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All-American Boys

 

(Picture from Goodreads.com)


1.     1.       Bibliography


Kiely, Brendan & Reynolds, Jason. 2015. ALL AMERICAN BOYS. New York, NY: Simon and
              Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4814-6334-8

2.       Plot Summary

When sixteen-year-old Rashad goes into the corner store for a bag of chips, he finds himself mistaken for a thief. Unable to resist the cop that is trying to arrest him, Rashad is on the sidewalk contemplating how he can even be resisting while he is being pounded into the concrete.

 

A witness, Quinn Collins, is a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate. He was friends with the cop who assaults Rashad and finds himself in the middle of a family friend, and what is right.

 

Rashad is absent, again, as he recovers in the hospital. This police brutality stirs the students at the high school and the community. Both boys in the story have to fight for human rights and discover their own personal identities.

3.       Critical analysis

This novel centers around two perspectives of the same story: one black and one white. Interestingly enough, the authors are also from these backgrounds and work together to bring light to situations they are all too familiar with. These two authors, Reynolds and Kiely, use these different points to show how people can come together on an issue and bring forth their sense of humanity despite how uncomfortable they may feel.

This book does have alternating chapters, one from Rashad’s life and one from Quinn’s. This allows the reader to not just focus on what happened to Rashad, but the after math of the event and how one incident effects a whole group of people/ community.

The police brutality in this book is fictional, but many instances just like this one have occurred. This book is a reminder and a call to action. As scenes like these play out across the United States, many people have had political awakenings. Protests and unrest are common with the Black Lives Matter movement. Realizing the privilege based feelings many have are wrong, Quinn in the story shows how you can make a difference and change your mind, even after having felt differently for so long.

A lot of questions arise from this novel, particularly for young adults. Some questions are not easy to answer like what does justice look like? What can you do when you feel something isn’t right? What if you are a victim simply because of your experience? What do you do if you experience or witness racism? This book pushes people out of their comfort zones and makes them take an inner look at their feelings and how they treat others.

4.       Awards/Reviews

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.

*"Timely and powerful, this novel promises to have an impactlong after the pages stop turning. " - School Library Journal, starred review

"The scenario that Reynolds and Kiely depict has become a recurrent feature of news reports, and a book that lets readers think it through outside of the roiling emotions of a real-life event is both welcome and necessary." - Publishers Weekly

"...[The authors'] passion elevates the novel beyond aneeded call to action to a deeply moving experience." -Kirkus Reviews

5.       Connections

For students struggling with racism, racial identity, and one’s interested in police brutality stories.

 

This book is written from two perspectives and many students like the parallel perspectives of events.

 

Highly recommended for fan of Jason Reynold’s other books and Angie Thomas’ The Hate You Give

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