Bibliographic Information
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication year: 2015
ISBN: 978-1481463331
Reader’s Annotation
When a white police officer brutally beats a black teenager over a misunderstanding, the fallout causes a schism in a New York community. Rashad and Quinn, one the victim of the crime and the other a friend of the perpetrator, try to come to terms with the event and how it affects them.
Plot Summary
Rashad is a sixteen-year-old high school student, just a kid who likes to hang out with his friends and wishes his dad didn’t want him to be in ROTC. One afternoon, a police officer named Paul Galluzzo mistakes his actions as suspicious and accuses him of shoplifting a bag of chips from a convenience store, which leads to a brutal beating when Galluzzo believes Rashad to be resisting arrest. Quinn, Rashad’s fellow student and friend of Galluzzo’s younger brother, witnesses the brutal attack from the street. Rashad and Quinn hardly know each other and run in social circles that only vaguely overlap, but as the community spirals into an uproar over the white cop who beat a black teenager over a bag of chips, each boy does their best to reconcile their feelings about the event and find out what it really means to be a young man in America.
Critical Evaluation
Narratively, the strongest aspect of this book is the authors’ choice to tell a story about the execution and subsequent perception of police brutality from the first person points of view of two boys, one black and one white. They each have certain knowledge gaps that are brought to light by the events of the novel, which perfectly mirrors the way our consciousness about the social climate can change with current events. The authors have done a fantastic job mimicking how teenage boys act, speak, and think, which is a large part of the reason this novel is so powerful. The message of All-American Boys resonates with the reader long after the final page. With this novel, Reynolds and Kiely have positively affected the way we see racially motivated crimes in America.
Author Information
Well, if you've made it here, that means you've survived the huge picture of my face! Congrats! And to reward you, I'm going to tell you all about...me. Sorry. No cake. No confetti. No money falling from the ceiling...this time.
So, I'm a writer. And when I say I'm a writer, I mean it in the same way a professional ball player calls himself an athlete. I practice everyday and do the best I can to be better at this writing thing, while hopefully bringing some cool stories to the world. The stories are kinda like my slam dunks. Except, I'm dunking words. In your FACE! Ha!
I graduated from the University of Maryland (where I spent about 65% of my time writing and reciting poetry all over campus...yeah, that was me) with a B.A. in English, then packed my bags and moved to Brooklyn because somebody told me they were giving away dream-come-true vouchers. And if I ever find the person who told me that... let's just say, no one was giving away anything. ANYTHING. Lucky for me I had all these crazy stories to keep me going. Ten years later, here I am, doing my best to string together an "ABOUT" section on my own website about my own books. Crazy.
Here's what I know: I know there are a lot — A LOT — of young people who hate reading. I know that many of these book haters are boys. I know that many of these book-hating boys, don't actually hate books, they hate boredom. If you are reading this, and you happen to be one of these boys, first of all, you're reading this so my master plan is already working (muahahahahahaha) and second of all, know that I feel you. I REALLY do. Because even though I'm a writer, I hate reading boring books too.
Here's what I plan to do: NOT WRITE BORING BOOKS.
That's it, and that's all.
Source: http://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/bio/
...
Brendan Kiely received an MFA in creative writing from The City College of New York. His debut novel, The Gospel of Winter, has been published in ten languages, it was selected as one of American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2015, and it was a Kirkus Reviews selection for best of 2014. He is the coauthor, with Jason Reynolds, of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award winning All American Boys, and author of the forthcoming The Last True Love Story (McElderry Books/S&S, September 2016). Originally from the Boston area, he now lives with his wife in Greenwich Village.
Source: http://www.brendankiely.com/biography/
Genre
Fiction
Curriculum Ties
Current Events
History
Social Sciences
Booktalking Ideas
Explain the main plot of the book against a backdrop of current events, and explain why it is important for everyone to educate themselves before taking sides on important social issues. Support this with a relevant excerpt from the book. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.
Reading Level/Interest Age
Amazon: Grade 7 and up, age 12 and up
Booklist: Grades 9-12
School Library Journal: Grade 8 and up
Challenging Issues
Language
Racial Issues and Stereotypes
Violence
Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-specific-challenges_6.html
Why the Item Was Chosen
This book is included in my collection because of it’s powerful message. It was written because of violence that occurred in real life, and continues to be relevant because of the violence that continues to occur. When compiling a collection of important literature for young adults, it is imperative to include things that help them understand the world. Unfortunately, the events of All-American Boys ring especially true in light of attacks that continue to happen to black people, often committed by non-black cops. It is important to relay these events to young adults in a way they will understand and care about, so that as the future of America they work to end the violence.
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