During a trip to Israel in 2008, Stone discovered that she wanted to become a writer when encountering a family with a story that fascinated her. Stone wrote her first novel for young adults in 2012, inspired by American young adult novelist Veronica Roth's Divergent series because it was the first series featuring black characters that she encountered that lives until the end. That same book later landed her a literary agent.
''Dear Martin''
Her debut novel Dear Martin, about a high school senior in a predominantly white school who starts writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he has a dangerous encounter with racist police officers, was sold as a proposal in a two-book deal and published in 2017 by Crown Books for Young Readers. Stone has stated she began writing her debut novel Dear Martinafter the death of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old black high school student who was fatally shot by a white man in a hate crime in 2017. The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #4. It was also chosen as a finalist for the William C. Morris award in 2017 and received a starred review from Booklist. It has been published and translated in Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, The Netherlands, UK, Turkey, and Romania. Two years after it was first published, Dear Martin again hit the New York Times bestseller list, for Young Adult Paperbacks and at #1, in February 2020. A sequel, Dear Justyce, about an incarcerated teen who is on trial for murder charges, was published in October 2020. Stone says she wasn't planning on writing a sequel. but encouraged by her publisher, and decided to write a book about a " black boy that everybody is afraid of."
''Clean Getaway''
Her Middle Grade debut, Clean Getaway, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile, was published by Crown in January 2020. It tells the story of an 11-year-old Scoob, who goes on a roadtrip with his grandmother. It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and debuted on the Children's Middle Grade Hardcover New York Times bestseller list, at #5. Stone says the inspiration for the novel was a Twitter headline about a shoplifting grandma in Atlanta who turned out to be an international jewel thief.
Other works
Her second young adult novel, Odd One Out, is about three queer teenagers of color in a love triangle and explores themes of gender, sexual fluidity and identity. It was published in 2018 by Crown Books for Young Readers. It also received a starred review from Booklist. In 2019, her third novel, Jackpot, following a gas station clerk that she sold a winning lottery ticket to, was published by Crown. Stone originally wrote the novel in 2015. In September 2019, it announced that Stone would write a novel focused on Shuri, from Marvel's Black Panther. It was published by Scholastic in 2020. Aside from young adult fiction and middle grade, Stone also writes essays, and her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies.
