I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
“I close my eyes. I can’t even believe this night started with me watching the Dolls body their routine during the game and me begging Black for his attention. A quadrillion risings and settings of the sun have passed since then. And I lived ‘em with Campbell of all people. I definitely wouldn’t have picked her, but we gave this night the business. We held each other down.”
-Lena, page 242
Quick Synopsis: Campbell and Lena are both attending their high-school’s football game against a rival team, Jonesville. Campbell is working the concession stand as a favor to her English teacher, and Lena is there to see the McPherson Dancing Dolls. Both are focused on anything but football and are trying to find their way out of the game and to where they really want to be. Their paths cross at the concession stand, where a major, racially related fight breaks out between the fans from Jonesville and McPherson. Lena and Campbell are able to escape through the back door of the concession stand, and together they try to make their way to Lena’s boyfriend and catch a ride home. Along the way, they find themselves clinging to each other through riots, looting, and fires. The two girls, as different as they can possibly be, begin to realize that their racial differences are actually their strengths. What Campbell doesn’t know, Lena does, and vice versa. At the end, they are even forced to come to grips with Lena’s friend looting things from Campbell’s dad’s store, and how they two girls handle it proves to be a testament to their newly forged friendship.
Why My Students Like It: This is a great book for young adult readers because it only involves two main characters, it’s got all of the entanglements of young love, romance, rivalry, fear, and friendship, and it all happens in one single Friday night. The setting of one single night makes my students want to read it quickly. There are natural pauses for them to stop at, but the next chapter just pulls you in so that you can’t stop reading! The chapters each take turns telling Lena’s and then Campbell’s perspectives, and the fact that the book doesn’t ignore the racial elephants in the room is appreciated by younger readers. Jones and Segal don’t try to sugarcoat racial differences, they just have the characters tell it like it is, and I think many readers find that refreshing and comforting.
Why You Might Like It: I’m Not Dying With You Tonight is definitely geared toward young adult readers, so the language may throw someone not as seasoned in today’s verbiage. My advice, though, is just dive in and start reading. You’ll figure it out quickly, and once you do, you’ll want to stick with Lena and Campbell on their one night journey through Atlanta. You’ll be wanting Lena to leave her boyfriend, and you’ll be just as mad as Campbell is when you find out that Nicky, her dad’s employee, left the shop unattended. And just as you think you have the characters figured out, the authors will throw a quick character twist that makes you remember young adult books can have very complex characters, too. Not all YLA characters are simple and easy to understand, and I’m Not Dying With You Tonight helps the reader examine a wide range of character motivations and emotions. If you are looking for a quick but invigorating read that also helps you understand a different level of racial relations, this is the book for you. And as always, I recommend getting two copies and reading it with your favorite young person. Books like this are great for discussion!
Publication Information: The copy of I’m Not Dying With You Tonight that I read and is pictured on this website was written by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. It was published by Sourcebooks Fire, an imprint of Sourcebooks in 2019. It was also copyrighted in 2019.
