How many people can be a multiple-award-winning author and write a Miles Morales Spider-Man novel? Just Jason Reynolds.
It’s difficult to find a recent book by Jason Reynolds that doesn’t have a sticker on the front announcing that the book is a major award winner or nominee. And based on the customer reviews the books are getting, readers love them too, which isn’t something you can always say about award nominees.
Reynolds’ latest novel, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, offers ten different views of the walk home from school. “As innovating as it is emotionally arresting,” said EW.com about the book, which reached happy readers in October.
We asked Jason Reynolds what he’d been reading and loving lately, and here are his picks.
Jason Reynolds’ favorite reads of 2019

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The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles and illustrated by Dapo Adeola
Honestly, I never knew how much I wanted a fun, non-traumatic, high stakes, magical adventure involving two Black boys until I read this book. Just a good time.

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I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying: Essays by Bassey Ikpi
This is a collection of essays taking the reader on a journey that explores Ikpi’s complex identity as it relates to her family, romance, art, all leading up to her being diagnosed with bipolar II. It feels, brilliantly, like a warm blanket and also a bed of nails.

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Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
I’m a sucker for an intergenerational tale, especially if it complicates normative archetypes. Like motherhood. And family. And that’s what this book does.

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Words Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula K. Le Guin
I mean, what’s better than Ursula LeGuin? I’ll tell you. Ursula LeGuin talking about writing. This book feels more like a sacred text. A reference manual to remind me what it is I’m perpetually attempting to do as a writer.
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