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

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

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Overview

One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

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 crime-plagued 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374303235
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,408
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	930L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

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.

Author's Note xiii

Monday, November 4, 2013 3

Oakland, California 6

Part 1 Sasha 9

Tumbling 11

Pronouns 13

1001 Blank White Cards 16

Luke and Samantha 21

Gran Turismo 2 26

How Do You Know What Gender You Are? 28

Genderqueer 31

Gender, Sex, Sexuality, Romance: Some Terms 33

Sasha's Terms 36

Becoming Sasha 37

Bathrooms 40

Bathrooms Revisited 42

Skirts 43

Running 46

The Petition 48

Clipboards 50

Best Day Ever 52

Dress Code 53

Sasha and Nemo 55

Part 2 Richard 57

Book of Faces 59

An Old Friend 62

Oakland High School 64

Miss Kaprice 66

The Princess of East Oakland 69

The Best Mother Ever 75

Hopes and Prayers 77

Where He Left Off 81

How It Was Before 83

Fighting 85

Arrested 87

Now It's a Good Day 89

If 91

Murder 93

Working 96

Stripped 98

Trust Issues 100

Resolve 102

Part 3 The Fire 103

Monday, November 4, 2013 105

The 57 Bus 107

4:52 p.m. 110

Fire 114

Watching 117

The Man with the Mustache 119

Phone Call 120

The Rim Fire's Revenge 123

The Ten O'Clock News 125

Locked Out 126

Maybeck 128

Shyam 130

I Knew My Baby 132

The Interview, Part 1 134

Miranda Warning 137

The Interview, Part 2 139

The Interview, Part 3 142

A Man in a Kilt 144

This Is Real 146

Booked In 151

Surgery 155

Still Kinda Dying 157

Charges 160

Direct Files 161

Court Date 165

Reeling 167

The Desk 168

Under the Influence of Adolescence 172

Life at Bothin 176

Not Visiting 178

The First Letter 180

Into the Briefcase 181

Skirts for Sasha 182

The Second Letter 184

Let's All Take Care of Each Other 187

Homophobic 189

What They Sent 191

No H8 193

Y'All Don't Know 196

The Circle 198

Skinned 200

God Is Good 201

Does It Have to Be Me? 204

Back at Maybeck 205

Worst Days Ever 207

Reunion 209

Part 4 Justice 213

Binary 215

Cruel and Unusual? 216

Back at Juvie 218

What If? 221

Not Ready 223

What to Say 224

Always Okay 226

We the People 227

Pretty 229

Dancing 232

Ripples 234

Ass Smacking 236

Restorative Justice 240

Not Wanting To 242

The People vs. Richard 243

Tired 245

Department 11 246

Maybe 248

Suitcase 249

A Prayer 251

Bargaining 253

The Deal 255

The Fine Print 257

A Structured Environment 259

Look Where His People Went 261

Victim-Impact Statement 263

Nerd Fraternity 265

How It Ended Up 267

Mail Delivery 269

Chad 270

Opportunity 271

Then and Now 276

Risky Thinking 279

Progress Report 283

A Level of Maturity 287

Andrew and the Binary 289

Birthdays 291

1001 No-Longer-Blank White Cards 294

Some Gender-Neutrality Milestones 297

Some Numbers: US Juvenile Incarceration 301

Acknowledgments 303

Credits 306

From the B&N Reads Blog

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YA Open Mic is a monthly series in which YA authors share personal stories on topics of their choice. The aim of the series is to peel away the formality of bios and offer authors a platform to talk about something readers won’t necessarily find on their websites. This month, 18 authors discuss everything from […]

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Mark down October 17, 2017, as a phenomenal day in the advancement of diverse teen lit. From Queer YA’s Patron Saint Malinda Lo and the critically acclaimed and marvelously prolific Jason Reynolds to beautiful and relevant newcomers like Nic Stone and Rebecca Podos, today’s got something for so many voices rarely heard, and damn are […]

Dashka Slater wrote The 57 Bus for teenagers, but her audience should also include parents…Slater doesn't apologize for Richard; she just asks us to consider where he came from and to question the ingrained prejudice of a legal system that eventually locked him up for five years.

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

★ 08/14/2017
Journalist and author Slater (Escargot) offers a riveting account of the events that preceded and followed a 2013 assault in Oakland, Calif. Both Sasha (a white, agender private school teenager) and Richard (an African-American public school student who had lost numerous loved ones to murder) rode the 57 bus every day. One afternoon, Richard—egged on by friends—lit the sleeping Sasha’s skirt on fire, and the resulting blaze left third-degree burns over 22% of Sasha’s body. Sixteen-year-old Richard was arrested and charged as an adult with committing a hate crime. The short, easily digestible chapters take a variety of forms, including narrative, poetry, lists (including terms for gender, sex, sexuality, and romantic inclinations), text-message conversations, and Richard’s heartrending letters of apology to Sasha. 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. Ages 12–up. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

A School Library Journal Best Books of 2017!
A Washing Post Best Book of 2017!
One of The New York City Public Library 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

"...a powerful story of class and race (Sasha is white), gender and identity, justice and mercy, love and hate. Slater has crafted a compelling true-crime story with ramifications for our most vulnerable youth." —The Horn Book

From the Publisher

One fall day in 2013, Richard and Sasha were strangers taking the public bus home from school, as they had done many times before. This time, Richard’s friends convinced him that lighting Sasha’s gauzy skirt with a match would be funny. It was not, and both of their lives changed forever. In The 57 Bus, Slater comprehensively tells the stories of their pasts (Richard, a poor African-American from Oakland; Sasha, a well-to-do nonbinary teen with Asperger’s syndrome) and the legal issues that followed. The reader does not get to know Sarah deeply in this sprawling account, and that seems to be the intent, for she admits to wanting people to be “confused” by her, to be unable to understand her. Richard, meanwhile, a troubled teenager who does a stupid thing, is presented as a victim. Slater’s journalistic style and political bent keep the characters at a distance. The book’s first half examines each character’s upbringing, illustrating the childhoods of two very different people. The last half, concerning the legal machinations after the crime, demonstrates the author’s desire to create changes in American values and the criminal justice system. She does not present, however, the steps that might lead toward such changes. As a result, the book may provoke more anger and frustration than understanding. It is likely that this account will spark conversations, debates, and contemplation, perhaps leading readers to define for themselves what justice means. If readers remember this story and the two teens at the center of it, then The 57 Bus will create awareness about the important issues surrounding the event that day on the bus. Reviewer: Jim Nicosia; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, October 2017 (Vol. 40, No. 4) - Jim Nicosia

★ 07/01/2017
Gr 6 Up—On November 4, 2013, Sasha, a high school senior from Oakland, CA, was napping on the 57 bus home from school. Shortly thereafter, Richard, another Oakland teen, boarded the bus with his two friends. When the trio's jokes took a dark turn, Richard's and Sasha's lives were forever changed. Slater, who originally covered the crime for the New York Times magazine, here breaks down the series of events into short and effective chapters, divided into four parts: "Sasha," "Richard," "The Fire," and "Justice." By investigating the lives of these two teens, their backgrounds, their friends and families, and the circumstances that led to that fateful day on the bus, Slater offers readers a grounded and balanced view of a horrific event. There is much baked into the story of these intersecting lives that defies easy categorization, including explorations of gender identity, the racial and class divisions that separate two Oakland neighborhoods, the faults and limits of the justice system, the concept of restorative justice, and the breadth of human cruelty, guilt, and forgiveness. With clarity and a journalist's sharp eye for crucial details, Slater explains preferred pronouns; the difference between gender and sex as well as sexuality and romance; and the intricacies of California's criminal justice process. 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.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2017-07-17
In the fall of 2013, on a bus ride home, a young man sets another student on fire.In a small private high school, Sasha, a white teen with Asperger's, enjoyed "a tight circle of friends," "blazed through calculus, linguistics, physics, and computer programming," and invented languages. Sasha didn't fall into a neat gender category and considered "the place in-between…a real place." Encouraged by parents who supported self-expression, Sasha began to use the pronoun they. They wore a skirt for the first time during their school's annual cross-dressing day and began to identify as genderqueer. On the other side of Oakland, California, Richard, a black teen, was "always goofing around" at a high school where roughly one-third of the students failed to graduate. Within a few short years, his closest friends would be pregnant, in jail, or shot dead, but Richard tried to stay out of real trouble. One fateful day, Sasha was asleep in a "gauzy white skirt" on the 57 bus when a rowdy friend handed Richard a lighter. 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. (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

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

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

Hardcover

Hardcover

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