Dear Manny
by Nic Stone

Dear Manny, the final novel in the Dear Martin series from New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone.

Exploring race, love, friendship, and privilege, the novel tackles topics both teen and adult readers will be intimately familiar with. Dear Manny focuses on college junior Jared Peter Christensen (first introduced in Dear Martin), who is running for class president on a platform of increased equity and inclusion. Leading the polls, Jared seems likely to win until another candidate enters the race—a transfer student who calls Jared out on some of the unearned advantages he’d prefer to ignore … and who also might just be the most beautiful being Jared has ever seen. To make sense of his confusion, Jared begins to write letters to his deceased friend Manny. Can this correspondence help him understand how the world around him really works?

“Nic has an amazing ability to speak candidly to readers through her powerful words and honest stories, and nowhere can this be seen more than in Dear Manny,” said Yeh. “Through the outlook of Jared, a white character from both Dear Martin and Dear Justyce, this book examines popular topics, such as what it means to be a true ally and what it takes to create a progressive future. Nic has written another timely book. And a necessary one.”

First published in 2017, Dear Martin struck a chord with readers of all ages, going on to reach #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and earning numerous state awards and nominations. Dear Justyce, the second book in the series, was published in 2020 and was also a New York Times bestseller, receiving critical acclaim and awards, including an NAACP Image Award nomination. Combined, the books have sold over one million copies.

“Had you asked me while writing Dear Martin if I would ever consider narrating from Jared’s perspective, I would’ve laughed out loud,” Stone said. “But since Dear Martin’s publication in 2017, conversations about race relations have consistently come to the forefront of American consciousness, and Dear Martin is frequently in the mix: either as a recommended resource or a challenged and/or banned book. In the midst of all that, both Jared and real-life white boys I met on school visits would come to me to share their stories—stories vastly different from Justyce’s and Quan’s, yet equally as important with regard to the pursuit of racial equity. This is a book about subconscious social hierarchies, the democratic process, and inclusivity—all from the viewpoint of a person who, until very recently, never had to think much about any of it.”