Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Ideal for: 7th-8th graders

Rating: 9/10

This is a great book about a boy who's brother is shot. There are three rules in his neighborhood. Don't cry. Don't snitch. Get revenge. It is very interesting, and you will find it entertaining.

Will's trip between floors and through time is powerful and painful. Reynolds's work is rich with symbolism, the verse lending a feeling of immediacy to the 300-page, 60-second journey. Long Way Down is an intense read with a beautifully ambiguous ending that highlights the humanity of those who are regularly touched by and contribute to gun violence. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness

Written entirely in spare verse, this is a tour de force from a writer who continues to demonstrate his skill as an exceptionally perceptive chronicler of what it means to be a black teen in America. (Publishers Weekly *STARRED REVIEW July 31, 2017)