Linked is a 2021 work of Middle Grade Literature by Gordon Korman. Swastika graffiti in a Colorado middle school causes the local students to wonder who the culprit is, learn things about themselves, and counter the hateful messages by making a paper chain that is six million links (or thirty-eight miles) long to honor the six million Jewish victims of The Holocaust.
Tropes:
- The Atoner: Link Rowley is responsible for the first instance of swastika graffiti in the book, and did it after a fight with his father because he wanted to embarrass the town and a swastika was the worst thing he could think of. Link feels terrible after having time to reflect on his actions, sitting through a tolerance seminar at school, seeing an actual racist get inspired to paint more swastikas, and learning that he himself is ancestrally Jewish. His role in helping with the Holocaust memorial paper chain and decision to explore his heritage and have a bar mitzah both begin out of his desire to make up for what he did.
- Class Representative: Class president Caroline is obsessed with getting her classmates involved in activities and social causes and becomes obsessed with the paper chain project due to how it is finally achieving her wish, raising her social standing, and doing some genuine good.
- Continuity Nod: Dana's father works at a dinosaur dig sponsored by the Wexford-Smythe University, and Blue Blood George Wexford-Smythe III was a character in the first two books Korman wrote.
- Hypocrite: Vlogger ReelTok harshly and constantly insults the sheriff for failing to catch the swastika tagger and refuses to acknowledge how he is genuinely trying. It eventually comes out that ReelTok himself has known who is responsible for the graffiti almost since he first arrived in town, but is keeping that knowledge to himself to build up more interest in the story and spend time gathering background information on the culprit so that he will be a step ahead of other news sources when the story does break.
- Kid Detective: Averted. The kids all speculate about who is behind the swastika grafitti, but they are more focused on showing that they disapprove of the message than joining the adults in hunting for the culprit. Michael does make a list of suspects but doesn't follow up on it and never guessed the correct culprit.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Pouncey gets some Character Development throughout the book, but is at least initially indifferent to the Holocaust memorial project except out of a desire to tick off the principal (who is frustrated by it), show loyalty to his friend Link, and get a chance to use a guillotine to cut up paper for the paper chain.
- Not Me This Time: After being exposed as the culprit behind painting twenty-seven swastikas around town, Pamela Bynes reveals that it was actually twenty-six, and that the first one was painted by someone else, which inspired Pamela to act on her own racism.
- The Prankster: Link, Pouncey, Jordie, Pamela, and Sophie are famous for pulling immature pranks, like putting poop made up to look like their idea of dinosaur poop near an archaeological dig. This mostly goes away once they get preoccupied with responding to the swastika graffiti.
- Racist Grandpa:
- Clayton Pouncey's grandfather was a member of the KKK "and worse", and took his five-year-old son (who grew up to be a more low-key racist) to a mass cross-burning, the Night of a Thousand Flames. After hearing this story, Pouncey's friend Jordie muses that that explains why barely anyone attended Pouncey's grandfather's funeral (and some of those who did, like a younger Jordie, were ignorant of the old man's past and/or just wanted to be there for his family).
- Pamela's great-uncle, who died seven years before the book, ran the local KKK, and Pamela and her father secretly share his beliefs.
- Shady Real Estate Agent: Realtor George Rowley is obsessed with quashing news stories about racism in his hometown due to how it could ruin a theme park deal that would let him get rich by selling thousands of acres of land he bought cheap to resort companies and the like. However, this is also a bit downplayed, given that he does greatly care about the interests and future of the town as a whole and not just his own fortune.
- Taking the Heat: After Jordie realizes that Pamela, his on-off girlfriend since second grade, is the serial swastika tagger, he tries to claim responsibility to divert the principal from conducting the locker search that will reveal the evidence. He is a Bad Liar though, the principal conducts the locker search anyway, and Jordie seems to regret even bothering to try to help the tagger after learning that they were indeed motivated by racism and regret nothing.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Many Chokecherry residents deny that their town hosted a massive KKK rally known as The Night of a Thousand Flames in the 1970s, even though many people accept it as true (such as Pouncey, whose abusive father attended it as a boy). The deniers are silenced after the paleontologists looking for dinosaur bones discover many of the discarded crosses that the Klansmen burned.
