Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2017 A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award Wow, all I can say is, wow. This book had me from the first second I opened it. It is just so extremely timely, relevant, and well-written. It is engaging, thought-provoking, and emotional. I absolutely cannot say enough good things about this book! Long Way Down is the story of fifteen year old Will, who is determined to revenge his brother Shawn’s murder. Will is only following the “Rules” passed down through generations before him about what to do when someone is killed through violence in their neighborhood. He finds his brother’s gun, puts it in the waist of his pants, and heads out seeking the person he knows killed his brother the night before. As he begins his journey down to the lobby from the eighth floor of his apartment building, the elevator stops at each floor bringing in a ghost from Will and Shawn’s past. These ghosts include family members and friends who each add a piece to the story of Shawn’s death and some hesitation to Will’s plan. Does he really know who killed his brother? Why is there one bullet missing from the chamber? What will happen if he misses his shot? Can he really do it? These questions hang in the air as Will approaches the bottom floor. This book is so incredibly vivid and it always astounds me how an author can write so much in so many fewer words using verse. One of my favorite things about this book is that it is a verse novel, which makes it so much more accessible for reluctant readers. The themes of this book are so relevant and really shed light on the impact of gun violence in the lives of our youth. It does have some curse words scattered throughout, but they are used within the context of the story (one of my pet peeves is an author throwing in curse words just to use curse words...that does not happen here). This book, in my honest opinion, should have been the Newbery winner. It is so impactful; I immediately came to school and began sharing it with teachers. I can’t wait to booktalk it with my students, as well. I highly recommend Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.
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AuthorMy name is Mrs. Scott and I'm a secondary Media Resource Specialist (librarian) in Texas. This blog was created as part of my graduate coursework at Texas Woman's University. All reviews and opinions are my own.
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