2021 Summer Book and Film for English 10
                          Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, a memoir by Bryan Stevenson
                                Just Mercy, a film co-written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
                (Please see the information on the Young Adult edition that we’ll be using, beneath the image of the book.)
                      At the heart of Bryan Stevenson’s powerful
              memoir, Just Mercy, is the story of Walter
              McMillian, who was sentenced to death for a crime
              he did not commit. Stevenson, who led the
              successful effort to overturn an unjust verdict and
              an unduly harsh sentence, shows that this tragedy
              was not the result of human error, but rather an
              oppressive system that sanctioned coerced
              testimony and perjury.
                      Stevenson’s book, which recounts other
              examples of grave injustice, is a devastating
              critique of the treatment of powerless and often
              penniless Black defendants at the hands of
              prosecutors and police whose goal is to secure
              convictions rather than fairness and justice.
                      Your tenth grade teachers invite you to
              enter into your reading of Stevenson’s memoir and
              your viewing of Cretton’s film as active participants
              in our collective fight for justice. What questions      ISBN 10  0593177045;  ISBN 13978-0593177044
                                                                       The film may be rented from Amazon Prime,
              would you like to ask as you explore these works?
                                                                       Youtube, and many other services.
              What are the elements of a more just society that
              you can imagine?
            After you have read the book and watched the movie, please complete the following
            assignments on a single Google Doc that you will be able to submit to Classroom when we
            return to school in the fall:
            First, Choose three passages in the narrative that you find personally significant, in each case
            commenting on why you chose it.  Please identify the page reference for each passage
            Then, Complete one of these three exercises. (Feel free to do more than one if you wish.)
                1. Compare and contrast the film to the book in two paragraphs. (Hint: You might discuss why you
                    think that the filmmakers made some of the choices they did.)
                2. Compose a list of the five most glaring inequities that the book exposes, with at least one
                    example for each from the book, along with its page reference.
                    Optional: With respect to one of these inequities, your brief proposal for a change in our
                    society's laws and policies that would address the inequity.
                3. Compose three questions that the book raises that you would like to explore in greater depth.