What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead · Book · 2020
If you loved The Nickel Boys, start with Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross, 2024) — a film from the same story. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The Nickel Boys across media.
If you loved The Nickel Boys, you were likely drawn to its unflinching examination of how systemic cruelty systematically breaks the human spirit.
Start with the source
Adaptation
Nickel Boys
RaMell Ross · Film · 2024
Films on the same thread
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen · Film · 2013
Explores: Injustice, Survival, Loss of Freedom.
Like The Nickel Boys, this film portrays the harrowing struggle to maintain personal dignity and resilience while trapped within institutions designed to dehumanize and destroy Black individuals.
The Color Purple
Steven Spielberg · Film · 1985
Explores: Female resilience, Overcoming adversity, Sisterhood.
This story mirrors the emotional weight of The Nickel Boys by exploring the lifelong scars left by institutionalized abuse and the quiet, persistent power of seeking personal autonomy.
Green Book
Film · 2018
Explores: Racial Segregation, Unlikely Friendship, Civil Rights Era.
This journey through the Jim Crow South captures the same atmosphere of racial tension and segregation found in The Nickel Boys, highlighting the constant necessity of careful navigation.
Just Mercy
Destin Daniel Cretton · Film · 2019
Shares a thread with The Nickel Boys: Systemic racism.
This account of wrongful conviction echoes the central tragedy of The Nickel Boys, focusing on the systemic failures of the legal system and the fight for basic humanity.
Series on the same thread
The Underground Railroad
Barry Jenkins · Series · 2021
Shares a thread with The Nickel Boys: Systemic racism.
As another work by Colson Whitehead, this adaptation shares the thematic DNA of The Nickel Boys, grounding the historical horrors of American life in a deeply personal narrative.
When They See Us
Ava DuVernay · Series · 2019
Shares 2 threads with The Nickel Boys: Systemic racism, Loss of innocence.
These episodes detail the devastating impact of racial injustice on young lives, reflecting the same sense of stolen innocence and institutional betrayal depicted in The Nickel Boys.
The Good Lord Bird
Mark Richard · Series · 2020
Explores: Abolitionism, Racial Identity, Religious Fanaticism.
This historical drama shares the coming-of-age perspective found in The Nickel Boys, placing a young protagonist within a volatile, racially charged landscape defined by institutional and ideological violence.
The Boys
Eric Kripke · Series · 2019
Explores: Anti-Hero, Corporate Corruption, Abuse of Power.
Much like the power dynamics at the school in The Nickel Boys, this story focuses on the corruption inherent in institutions and the difficult fight against those in power.
Podcasts on the same thread
1619
The New York Times · Podcast · 2019
Shares a thread with The Nickel Boys: systemic racism.
This series provides the essential historical context that shaped the world of The Nickel Boys, explaining the deep-seated systemic racism that traps the characters in both works.
Nice White Parents
Serial Productions & The New York Times · Podcast · 2022
Explores: systemic inequality, educational reform, privilege and power.
This investigation exposes the quiet, structural power imbalances in education that underpin the same kind of systemic inequality the boys faced in the reform school in The Nickel Boys.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Nickel Boys based on a true story?
The Nickel Boys is a work of fiction by Colson Whitehead that dramatizes a strand of American history. It tells the story of two boys sentenced to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida, drawing on the historical reality of such institutions during that time period.
What is the relationship between The Nickel Boys book and the 2024 movie?
The 2024 movie is a screen adaptation of the 2020 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Both versions follow the narrative of Elwood Curtis and his experiences at a juvenile reform school in 1960s Tallahassee, Florida.
Did Colson Whitehead write any other books similar to The Nickel Boys?
Yes, Colson Whitehead wrote The Underground Railroad, which preceded The Nickel Boys. Both novels are acclaimed works that dramatize different strands of American history through the experiences of their protagonists.
What time period does The Nickel Boys take place in?
The Nickel Boys is set during the 1960s in Tallahassee, Florida. The story focuses on the Jim Crow era and the experiences of a Black boy named Elwood Curtis who is unjustly sentenced to a juvenile reform school.