The Nickel Boys

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for over 100 years and wrecked thousands of children, The Nickel Boys follows Elwood Curtis in the 1960s when he is young and unjustly sentenced to a juvenile center called the Nickel Academy, where adults subject children to ironboxes, lashings, and every cruel thought. Elwood believes fiercely in Martin Luther King Jr.’s words—that he is worthy and, surely, he is somebody—and his viewpoint is battered not only by plot twists but also by his cynical friend Turner.
People think of “inmates” and “delinquents” as rightfully suffering en masse in society’s background, but Whitehead brings us close to Elwood and forces us to see him for what he really is: A hopeful, innocent, and vulnerable child who is every bit as deserving of love as the rest of us. Whitehead’s tight, restrained prose inversely conveys an abundance of emotion in a book that is part thriller, part remembrance, and part homage to all of America’s children who are like sweet Elwood.