Angie Thomas, On the Come Up

Vinita Vincent (IIT Hyderabad)

Ed. by Dainy Bernstein, University of Pennsylvania
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Feb 2019

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Children's Literature
- Young Adult

Resources

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On the Come Up

(2019) is the second young adult novel by Angie Thomas, who is hailed as a “contemporary bard for young black kids, [for] sensitively narrativizing their coming-of-age stories” (Gyarkye). This novel, much like Thomas’ critically acclaimed debut novel

The Hate U Give

(2017), is also set in the Garden Heights universe.

On the Come Up

’s 16-year-old protagonist, Brianna Jackson, is a talented rapper who is passionate about her craft. Thomas’s “portrait of the artist as a young woman” (Tedrowe) in the novel is an homage to “the forefathers of hip-hop that also assures the feminine voice is never dismissed from the cypher” (Browne). The narrative is loosely based on the author’s teenage years. Thomas reveals in an interview: “My big tragedy was when my mom…

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2885 words

Citation: Vincent, Vinita. "On the Come Up". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 December 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41631, accessed 18 January 2025.]

Angie Thomas, On the Come Up

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