Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

by Jason Reynolds, Alexander Nabaum (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A masterfully woven tale about the experiences of 10 different groups of kids on their way home from the same school. A great reminder for kids (and adults) that although we may share common ground, we never know exactly what other people are going through when we go our separate ways. With laugh-out-loud moments throughout, this heartfelt story is sure to resonate with readers of all ages and backgrounds.

UK Carnegie Medal winner
A National Book Award Finalist
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Time Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2019
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
“As innovative as it is emotionally arresting.” —Entertainment Weekly

From National Book Award finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all the different directions kids’ walks home can take.

This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy—

Talking about boogers.
Stealing pocket change.
Skateboarding.
Wiping out.
Braving up.
Executing complicated handshakes.
Planning an escape.
Making jokes.
Lotioning up.
Finding comfort.
But mostly, too busy walking home.

Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481438292
Publisher:	Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	7,462
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

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, 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. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Read an Excerpt

Water Booger Bears

Reading Group Guide

A Reading Group Guide to

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

By Jason Reynolds

About the Book

Look Both Ways is composed of interconnected stories, each centering on different students at Latimer Middle School and set in one of the blocks surrounding the school. Through these ten stories, Jason Reynolds offers glimpses into the private struggles, strengths, and secrets of students who only know each other in passing. The book does not shy away from hard topics, and the characters deal with very real grief, fear, and loss with resiliency, compassion, and even humor. Realistic and moving, the book is fast-paced, funny, and empathetic, with a cast of characters that readers are sure to find relatable and likable. Look Both Ways reminds us to look at the world and the people around us more closely, and notice all the things that connect us to one another and our communities.

Discussion Questions:

1. Jasmine says if she has to be something else, she would choose to be a water bear. Water bear is the common name for an organism called a tardigrade. Research these organisms online. What makes them unique? Why do you think Jasmine would want to be one? Would you want to be a water bear too? Explain your answer.

2. Jason Reynolds writes poetry as well as prose, and he has incorporated poetic language into this novel. As you read, look for examples of figurative language. For example, list all the similes you can find in the first chapter. How does the use of poetic language impact you as a reader? Why do you think a writer might choose to use this type of language?

3. Choose one of the chapters in the book and identify specific details in the text that develop the relationship between the characters in that chapter. What details does Reynolds reveal directly? What does he reveal indirectly? Examine the way other characters respond and speak to one another, as well as their thoughts, actions, and/or appearances.

4. Why do you think the Low Cuts only steal loose change? Explain how they use the money they collect in chapter two. What do their actions reveal about their values? Did your perception of them change once you knew how they were using the money?

5. Reynolds describes the Low Cuts as a “braid of brilliance and bravado.” What does this description suggest about the group?

6. Why do you think Reynolds begins and ends the third chapter, “Bastion Street,” with a series of statements that begin with the word maybe? What do you think would have happened if Pia and Stevie talked with each other?

7. Reynolds describes Pia’s skateboard as her voice. What do you think he means by that? How are you most comfortable expressing yourself? Do you prefer to use words or some other outlet?

8. Reynolds explains that Ty knows “the anxiety of a kind of war.” What is the source of Ty’s anxiety and confusion? Why do you think Bryson defends him? Have you ever felt similarly? If so, how did you handle those feelings?

9. How would you answer Benni’s question if she asked you how you were going to change the world? What change would you like to see?

10. How does Simeon and Kenzi’s street differ from other neighborhoods in the book? Why do you think the boys call themselves brothers?

11. Explain why Satchmo is afraid of dogs. Have you ever had a bad experience that caused you to fear something? Satchmo makes an elaborate escape plan to deal with his fear. What have you found that helps you face your fear?

12. Why do you think Cynthia considers her mother her hero? How does laughter help her and her grandfather deal with grief and loss?

13. How do you think Sandra responds to Gregory after she smiles? Explain your answer.

14. The final chapter begins with a string of metaphors describing a school bus. Choose two or three metaphors that you find especially effective, and explain what you think each metaphor you selected means.

15. Which one of the chapters did you like the best? Which character did you most relate to? Explain your answers.

16. Several of the characters in the book are victims of bullying or harassment; think about Pia, Stevie, Bryson, and TJ. How do these characters respond when they are bullied or harassed? Which character do you think deals with the problem in the healthiest way? What advice would you give someone who was being bullied or harassed? What steps could you take in your community to try to prevent this kind of behavior?

17. The subtitle of Look Both Ways explains that it is a “tale told in ten blocks.” While each chapter in the book can be read as a stand-alone story, Reynolds uses repetitive images, settings, and characters to connect the stories. Identify one of these connecting devices and explain how it links the stories.

18. Although the characters in each story go to the same school and live in the same neighborhood, they don’t really know each other or understand the struggles that their classmates face. If you could orchestrate a friendship between two characters from different stories, which characters would you want to be friends? Explain your answer. Do these interactions make you think any differently about classmates or friends in your own life? Is there someone whom you’d like to get to know better?

19. “Canton smiled, knowing a school bus is many things. So is a walk home.” What do you think these last lines of the book mean? What does Canton realize after observing his classmates?

20. Why do you think Reynolds titled this book Look Both Ways? Can you think of different meanings for the title?

Extension Activities

1. Using details from the text, visualize the setting and create a map of the neighborhood around Latimer Middle School. Identify and label locations where key events in each chapter take place. How do you think the characters would react looking at your map and seeing how much goes on in the blocks surrounding their school? Think about what might go on unnoticed around your school, and discuss with your classmates.

2. Ms. Broome, the English teacher, gives a writing assignment: “[She] wanted each student to write about being something else. Not a person. A thing.” Complete this assignment, explaining what you would be and why you’ve chosen this object.

3. One of the themes running through Reynolds’s book is the value of empathy. Analyze the role that empathy plays in the novel. What effect does giving or receiving empathy have on the characters? List some of the occasions in which you see characters empathizing with one another.

4. Write your own short story using one or more characters and settings from Look Both Ways. You may want to develop the backstory of one of the characters, imagine a future incident, write from a different point of view, or have characters from different stories interact.

5. How well do you know the other kids in your school? Interview a classmate whom you don’t know very well, and then switch roles and let them interview you. What did you learn about each other? What were you most surprised to find out?

6. In the last chapter, Canton works on an assignment that requires him to “record human environmental interaction.” When he watches his schoolmates, what does he notice? Spend thirty minutes completing a similar assignment: record human environmental interaction in a place where people gather, such as a store, restaurant, school bus, sporting event, playground, or cafeteria. What do you notice about the way that people interact with each other? Is there anything you might apply to your own actions and behaviors?

Guide prepared by Amy Jurskis, English Department Chair at Oxbridge Academy.

This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes.

Editorial Reviews

Fans of Reynolds's best-selling Track series will already know the dexterity with which he writes from different perspectives, and those shifts are especially effective in this book of interconnected stories…For young readers, the structure of this "tale told in 10 blocks" is bound to be deeply satisfying, a way to zoom in on the everyday mysteries of this neighborhood…Reynolds's crackling, witty prose is a joy to read. The tales come in a sprightly variety of modes, from a handwritten list to a meditation on school buses that brushes up against poetry…[Here] is a book about life, a book to encourage us not just to look both ways but to look down at the sidewalk and up at the sky, to look in every direction we can. Because we don't want to miss a single page.

The New York Times Book Review - Nalini Jones

★ 08/12/2019

Reynolds (the Track series) packs the 10 blocks surrounding multiple schools with 10 relatable slice-of-life stories that start after school ends, each beginning with a black-and-white drawing by Nabaum. An overlapping cast of black characters populates the tales as they experience the tribulations of familial love (“Ookabooka Land”), fears (“Satchmo’s Master Plan”), first crushes (“How a Boy Becomes a Grease Fire”), near-death experiences (“The Broom Dog”), and more. Among the most memorable of these stories are “The Low Cuts Strike Again,” about a group of free-lunch students who are all children of cancer survivors (and rock low-cut haircuts in solidarity); “Skitter Hitter,” about Pia Foster, skateboarder extraordinaire, her deceased expert skateboarder sister Santi, and the boys who bully them about their skill; and “Call of Duty,” which portrays one hopeful, compassionate outcome of standing up against homophobic bullying. In Reynolds’s signature style, each story rings with emotional authenticity and empathy, and not a small amount of rib-tickling humor offsets the sometimes bittersweet realities of the characters’ lives. Ages 10–14. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"An unconventional, clever exploration of the secret trials and tribulations of middle schoolers."

Shelf Awareness

*"Superb storytelling."

starred review BookPage

*Reynolds proves once again that he has a knack for marrying the emotionally gripping to the unabashedly silly in ways that read as both new and familiar....Charming."

starred review BCCB

One of the most exciting, constantly surprising voices in children’s literature...is back with another book that’s as innovative as it is emotionally arresting.

May 3, 2019 - EW.com

"This is storytelling at its finest, a true masterpiece."

starred review Booklist

*"Filled with the heart and humor."

starred review Horn Book

"Ten African-American narrators read these ten interconnected stories, and their performances are uniformly excellent, bringing the cast of characters to vivid life. Listeners follow the varied adventures of students as they walk home from school. In 'Call of Duty,' read by Kevin R. Free, Bryson stands up for a boy who gets kissed by another boy at school; in 'Satchmo's Master Plan,' read by Guy Lockard, Satchmo devises an elaborate escape plan in case the new dog next door gives chase. Author Reynolds's vibrant language, delivered by the narrator ensemble with style, makes every situation and detail—whether funny, outlandish, sad, or tender—feel genuine, relatable, and full of heart. Reynolds reads the final chapter himself, a poetic conclusion that connects all of the threads in this perfect middle-grade novel."

AudioFile Magazine Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

★ 10/01/2019

Gr 5–8—Ten short stories paint a picture of what happens one particular afternoon after the dismissal bell at Latimer Middle School. Each tale focuses on one student or group of friends. The magic of this book is Reynolds's ability to weave the same teachers and various students in and out of the ten stories. Students after school swirl and eddy. Ms. Post the crossing guard helps everyone cross the street while her son looks on from his spot by the stop sign; Ms. Wockley, the principal, stands in the hall yelling at students; and Ms. CeeCee sells penny candy from her house. Some backstory in each piece puts the characters' actions into perspective, with each entry ending with a bit of a surprise. The very last one ends where the first one begins, with a mythical flying school bus. Poetic language is used throughout to help distinguish one character from the next. VERDICT The perfect book to hand to reluctant middle grade readers, who will relate to the hectic and uncertain lives of these characters.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Avondale, LA

School Library Journal

★ 2019-07-14
In each of 10 stories, kids reentering the neighborhood from their school day reveal their unique narratives.

BFFs T.J. and Jasmine find their yearslong friendship getting them through parental separation, illness, and foster care. A group of four, all children of cancer survivors, has been brought together by a school counselor. A female skateboarder is the target of a bully—to the relief of his usual victim. A teen with the signs of OCD meets a street musician who changes her outlook. Two ardent gamers are caught up in the confusion of sexual questioning, and there's an odd couple of friends whose difference in size is no barrier to their bond. A teen with a fear of dogs devises an elaborate plan to get past his neighbor's new pet, and the class clown tries to find a way to make her overworked mother laugh. Three boys work to make their friend presentable enough to tell a classmate that he likes her. An accident sustained by the school crossing guard causes her son significant anxiety. There are connections among some of the stories: places, people, incidents. However, each story has its own center, and readers learn a great deal about each character in just a few lines. Reynolds' gift for capturing the voices and humanity of urban teens is on full display. The cast adheres to a black default.

The entire collection brims with humor, pathos, and the heroic struggle to grow up. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews