Kill the Lax Bro

Gr 9 Up–Everyone at Hancock High seems to simultaneously love and hate the boys on the brash and vulgar lacrosse team in this murder mystery. The opening chapter reveals the dead body of the titular character, the often-despised captain of the team. Flashbacks fill in the gaps on how a group of extremely different personalities, including a mixed-race former best friend and teammate, a brown-skinned wallflower, a smart and beautiful white ex-girlfriend, and a white drug dealer who has repeated her senior year more than once, ends up plotting together to take the lax bro down off his pedestal of popularity. Chapters are told through multiple narrators and headings match popular 1990s songs as well as the content of each chapter. The events take place between New Year’s Eve 1998 and “right freakin’ now,” or June 1999. Nineties references from water bras to D.A.R.E. pepper every page and expose kids to such retro slang as “no duh.” Unfortunately, some of the stereotypical characters entertain responses to LGBTQIA+ situations that also harken back to the 1990s. A glossary of slang explains common lacrosse terms and connects them to the murderous plot.