On the Come Up

Angie Thomas

Feb 2019 · A Printz Honor Winner Book 2 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

The YA love letter to hip-hop—streaming on Paramount+ September 23, 2022! Starring Sanaa Lathan (in her directorial debut), Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Method Man, Mike Epps, GaTa (Davionte Ganter), Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Titus Makin Jr., and Michael Anthony Cooper Jr.

#1 New York Times bestseller · Seven starred reviews · Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book

This digital edition contains a letter from the author, deleted scenes, a picture of the author as a teen rapper, an annotated playlist, Angie’s top 5 MCs, an annotated rap, illustrated quotes from the book, and an excerpt from Concrete Rose, Angie's return to Garden Heights.

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons.

Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.

Insightful, unflinching, and full of heart, On the Come Up is an ode to hip hop from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; and about how, especially for young black people, freedom of speech isn’t always free.

“For all the struggle in this book, Thomas rarely misses a step as a writer. Thomas continues to hold up that mirror with grace and confidence. We are lucky to have her, and lucky to know a girl like Bri.”—The New York Times Book Review

Plus don't miss Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas's powerful prequel to her phenomenal bestseller, The Hate U Give!

Ratings and reviews

I LOVED The Hate U Give. It was probably one of my favourite contemporaries of 2017 because it made me think. It was real, unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I was crying by the time I reached the end. Angie Thomas is a gifted writer and she deserves every bit of the love that has come her way. I read On the Come Up in three days. At times, it was a hard book to read because of the reality of what teenagers with low income backgrounds, like Bri, have to face. At other times, it inspired me, through Bri's dedication, spirit and her rap/lyrics that played an integral part in the book but most of all, it was a thought-provoking book about following your dreams, written with a heavy dose of reality and I loved it. Seriously, if you loved The Hate U Give, you’ll love Angie Thomas’ sophomore novel as well. THINGS I LOVED: THE LYRICS: Bri’s lyrics were BRILLIANT. I loved them, how she put them together and how Angie Thomas wrote it all. The part about ‘You can’t spell brilliant without Bri’ was a TAD CHEESY, but in all that real talk, I’ll take it. THE FRIENDS: I quite loved Bri’s friends, and even Miles (without a Z) towards the end. They, just like her family, were fun, real and I loved that at the end, they were always there for each other. THE BATTLES: I think the battles that Bri had, especially the first with Milez was SUCH BRILLIANT PLOTTING/ WRITING. I was GLUED to the page as they took place and found it hard to extract myself after. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: It honestly felt like a lot of the dialogues were repeated across the book. There was a particular point when Bri was studying with a guy (that I will not name because SPOILERS) and both her mom and brother come in at different intervals and say something along the lines of “This isn’t studying, and I ain’t got no time to be a grandmother/ uncle” and while I understand that it was meant to be funny, I found it a little repetitive. WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK? HECK YES. I absolutely loved reading every second of it and you should definitely dive into BOTH of Angie Thomas’ books if you haven’t already.

this book was sooo amazing but the ending was crazy dissapointing. it was super out of the blue and theres so much we dont know about . kinda sucks cuz i was having so much fun w this book. dont know why youd write such a good book then do such a horrible job with the ending...

Wonderful story overall! The characters were amazing and felt so real. I usually don't listen or care too much about rap music but the way this story was told, it definitely shone a new light on this type of music genre. The story about why Brianna loves hip-hop and wants to pursue being a rapper, as well as the struggles she went through, made this a compelling story to read. I didn't think I would care too much about this book, but I'm so glad I checked it out. Definitely one of my top favorite books!

About the author

Angie Thomas is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novels The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose as well as Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal for Writing Your Truth. She is also a coauthor of the bestselling collaborative novels Blackout and Whiteout. Angie divides her time between her native Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia. You can find her online at angiethomas.com.