Author | Jason Reynolds |
---|---|
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Publication date | October 24, 2017 |
Pages | 306 |
Awards | Printz Honor Book, Coretta Scott King author award, Newbery Honor |
ISBN | 978-1-48143-825-4 |
OCLC | 972216719 |
Long Way Down is a young adult novel in verse by Jason Reynolds, published October 24, 2017, by Atheneum Books. The book was longlisted for the National Book Award [1] and was named a Printz Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Newbery Medal Honor Book, [2] alongside other awards and positive reviews.
A graphic novel edition of the book, illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff, was published October 13, 2020.
Reynolds held the idea for Long Way Down for years before finally writing it. In 2003 when Reynolds was 19, he learned that a friend had been murdered. [3] Speaking of the moment, he said he and his friends felt "an anger, a pain, like a cancer metastasizing by the second, spreading around us and through us. We knew his death had changed us chemically, and that we could do, perhaps, what we never knew we could do before. Kill." [3] Reynolds continued,
Long Way Down is meant to help us all recognize the weight of it. Not just the weight of gun violence, but the weight of anger bearing down on fragile backs. The weight of slow-burning psychosis. The weight of community codes, family dynamic, tradition. The weight of The Rules. The weight of guaranteed cold cases. The weight of fear, and the feeling of insignificance. The weight of dehumanization, of being stripped of personhood because of instinctual moments and feelings, unfettered. The weight of so many children—more specifically, so many black and brown children—jumping on this soiled American mattress, poverty, illiteracy, and prejudice serving as the coils. [3]
William Holloman is ready to exact vengeance on the person who murdered his older brother, Shawn. As Will rides the elevator down from his eighth-floor apartment, a new person, who is dead, gets on on each floor and tells a story about their lives, all connected to three rules of the neighborhood: [4]
Most of the ghosts' stories revolve around that third rule, wherein one person died because they killed someone who killed someone connected to their family, creating a continuous cycle of death.
The full story takes place over the course of a minute.
Long Way Down was a New York Times best seller [1] [5] and Junior Library Guild selection. [6]
The book received starred reviews from Booklist , [7] Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books , [8] Horn Book, [9] Kirkus , [5] Publishers Weekly , [10] and School Library Journal , [11] as well as positive reviews from Shelf Awareness. [12]
In reviews, the book was called "astonishing," [5] "a tour de force," [10] "powerful," [11] and "intense." [12]
Kirkus, [5] Publishers Weekly, [13] the New York Public Library, [14] the Chicago Public Library, [15] Entertainment Weekly , [16] Vulture , [17] Paste , [18] Buzzfeed, [19] Horn Book, [20] and School Library Journal [21] named Long Way Down one of the best young adult books of the year. The Washington Post included it in their list of "50 Notable Works of Fiction 2017." [22]
TIME added it to their "100 Best YA Books of All Time" list, [23] and Buzzfeed named it one of the best 30 young adult books of the decade. [24]
A graphic novel edition of the book, illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff, was published October 13, 2020, by Atheneum. [52] This graphic novel was the 2022 winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. [53]
Writing for Horn Book, Patrick Gall applauded the imagery, noting that
artful decisions offer readers insight into Will’s emotional state at any given moment. The layered, fragmented layouts found across many spreads have potent impact, along with stylistic touches such as Polaroid photos, video screens, and storyboards seamlessly substituted for panels. Scenes of violence are starkly portrayed, including a double-page image of Shawn’s dead body; however, the complex and unjust reality of Will’s position remains front and center, in stark focus. [54]
In 2021, the American Library Association selected Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel as one of their Great Graphic Novels for Teens. [55]
Shannon Hale is an American author primarily of young adult fantasy, including the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy and The Goose Girl. Her first novel for adults, Austenland, was adapted into a film in 2013. She is a graduate of the University of Utah and the University of Montana. She has also co-written with her husband, Dean.
The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by Booklist magazine; administered by the ALA's young-adult division, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); and named for the Topeka, Kansas, school librarian Mike Printz, a long-time active member of YALSA. Up to four worthy runners-up may be designated Honor Books and three or four have been named every year.
Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for the young adult historical novel A Northern Light.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.
Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children's picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction. She is known best for the Ruby Oliver quartet, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". She is also the only two-time recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature for Dig (2019) and as editor and contributor to The Collectors: Stories (2023).
Danica Novgorodoff is a graphic novelist, painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and writer from Brooklyn, New York and Louisville, Kentucky. She was awarded a 2015 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in Literature, was named Sarabande Books’ 2016 writer in residence, and received a 2020 Café Royal Cultural Foundation grant in literature. Her art and writing have been published in MoMA Magazine, Best American Comics, The Believer, Artforum, Esquire, VQR, Slate, Orion, Seneca Review, Ecotone Journal, The Arkansas International, and others.
Isabel Quintero is an American writer of young adult literature, poetry and fiction.
Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade audiences. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap and had an early focus on poetry, publishing several poetry collections before his first novel in 2014, When I Was the Greatest, which won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
Bahni Turpin is an American audiobook narrator and stage and screen actor based out of Los Angeles. Her audiobook career includes some of the most popular and critically-acclaimed books in recent years, including The Help and The Hate U Give. She has won 9 Audie Awards, including Audiobook of the Year for Children of Blood and Bone; 14 Earphone Awards; and 2 Odyssey Awards. Turpin has also earned a place on AudioFile magazine's list of Golden Voice Narrators, and in 2016, she was named Audible's Narrator of the Year. In 2018, Audible inducted her into the Narrator Hall of Fame.
Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction is a graphic memoir by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, published October 9, 2018 by Graphix. The book tells the story of Krosoczka's childhood living with his grandparents while his mother lived with a substance use disorder.
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers is a book list created annually by the Young Adult Library Services Association. The list identifies fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels that may encourage teenagers who dislike reading to read.
Nina LaCour is an American author, primarily known for writing young adult literature with queer, romantic story lines. Her novel We Are Okay won the Printz Award in 2017.
Ghost is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published August 30, 2016 by Atheneum Books. It is the first book of Reynold's Track series, followed by Patina (2017), Sunny (2018), and Lu (2018).
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum, and published October 8, 2019 by Atheneum Books. The book is a New York Times best seller, National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist (2019), Coretta Scott King Award honor book (2020), and Carnegie Medal recipient (2021).
Lu is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published October 23, 2018, by Atheneum. It is the fourth book in Reynold's Track series, preceded by Ghost (2016), Patina (2017), and Sunny (2018).
Patina is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published August 29, 2017 by Atheneum. It is the second book in Reynold's Track series, preceded by Ghost (2016) and followed by Sunny (2018) and Lu (2018).
Sunny is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published April 10, 2018, by Atheneum. It is the third book in Reynold's Track series, preceded by Ghost (2016), Patina (2017), and followed by Lu (2018).
The American Library Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, established in 2007, is an annual list presented by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction geared toward individuals ages 12–18.
Don Brown is an American author and illustrator of children's books.