State violence and racial justice: ‘The Hate U Give’ could sear on screens

In 2015, aspiring author Angie Thomas turned to Twitter for advice. Would a young adult novel that deals with a sensitive current issue, like the Black Lives Matter movement, be a “no-no,” she wondered.

Her future literary agent, Brooks Sherman, tweeted back that same day: “For me, no subject should be off-limits in children’s books.” It was the push Ms. Thomas needed to move forward, and just two weeks later, more than a dozen publishing houses fought over rights to her book, “The Hate U Give,” in a heated auction.

Since the book’s debut in 2017, 1.5 million copies have been sold in North America. The movie version, set