many facets to all the humans involved. This is an example of just that.

Dadu Sherin

Dont like

Reviewed in India on March 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

i didn't enjoyed this book at all. i bought this book expecting to learn about the crime and and most of everything was about gender association.I don't recommend this book for anybody, especially for teenagers.