
The 57 Bus
by Dashka Slater
True story: a nonbinary teen, a Black teen, Oakland
For you if
you think accountability is more complicated than punishment
⚡ Choose Your Route ⚡
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$19 MSRP · Hardcover
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The true story of an agender teenager set on fire on a school bus in Oakland, and the Black teenager who did it. A book about race, gender, justice, and what it means to be accountable.
Banned & challenged
Find out what they were so afraid of.
Get a copy and decide for yourself.
The true story of a nonbinary teen set on fire on a school bus in Oakland, and the Black teenager who did it. A book about race, gender, justice, and what accountability actually looks like — challenged for "LGBTQ+ content" and language. The real threat: a book that refuses easy villains and asks readers to hold complexity.
Where This Book Lives
- Topics
- juvenile justice system
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Why it’s here: The crime is only half of what this film is about. The rest is the audience: the kids, parents, and coaches who watched, filmed, laughed, or looked away. It's punk in Goddard, a Steubenville native who keeps posting the evidence while her own town sues her for it. It's pedagogical because it shows how complicity gets built out of small, ordinary choices, and what it costs to refuse them. Heavy watch. Preview it before you share it with a teen.
Same event, different angle
The same history — told by someone who saw it differently.
Same pattern, different era
Different time, different place. The same thing keeps happening.
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For the family bookshelf
Same idea, written for a younger reader. Good for reading together.
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