Then Ghost came last year, and it was clear that Reynolds had matured as a writer, so that the vision and charisma of the author were also present in every page of the text. But his first few books, while strong, were clearly the work of a newer author. He’s likeable and dynamic and says hard things eloquently we were lucky enough to host him for a class visit in our HS African-American Lit class a few years ago, and each of those students became a fan regardless of having read any of his books. It’s hard to separate Jason Reynolds from his books, by which I mean he is a charismatic, intelligent author who has put himself forward. Reviewed from ARC final copy also browsed So does that mean that Long Way Down is due for an award of its own? While The Hate U Give was about the violence perpetrated on young black men by the system, specifically police, Long Way Down tackles the violence perpetrated on young black men by young black men - which, ok, is still the fault of the system, because systemic racism has a long and ugly reach, but centers the story in a very different place. There’s a weird kind of bookending happening this year we opened with the biggest buzz for early 2017 books belonging to The Hate U Give and we’re closing 2017 with the biggest buzz for the end of the year going to Long Way Down, two books that look at violence in largely black, urban communities from different directions.

A long way down book