Have you ever read a book and thought “I wish I could make everyone I know read this”? That’s how we feel about We Deserve Monuments. This breathtaking debut novel is filled with family secrets, swoon-worthy romance, and slow-burn mystery. We truly do not deserve Jas Hammonds’s brilliant first book, but if you need some extra incentive to pick this one up, be sure to check out this interview with the author! What makes Avery fierce? Avery is fierce because she’s not afraid to advocate for her needs. She is strong enough to recognize when something is no longer serving her and is able to let it go. Also, she is committed to being unapologetically herself at all times! What's the most interesting thing you learned while researching We Deserve Monuments? I spent a lot of time deep-diving into research about segregation academies—essentially, private schools that were founded in the south by white parents during desegregation so their children didn’t have to go to school with Black and non-white students. Many of them are still operational today with abysmally low levels of diverse students. In We Deserve Monuments, Beckwith Academy (the school Avery and her friends attend) was founded as a segregation academy. If you'd met Avery as a teen, would you have been friends with her? Absolutely. I was still closeted as a teen, so I was always curious and drawn to the queer kids who were already out and proud. What's your favorite part of being an author? I love that feeling when I’m writing and I no longer feel in control of the words. That point in which the characters have fully taken over and my fingers are flying, just trying to get the words out fast enough to keep up with them. That’s one of the reasons I prefer revising over drafting—I love already knowing who my characters are. They honestly start to feel like friends. What's the most challenging part of being an author? The hardest part of being an author is learning to separate my sense of self-worth from how my book is being received. I used to take every rejection so personally. Every “no” or criticism made me feel like I was doing something wrong. Now that I've seen just how subjective the industry is, I’m able to do a better job of not confusing someone’s opinion about something I wrote with their opinion of me. Not every book is for every reader, and that’s okay! What 3 words would you use to describe We Deserve Monuments? Resilient. Uncomfortable. Bittersweet. ABOUT THE BOOK Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations. What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace? Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two. While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.