New York Times Bestseller

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A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the 21st Century (So Far)

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Stonewall Book Award Winner

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Named to Time Magazine’s List of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time

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New York Times Bestseller ✹ A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the 21st Century (So Far) ✹ Stonewall Book Award Winner ✹ Named to Time Magazine’s List of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time ✹

Cover of “The 57 Bus” by Dashka Slater, an award-winning YA nonfiction book about two teens and a life-changing crime.
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The 57 Bus

A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book that chronicles the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.

  • New York Times Bestseller

  • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the 21st Century (So Far)

  • Named to Time Magazine’s List of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time

  • Winner of the American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award

  • YALSA-ALA Excellence for Nonfiction Award Finalist

  • Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book Award for Nonfiction

  • Winner of the California Library Association’s Beatty Award

  • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award

  • A Junior Library Guild Selection

  • Velshi’s Banned Book Club Selection

Two ends of the same line.
Two sides of the same crime.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a Black teen, lived in the economically challenged flatlands and attended a large public one.

Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight. But in The 57 Bus, award-winning journalist Dashka Slater shows that what might at first seem like a simple matter of right and wrong, justice and injustice, victim and criminal, is something more complicated―and far more heartbreaking.

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Glowing Praise for The 57 Bus

  • “Slater artfully unfolds a complex and layered tale about two teens whose lives intersect with painful consequences. This work will spark discussions about identity, community, and what it means to achieve justice.”

    —School Library Journal, starred review

  • “An outstanding book that links the diversity of creed and the impact of impulsive actions to themes of tolerance and forgiveness.”

    —Kirkus, starred review

  • “This painful story illuminates, cautions, and inspires.”

    —Publishers Weekly, starred review

  • “Slater approaches both students’ perspectives with nuance and complexity, and while there are no easy answers in this narrative, her compassionate writing shows that there’s often more to the story than we see.”

    —Time Magazine

  • “A multi-layered lesson on the healing power of humanity.”

    —Shelf Awareness, starred review

  • “The 57 Bus does what all great books do—reveals our world to us anew.”

    —BookPage

  • “Slater provides a nuanced portrait of both teenagers and delves into the hot-button issues of gender nonconformity, bias crimes and juvenile justice.”

    —The Washington Post

  • “A powerful story of class and race, gender and identity, justice and mercy, love and hate . . . Slater has crafted a compelling true-crime story with ramifications for our most vulnerable youth.”

    —The Horn Book

  • “A sensitive study of an incident wrapped up in so many modern conundrums.”

    —The Financial Times

  • “Dashka Slater wrote The 57 Bus for teenagers, but her audience should also include parents. The two youngsters from Oakland, Calif., whose paths cross so disastrously are both extremely likable . . . Slater doesn’t apologize for Richard; she just asks us to consider where he came from and to question the ingrained prejudice of a legal system that eventually locked him up for five years.”

    —The New York Times Book Review

  • “Journalist Dashka Slater’s nuanced nonfiction account of an Oakland crime involving two teens—Sasha, the victim, and Richard, the perpetrator—encourages readers to think beyond rigid, traditional social norms and the prejudices that often accompany them . . . This is a book about individuals caught within—and pushing against—the framework of culture.”

    —Chicago Tribune

  • “A thought-provoking tale of class, race, gender, morality and forgiveness . . . The 57 Bus will leave you with a hole in your heart and tears running down your cheeks. For a book about a horrible crime, the amount of love is remarkable.”

    —The Daily Californian

  • “It is likely that this account will spark conversations, debates, and contemplation, perhaps leading readers to define for themselves what justice means.”

    —VOYA

  • “A truly impressive book. Never biased, never sentimental, consistently heart-breaking, it challenges everyday assumptions that affect even the most liberal readers. You can’t afford not to read it.”

    —Deerfield Valley News

Additional Awards and Honors

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award

Velshi’s Banned Book Club Selection (MSNBC)

Trinity Plus Award (UK) Nominee

Juvenile Prize (Germany) Nominee

Northern California Independent Booksellers Best Young Adult Book

A Junior Library Guild Selection

A TAYSAs Top Ten Book

A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Best Teen Nonfiction Book

A Shelf Awareness Best Children’s & Teen Book

A 2018 American Library Association Rainbow Reads Top Ten Book

A 2018 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers

A Children’s Book Review Best Young Adult Book

A New York Public Library Notable Book for Teens

A Denver Public Library Best & Brightest Teen Book

A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Teen Book

A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year

A Bustle Best True Crime Book

A Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List Book

An International Literacy Association Notable Book for a Global Society

A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children & Teens

Nerdy Book Club Award for Long Form Nonfiction

On the CCBC Choices list from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center

A NCSS-CBC Notable Social Science Trade Book for Young People

Oklahoma Library Association Sequoyah Book Award Nominee

Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards Program Master List

Winner Green Mountain Book Award

Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee

North Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee

A Florida Teen Read

A Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee

A Project Lit Book Club Selection

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