Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

Realistic Fiction
Diversity
Carnegie Medal
Coretta Scott King Author Award 
National Book Award Finalist
New York Times Best Seller
​Grades 5-8

Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds transcends culture, race, and diversity and connects us all to the universal experience of adolescence.  For adults who read this book, it is a time machine back to the days when we were just figuring things out for ourselves. 

​Jason Reynolds “writes to black children, but he writes for all children”. (Washington Post Live, 2022) And this story certainly follows that intention.  Written through a “black lense”, Reynolds writes about the experiences of ten middle school kids or groups of kids, one chapter dedicated to each, on their walk home from school. During these walks from school, readers get to know a variety of personalities and perspectives, which are both hilarious and heartbreaking at times.  Either way, there is at least one character in this book that everyone could relate to.  By the way, when I say hilarious, I mean laugh out loud funny.

While the urban town is fictional, it is based on many different real-life community settings, all woven together as a patchwork neighborhood. Represented are blocks with project housing apartments, blocks with middle class homes, blocks with rowhomes, etc.  The characters face illness, crushes, fostercare, best-friendships, sexual orientation, anxiety, bullying, and more. 

I love nothing more than a book that can make me cry and laugh in the same sitting, and this book certainly fits the mold. 

Reynolds, J. (2019). Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books.
Washington Post Live. (2022, February 24). Jason Reynolds on why he says his books are 'love letters' to Black children. YouTube. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-OKF-aSEgI