Just Mercy: a True Story of the Fight for Justice (adapted for young adults) by Bryan Stevenson.
Ember, Random House Children's Books, Penguin Random House, New York, originally 2018, my movie tie-in version published 2019.
YA nonfiction, 278 pages including back matter.
Lexile: 1040L .
AR Level: 7.5 (worth 11.0 points) .
NOTE: This review is of the YRE, but I've also reviewed the adult book.
An adaption for teens of the compelling story of Bryan Stevenson's work with mainly death row prisoners, especially focusing on Walter McMillian – a man long imprisoned for murder he definitely didn't commit.
Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice, Adapted for Young Readers by Bryan Stevenson
Back when I reviewed the adult version of Just Mercy, I'd mentioned going back for the YRE. It did take a few years to read and review this book, but having some distance allowed me to approach the book with a fresh mindset. While the overall story stuck with me, many of the details (especially of the side cases Stevenson discusses) had floated out of my brain. I'm sure this was a tricky book to create a YRE version of - Stevenson's original work used such poetic language even when discussing horrors, and some mention of crimes is essential to understanding the events of the book.
The alterations here are more based on the content than the language. In a few places more challenging legal terms or difficult vocabulary were changed for a simpler read, but this kept a surprisingly high reading level. In fact, if it didn't say young adults on the cover, I would gladly suggest this to several adults I know. It's always interesting reading these YRE adaptions after the adult book as some greatly oversimplify, others provide more details and are much more readable than the original, or books like this one merely provide a faithful and compelling adaptation.
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