Details

Length: 312
Story Build: quickly paced 
Character development: solid  
Age Recommendation: 7th& 8th grade (parent knowledge although the book is rated for 12 and older), high school 
Reasoning: language, police violence, race issues, brief underage drinking

Summary and Review

This was the second book, during  a weekend, that I read by Jason Reynolds. Boy, this man can WRITE. He also has a really awesome webpage, by the way. Check him out. 

All American Boys is a novel that NEEDS to be read as it is timely in its themes and the questions it raises and possible answers it suggests. At the center of the novel are two characters: Rashad and Quinn. Set during present day America, both boys go to the same high school, attend the same parties, and have some overlap in friends on the same basketball team. However, neither really interact as they are in different social circles. Nevertheless, one event brings both boys together in an unexpected way. 

One night, Rashad is violently attacked by a police officer during a completely misunderstood situation. What makes matters even more tricky: Rashad is a black boy, and the police office is white.

How does Quinn fit into this?

He happened to be near the attack and witnessed the brutal violence against Rashad. To make matters even more complicated, Paul, the police officer, is Quinn’s best friend’s older brother. 

What proceeds to unfold is the quick realization that racism isn’t as black and white (no pun intended) as either boy thought, and what scares them the most might be the thing they each need to do to help make the world less filled with darkness. 

Written by a black man (Jason Reynolds) and a white man (Brendan Kiely), the story works to illustrate BOTH sides of this terrible situation that has plagued our country for decades, and it definitely doesn’t point fingers. It provides an insight to issues that both blacks and whites might feel in regards to the topic of race and shows us that silence is equally as harmful as violence. 

Something that is very helpful to read, too, are the messages that both authors wrote at the end of the novel. Furthermore, Kiely’s acceptance speech for the Coretta Scott King Award for the novel is SO important in its discussion of whiteness and privilege within the context of discussing systemic racism. He clearly worked hard to weave this into his piece of the novel with the character of Quinn, and it’s what helps make the book so teachable. 

Celebrations

I really appreciated the fact that the book didn’t place blame upon one race. At one point, Rashad’s father, an ex police officer, reveals some vulnerable information about himself that proves, once again, that the issue of racism isn’t so cut and dry. It’s complicated and sad and terrifying, and it’s still rooted deep into America. I also thought that the inner conflicts of both boys were relevant and posed questions that our teens, humans in general, need to be asking and then answering. The ending was also very important… and purposeful. The point was not the conclusion of the crime and possible trial but the conclusion that the boys came to about the kinds of humans they wanted to be during times of prejudice and in the face of racism. 

Hesitations

There was a decent amount of “F bombs” in the novel; however, that seems pretty realistic as the narrators are teenage boys… and teenagers do use that kind of language… and a lot of us do if we are honest with ourselves.