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Jason Reynolds

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Long Way Down Paperback – April 2, 2019

by Jason Reynolds (Author)

4.7 7,567 ratings

in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Social & Family Violence

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“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A Newbery Honor Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Printz Honor Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award
An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction
Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner
An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017
A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017
A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017

An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.

Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

Reading age

12 years and up
Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Grade level

7 - 9
Lexile measure

HL720L
Dimensions

5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
Publication date

April 2, 2019
ISBN-10

1481438263
ISBN-13

978-1481438261
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What's it about?
A teenager is about to shoot the man who killed his brother, but a series of events on an elevator make him reconsider.
Popular highlight
ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES They weren’t meant to be broken. They were meant for the broken to follow.
1,068 Kindle readers highlighted this
Popular highlight
AND YOU KNOW it’s weird to know a person you don’t know and at the same time not know a person you know, you know?
503 Kindle readers highlighted this
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IN CASE YOU AIN’T KNOW, gunshots make everybody deaf and blind especially when they make somebody dead.
479 Kindle readers highlighted this

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Long Way Down DON’T NOBODY
believe nothing

these days

which is why I haven’t

told nobody the story

I’m about to tell you.

And truth is,

you probably ain’t

gon’ believe it either

gon’ think I’m lying

or I’m losing it,

but I’m telling you,

this story is true.

It happened to me.

Really.

It did.

It so did.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books; Reprint edition (April 2, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1481438263
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1481438261
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL720L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 7,567 ratings

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Jason Reynolds

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The first name bits:

What Jason knows is that there are a lot — A LOT — of people, young, old, and in-between, who hate reading. He knows that many of these book haters are boys. He knows 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 Jason's master plan is already working (muahahahahahaha) and second of all, know that Jason totally feels you. He REALLY does. Because even though he's a writer, he hates reading boring books too.

So here's what he plans to do: NOT WRITE BORING BOOKS.

That's it, and that's all.

Now, for the last name bits:

Jason Reynolds is an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Jason’s many books include Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Correta Scott King Honor, and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

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4.7 out of 5

7,567 global ratings

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RaMaFu

Bought to read to my students

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2024

Verified Purchase

Great book! Easy read and really makes you stop and think.
I wish I could have bought a copy for each of my students.
It touches base on the very serious topic of young gun violence and the "rules" of the streets.

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024

Verified Purchase

I read this in school with my students. They love the story, and it's great for teaching poetry. They can understand the poetic devices better since they can understand the poems.

One person found this helpful

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OldAnnie

Horrifying story, great book.

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2024

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Be sure you're up for a very realistic, grief inducing story of the shooting death of a young man. But it's very well written, real emotions expressed poetically.

One person found this helpful

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Destiny B.

” I’ve always loved stories written in verse

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018

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“ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES:
They weren't meant to be broken.
They were meant for the broken to follow.”

I’ve always loved stories written in verse, so when I heard about this own-voice tale of the struggles that toxic masculinity and systemic racism place upon young black men, I was immediately interested. I wanted to focus on supporting as many new-to-me black authors as possible in February, and Jason Reynolds was at the very top of my list. This man has a writing voice that absolutely needs to be heard.

“But if the blood inside you is on the inside of someone else,
you never want to see it on the outside of them.”

Will’s words are so haunting and broken; he’s lost his big brother, his hero, and now all he wants is to follow the rules – the rules that he’s been taught his whole life. The rules that say the only fair response to the wrongful death of a loved one… is revenge. Will knows his mission is probably going to leave him in the same state as his brother, but it’s all he’s equipped to do. It’s such a powerful metaphor for toxic masculinity and the ways in which it prevents boys and men from knowing how to cope with trauma in meaningful, productive ways – not through their own faults, but because they’re never been shown a better way.

“Just remember, when
you're walking in the nighttime,
make sure the nighttime
ain't walking into you.”

My only complaint about this incredible little book, and the reason that I only gave it 4 stars, is that it was so short that it was incredibly difficult to connect to the story or characters. While the events were hard to stomach, things moved so quickly and with so little development or preamble that, by the time I felt attached to Will or his pain, I was turning the last few pages. I would’ve loved to have seen this story fleshed out a bit more; most of the pages have only 10-20 words printed on them, and I just think that, had this been written like most verse novels, where there was a solid paragraph or two per page, it would’ve carried the impact across so much better and would have meant that much more. That said, I still absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to see what Jason Reynolds releases next.

One person found this helpful

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Jacob Hasson

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024

Verified Purchase

This book is a must read, a beautifully told story. I finished it so quickly, and want to reread it already. Wonderful!

One person found this helpful

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Stephanie

Great Book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2024

Verified Purchase

Very good for my daughter she loved it said it was thrilling and appeals to her definitely made her want to read some more of his other books I really recommend this book. Its fun and a great conversation piece.

Helpful

Donaleen Mccluskey

One of the best books I've read

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2024

Verified Purchase

I'm an 8th-grade teacher. I came across this book while browsing the internet. I decided to check it out. This book was so great, that I read it in a day. I loved it so much that I decided to play the audiobook for my students. My 16-year-old son happened to also be reading this book in his English class. We both enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2024

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The book slayed the houston house down or whatever the gen z saying is

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jm1632

Good

Reviewed in Canada on April 24, 2023

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Good

Amazon Customer

Best poetry book I've ever read

Reviewed in Brazil on March 8, 2022

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This is perfection, everything is extremely well done from the narrative to the page design, after reading this you will definitely see some changes in your point of view when it comes to the discussions brought up by the author.
As expected 10/10 would recommend

DG

Ottimo

Reviewed in Italy on April 6, 2024

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Ottimo

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Customer X

Great reading experience

Reviewed in Germany on November 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

Loved the language and the story, the author found a fresh and appealing way of dealing with the topic of youth violence

Cheerioh

l'histoire est forte, la poésie la porte parfois mais elle manque de rythme

Reviewed in France on August 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

J'ai du mal avec la poésie sans rythme. Ici la forme soutient parfois la pensée mais c'est très artificiel. Par exemple si je prenais mon commentaire et que je le détachais en vers, ça donnerait pareil et ça n'a pas toujours grand intérêt.

L'histoire par contre est plus intéressante. On suit notre protagoniste, dans sa tête, qui souhaite venger la mort de son frère, tué par balle dans contexte de règlement de compte entre gangs de rue. Il suit les Règles comme son frère, comme son père. Il prend l'ascenseur et à chaque étage, quelqu'un rentre.

L'occasion est ici donnée d'explorer ces règles de la rue, la transmission, la vengeance...

Apparemment l'histoire n'avait pas été conçue sous forme poétique. Pourquoi pas. En tout cas on le sent bien. Parfois ça fonctionne et d'autres fois pas. Pas à voix haute en tout cas. C'est un peu le défaut du récit.

J'ai quand même bien aimé globalement, le personnage est sympathique et on espère qu'il fera le bon choix.

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Jason Reynolds

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