Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

This book is pretty clearly aimed at the tween crowd - after all, the first chapter speculates on whether humans are just giant boogers, and has plenty of that sort of joke throughout. Maybe that is because the characters are of that age, of course. 

 

 

Look Both Ways was inspired by Reynold’s desire to explore the one time of the day when kids are unsupervised and not tied down to homework or video games or other activities. Namely, the walk home from school. There are a total of ten stories, named after different blocks in the neighborhood, and linked together in various ways. 

The characters live in the same general neighborhood, and attend the same set of schools - there is the public school, and two gender-segregated private schools. For the most part, the kids are working class black kids like Reynolds himself, but there is - like in many cities - more economic and racial diversity than outsiders tend to expect.

Like so many Reynolds books, there is a lot of humor, but also serious topics. Bullying of various sorts, gravely ill parents, dog attacks, petty theft, helicopter parenting, and most of all the way that everything and everyone is connected in ways that cannot be easily predicted or described. 

Each of the stories is long enough to be a short story, but feels almost like a vignette, because of the way they end. In each case, there is a turning point, a shift that feels important. And that becomes the last sentence of the story - the aftermath is left for the reader to imagine. It’s an interesting technique, and Reynolds is a good enough writer to pull it off. 

The stories also focus on less popular kids - the ones on the outside, the margins, the uncool, and so on. Not in the “look at the poor outcasts” way, but more in the sense of seeing - really seeing - the average kid just looking to get by and live life. 

Also notable is that there are no simple villains. Even the worst bullies are hiding significant trauma, whether an abusive father, or confusion about their own sexuality. The characters are true to life, and three dimensional. 

Finally, there is this weird thing about a school bus falling from the sky that runs through the stories - I’m not at all sure I get the point of that, and it seems peripheral to the narrative. 

I’ll give a quick summary of the ten stories. 

The first is about a boy and girl who are friends - considered odd by their peers for that reason. They talk about boogers and what humans are really at their core. As the story unfolds, we find out that Jasmine was hospitalized with a sickle cell attack after her parents split up, and TJ was her source of stability during that hard time.

The second is about a quartet of rough kids, known as the “low cuts,” for their short hair. They steal, but only loose change. What really unites them is that each has a parent fighting cancer, and suffering economic hardship as a result. (The US healthcare system is horrible that way.) They steal mostly to buy additional food in the cafeteria, but one day, they run a candy sales project at the local pool hall, for what turns out to be a heartwarming reason. 

The third is about a skater girl, who is targeted for bullying by a boy who has an abusive father. This boy has been bullying another boy, but promises him relief if he joins them in targeting the girl. Afterward, with her skateboard broken, and reeling from the trauma of her sister’s death in a similar incident a few years ago, she misses the boy’s attempt to apologize. 

The fourth is about a sheltered middle class girl, who has finally convinced her parents to let her walk home by herself. Naturally, the first few days, she gets caught in a downpour, and trips over a crack and bloodies herself. But she also meets a woman, who is rather daft, but who inspires her to think about how to change the world. 

The fifth is about perception of sexuality. Ty, a popular and skilled gamer, is kissed by Slim, who then goes about spreading the story that Ty kissed him. Ty’s best gaming buddy, Bryson, defends him, and even points out that it wouldn’t matter even if Ty was gay. As a result, Bryson gets jumped on the way home, and beaten up. Ty decides to visit and express his gratefulness. We are left wondering, however, about the true nature of what the two feel for each other. On the other hand, Slim is hella gay, but is terrified of that fact, as evidenced by his response to his own actions. 

The sixth is about a rather large kid, Simeon, and his bond with a rather small kid, Kenzi. We only find out at the end what that bond is based on - events involving their older brothers - but the way Simeon looks after Kenzi is fascinating. Reynolds later admitted that their complex secret handshake was actually sign language with a meaning personal to the boys. 

The seventh is about Satchmo, who is terrified of dogs after he was badly injured by one owned by a pretty nasty woman in his previous neighborhood. The attack led his mother to find a career in the veterinary care system, but Satchmo remains traumatized and fearful. When a widower on his block gets a dog to help him deal with his grief, Satchmo comes up with an absurdly detailed plan to escape the dog. Which in the end turns out to be moot. 

The eighth is a humorous and poignant story about Cynthia, who is a budding comedian. As it turns out, her mother is working and attending night school, so she is rarely around. Cynthia is largely raised by her grandfather, Cinder, her namesake. Alas, he is increasingly suffering from dementia after the death of his partner. The bond of the two is lovely, as is Cynthia’s way of making Cinder feel needed. 

The ninth is a kind of weird and sophomoric story about a boy who for unknown reasons smells and is greasy. His friends attempt to clean him up so he can ask a girl he likes to be his, well, girlfriend or at least friend or something. It is funny, but also a bit awkward. Not my favorite of the stories, although I like that the friends - and the girl - seem like nice decent sorts. 

The final story is about a kid whose world is shaken up when his mother - a crossing guard - is hit by a school bus rescuing a kid who darts in front of it. He is helped out of his panic attacks by the custodian, who fashions an “emotional support dog” out of an old broom head. 

There you have it, an interesting set of connected stories. I’m not sure this one is as good as the other Reynolds stories we have listened to, but it is still good. The characters are well drawn in every story, even if some of the storylines weren’t as compelling as others. The best, though, were really good, and memorable. 

Jason Reynolds is one of today’s classic children’s authors whose stories seem likely to endure in the future.