The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Stone, Nic. Dear Justyce. Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020. Kindle.

The novel is separated into two sections, “Part One: The End,” and “Part Two: Just Beginning.” They both begin with “Snapshots,” which are short chapters always told in the present tense. There are seven chapters in “Part One: The End,” and four chapters in “Part Two: Just Beginning.” All the chapters begin with a narrative section told in the third person with a focus on Quan. Almost all of “Part One: The End” is told in the past tense, though there are moments when Quan’s life in juvenile hall is narrated in the present tense. “Part Two: Just Beginning” is told almost exclusively in the present tense. Almost all the chapters contain both a “Snapshot” and a letter to or from Justyce at the end of the narrative section. The letters and “Snapshots” are always written in the present tense. The “Snapshots” occasionally focus on Justyce rather than Quan. There are two epigraphs of sorts, “One Month Later,” and “Six Months Later.” “One Month Later” contains just a narrative section, and “Six Months Later” contains just a “Snapshot” and short letter from Quan to Justyce.

Quan was nine years old when he first met Justyce (the protagonist of Nic Stone’s Dear Martin). Both boys ran away to the same rocket ship in the same park when their homes became unbearable. Quan and Justyce talked and cried together, and formed a bond that cemented them together even though they did not hang out often or share the same friends.

In the narrative present, Quan thinks back to the moment his father was arrested for selling drugs. The arrest was devastating because Quan loved his father more than anything. His father also kept his mother from moving in with her new husband, Dwight, who was the father of Quan’s siblings and also exceptionally violent toward his mother. Once his father was taken to prison, Dwight moved in full time and began to make Quan’s life miserable all the time. From juvenile hall, Quan writes to Justyce and thanks him for visiting him despite the years they have been out of communication with one another, and he thanks Justyce for dropping off a collection of letters he wrote to Martin Luther King Jr and for sending his old teacher, Doc, to tutor Quan.

Quan tried to focus on doing well in school and keeping his siblings safe. However, when he studied hard for a math test and got a 98%, his substitute teacher accused him of cheating and his mother believed the teacher. Quan decided nothing mattered since no one believed in him anymore, not even his father who had not written a single letter. Dwayne continued to be abusive and controlling, going so far as to take the family’s EBT card and disappear with it for weeks on end. During one of these weeks, Quan stole food for the first time. In eighth grade, Quan started stealing more often and experiencing “anger issues.”

One day, he stole a deck of cards from a convenience store and was arrested. His mother was disappointed in him, but he met a boy named Trey who had also been arrested. The two boys formed a began to spend time together. Quan did everything Trey asked, even carrying a gun and breaking and entering, which got Quan arrested again. He spent his 14th birthday in juvenile hall, then got out and stole a phone from a guy at the mall. He was sentenced to 12 months in juvenile hall and realized that the prison system was biased against Black people.

When Quan got out, Trey introduced him to Martel, the leader of a gang called the Black Jihad that specialized in dealing arms. Quan became an asset to the organization because of his math skills. One day, he told Trey how bad things had become with Dwight, who was constantly beating his mother. Trey told Martel, who had Dwight killed. Quan went to the old park, but the rocket ship had been taken down after a man had OD’d inside it. At home, Quan found a box of letters from his father Dwight had hidden in his closet. Quan read one, then had to go make a delivery to Martel, who was celebrating his birthday. The police showed up, and Officer Castillo drew his gun because he was nervous. A sudden noise startled him, causing him turn around with his gun, at which point Quan blacked out and came to with his gun in his hand, though he was not the one who shot Officer Castillo.

Quan wrote a letter to his father explaining why he had not written. A few days later, the police arrived and arrested Quan. Although Quan said he wanted to remain silent, they continued to interrogate him and threatened to bring his friends in for questioning, so he gave up and admitted he had killed Officer Castillo. In the narrative present, Quan writes a letter to Justyce and tells him he was not the shooter.

In “Part Two: Just Beginning,” Justyce drives home from Yale for summer break with his girlfriend, SJ, and best friend, Jared. They are all prelaw at prestigious universities, so they decide to put together a plan to help Justyce with the help of SJ’s mom, Adrienne Friedman, who is an excellent lawyer. Quan’s lawyer tells him the prosecutor’s office has offered Quan a plea deal which would give him just 15 years in jail. Quan considers taking it, but then Justyce comes to visit him and tells him to fire his lawyer and hire Adrienne. Quan agrees, and the team begins to work on proving Quan is innocent.

Quan’s younger sister, Dasia, gets sick. Trey and Martel begin dropping by the house and giving Quan’s mother money and food. Quan is shocked because he has not heard from his old friends the whole time he has been in jail. He feels conflicted, though, because he wants to leave behind his life of crime if he gets out of jail, but he feels unwilling to betray such great friends. Justyce goes to talk to Martel on his own and requests that Quan be set free from the gang. Martel agrees on the condition that Quan move out of the city and into the suburbs, and that he pays back all the money Martel spent on his family. The legal team discovers that Quan invoked his right to remain silent but was ignored, and that the bullets do not match his gun. The case is dismissed and Quan gets to go home to the suburbs to live with his family. He writes and visits his father often, and starts working as a tutor with Doc.