Look Both Ways

August 1, 2019
In each of 10 stories, kids reentering the neighborhood from their school day reveal their unique narratives. BFFs T.J. and Jasmine find their yearslong friendship getting them through parental separation, illness, and foster care. A group of four, all children of cancer survivors, has been brought together by a school counselor. A female skateboarder is the target of a bully--to the relief of his usual victim. A teen with the signs of OCD meets a street musician who changes her outlook. Two ardent gamers are caught up in the confusion of sexual questioning, and there's an odd couple of friends whose difference in size is no barrier to their bond. A teen with a fear of dogs devises an elaborate plan to get past his neighbor's new pet, and the class clown tries to find a way to make her overworked mother laugh. Three boys work to make their friend presentable enough to tell a classmate that he likes her. An accident sustained by the school crossing guard causes her son significant anxiety. There are connections among some of the stories: places, people, incidents. However, each story has its own center, and readers learn a great deal about each character in just a few lines. Reynolds' gift for capturing the voices and humanity of urban teens is on full display. The cast adheres to a black default. The entire collection brims with humor, pathos, and the heroic struggle to grow up. (Fiction. 10-14)

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Starred review from August 12, 2019
Reynolds (the Track series) packs the 10 blocks surrounding multiple schools with 10 relatable slice-of-life stories that start after school ends, each beginning with a black-and-white drawing by Nabaum. An overlapping cast of black characters populates the tales as they experience the tribulations of familial love (“Ookabooka Land”), fears (“Satchmo’s Master Plan”), first crushes (“How a Boy Becomes a Grease Fire”), near-death experiences (“The Broom Dog”), and more. Among the most memorable of these stories are “The Low Cuts Strike Again,” about a group of free-lunch students who are all children of cancer survivors (and rock low-cut haircuts in solidarity); “Skitter Hitter,” about Pia Foster, skateboarder extraordinaire, her deceased expert skateboarder sister Santi, and the boys who bully them about their skill; and “Call of Duty,” which portrays one hopeful, compassionate outcome of standing up against homophobic bullying. In Reynolds’s signature style, each story rings with emotional authenticity and empathy, and not a small amount of rib-tickling humor offsets the sometimes bittersweet realities of the characters’ lives. Ages 10–14. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties.

Starred review from October 1, 2019

Gr 5-8-Ten short stories paint a picture of what happens one particular afternoon after the dismissal bell at Latimer Middle School. Each tale focuses on one student or group of friends. The magic of this book is Reynolds's ability to weave the same teachers and various students in and out of the ten stories. Students after school swirl and eddy. Ms. Post the crossing guard helps everyone cross the street while her son looks on from his spot by the stop sign; Ms. Wockley, the principal, stands in the hall yelling at students; and Ms. CeeCee sells penny candy from her house. Some backstory in each piece puts the characters' actions into perspective, with each entry ending with a bit of a surprise. The very last one ends where the first one begins, with a mythical flying school bus. Poetic language is used throughout to help distinguish one character from the next. VERDICT The perfect book to hand to reluctant middle grade readers, who will relate to the hectic and uncertain lives of these characters.-Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Avondale, LA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* How do you invest a reader in a short-story collection? Begin with the promise of a school bus falling from the sky. This tease kickstarts the book, exciting the imagination before embarking?like a bus?on a neighborhood tour. Ten stories are told in parallel, each following different middle-graders home from school. On Marston Street, TJ lays out his hilarious hypothesis that we all boogers. On Placer Street, we meet the Low Cuts, a four-kid crew that hustles for spare change to help their cancer-stricken parents. There's Bryson, jumped on Burman Street for showing that it's OK for boys to kiss boys. Cynthia, who learned joke telling from her grandpa on Southview Avenue before his health began to decline. Here Reynolds exhibits his mastery of character. Each protagonist is distinct?engaging, sympathetic, complex?each story uniquely memorable. The prose flows effortlessly, rhythmic and real, and by broadening the scope to 10 middle-grade stories, he captures that age. These are quite simply?and profoundly?stories about kids and the comedy and tragedy of childhood. As the chapters pass, readers will sink into the more-and-more familiar neighborhood, getting so invested in these linked human experiences that, when the bus finally falls, it's only to remind us that we're all connected. This is storytelling at its finest, a true masterpiece from one of kidlit's brightest ambassadors.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Reynolds, basically kidlit royalty at this point, will summon a crowd with this short-story collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)