Is it hard to read?
Not really, in terms of language: direct explanations and short chapters keep the reporting accessible, with no prerequisite knowledge needed. The attack and its consequences make it emotionally demanding.
Nonfiction · True Crime · Social Science · Young Adult
The 57 Bus
EstablishedStonewall Book Award, 2018Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 33 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 336 pagesFarrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) · 2017
- Reading time
- 6 h 45 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Brisk
- Emotional intensity
- 5 / 5
About 6 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 14 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
In Oakland in 2013, sixteen-year-old Richard sets fire to the skirt of Sasha, an agender teenager asleep on the bus home from school. Sasha suffers severe burns, while Richard faces prosecution as an adult, hate-crime charges and possible life imprisonment. Dashka Slater reconstructs both teenagers’ lives and follows the criminal case, examining how race, class and gender affect their treatment and what justice means when the person responsible is still an adolescent.
Reader notes
Written as YA narrative nonfiction, the book uses short chapters, poems, lists and messages alongside reporting. The language is direct and explanatory, but the attack and its consequences are painful subjects. Both teenagers emerge as people whose lives extend beyond the crime.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Direct · Fragmentary · Journalistic · Lyrical
- Tone
- Dark · Earnest · Reflective · Tense
- Structure
- Braided · Chronological nonfiction
- Driven by
- Character · Ideas · Information
- Setting
- Oakland, California
- Evidence style
- Interview transcripts · Journalistic reporting · Primary documents
- Practical orientation
- Reflective
- Nonfiction form
- Investigative reporting · Narrative nonfiction
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 2 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Class
- Crime and punishment
- Gender
- Identity
- Justice
- Race and racism
Content notes
- Violence
- Strong
- Sexual content
- None
- Swearing
- Strong
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- Mild
Standing and awards
Established
- Stonewall Book Award, 2018
- Los Angeles Times Book Prizes finalist, 2017
Questions readers ask
How disturbing is the violence?
Strong violence centers on a teenager setting fire to another teenager’s skirt, causing severe burns. The attack and its consequences are painful subjects, and strong language is also present.
Does it focus only on the crime and prosecution?
No, Slater reconstructs both teenagers’ lives alongside the criminal case, showing them as people beyond the attack. The reporting examines how race, class and gender affect their treatment.
How is the story told?
The narrative braids the teenagers’ lives with the criminal case, using short chapters, poems, lists and messages alongside journalistic reporting. Interview transcripts and primary documents also form part of the evidence.
How long is it?
336 pages in the Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) 2017 hardcover edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) · 2017 · Hardcover. ISBN 9780374303235.
How long does it take to read The 57 Bus?
About 6 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 336-page Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Dashka Slater
Dashka Slater writes for young readers in forms that range from investigative nonfiction to comic picture books. Across that range, she builds stories around distinctive voices and charged encounters, allowing broader questions to emerge from character and circumstance. The 57 Bus uses reporting, interviews, and primary documents to examine identity, inequality, and juvenile justice through the lives of two Oakland teenagers and the criminal case that connects them. Escargot shows the same attention to voice in miniature, as an opinionated French snail addresses the reader directly and turns a trip toward a salad into a playful argument about preference and trying something unfamiliar.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
- Publication year
- 2017
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 336
- ISBN
- 9780374303235
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2017
- Genres and form
- Nonfiction · True Crime · Social Science · Young Adult · True crime
- Editions
- 8
- Languages
- 2 (English, Unspecified)