""The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead. Elwood Curtis is a young, college bound activist, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, when he gets swept up in a crime he didn't commit. He is sentenced to Nickel Academy, a segregated Tallahassee Florida reform school for boys. To the outside world, Nickel boasts of producing honorable men. But inside, it is run like a prison � one that includes physical and sexual abuse from the staff, chained beatings and solitary confinement chambers. Occasionally, boys died during their reformations, were buried on the grounds, and the details covered up. Elwood recites MLK speeches to maintain his sanity until he can be released to society. His friend Turner has already resigned to the fact that life inside and outside of Nickel are two sides of the same coin. The story is fictional but many of the sub plots were lifted from real life 1960s reform schools around the country. The book occasionally jumps back and forth in time leading us to believe that Elwood finally gets his redemption. Books like this help me maintain perspective in life. Think you got problems? Some people would die to have your problems."