All American Boys

Jason Reynolds · Brendan Kiely

Sep 2015 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

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

In this New York Times bestselling novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

There were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred reviewed tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken directly from today’s headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.

Ratings and reviews

4.5 stars. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely is a timeless, thought-provoking young adult novel about racism and police brutality in America. Rashad Butler is a Black teenager who is savagely beaten by a white cop. The circumstances are all too familiar in America today-Rashad is a young Black man doing nothing wrong and he is racially profiled by Officer Paul Galluzzo. Fellow student Quinn Collins sees the assault but since he personally knows Galluzzo, he is reluctant to become involved or report what he witnessed. It is not until a movement begins at their high school that both Rashad and Quinn begin to change and evolve as they decide what they want to do next. Alternating between Rashad's and Quinn's perspectives, we see firsthand how each of the young men grapples with the situation. Rashad's injuries are serious enough he has to remain in the hospital for several days. As tgecdsys pass, he is surprised by the different reactions of his family members. Quinn is caught between his memories of Paul guiding him through life following his father's death and Paul brutally beating his helpless classmate. Both of the young men's reactions are surprising as they figure out what they should do in the aftermath of the attack. All American Boys is an insightful novel that should be on everyone's reading list. The storyline remains all too relevant in America today. Just as happens in real life, Rashad and Quinn are faced with an important choice about their role in the aftermath of a racially charged, police brutality incident. Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely bring this incredible story to a poignant conclusion that will linger in readers' minds long after the last page is turned. HIGHLY recommend.

I havent read it yet but this is a topic that everyone should discuss There are no REAL white people in America. Check out your family tree, get the 23 and me DNA and do it. You'll be very suprised.

My whole middle school read this and we all got our own we were so touched by this book we even met Brendan and Jason face to face it was amazing😙❤💕

About the author

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Brendan Kiely is the New York Times bestselling author of All American Boys (with Jason Reynolds), Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program. He watches too much basketball and reads too many books at the same time, but most importantly, he lives for and loves his wife and son. Find out more at BrendanKiely.com.