Author Jason Reynolds: A Voice of a New Generation
“I’m okay with disagreement. I’m just not okay with disengagement,” said author Jason Reynolds to a large audience on Friday, February 18 at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library. Reynolds was there to discuss his book, Stamped, which he co-authored with author Ibram X. Kendi. In response to the popularity of Kendi’s National Book Award-winning book, Stamped from the Beginning, Stamped is an adaptation for young adults
Reynolds is a #1 New York Times best-selling author, a John Newbery Medal recipient, a Printz Award honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Prize Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award winner and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. The Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader appointed Reynolds as the seventh National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for an unprecedented three consecutive years from 2020-2022.
Reynolds has penned over a dozen novels for young people, including All American Boys, When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, As Brave As You, For Every One, the Track series, which includes Ghost, Patina, Sunny and Lu, Look Both Ways and Long Way Down, which received Newbery, Printz and a Coretta Scott King honors. His latest book, Ain’t Burned All the Bright, is a collaboration with friend and artist, Jason Griffin. The book is part art, part text and a breathtaking testament to our collective experience during the pandemic.
Reynolds writes in the voice and from the heart of young people. Fans of his work feel heard and seen, and his unique style pushes arbitrary boundaries. “We must settle into the discomfort and have the conversations [around diversity], so our babies have a fair shot in the days to come,” he said at the Virginia Beach event. He clarified, “Feeling uncomfortable is not the same thing as feeling unsafe. Your discomfort can mean the safety of a whole lot of other people.”
Kendi and Reynolds met and connected at a National Book Award ceremony. Reynolds was a nominee for his book, Ghost, and Kendi for his book, Stamped From the Beginning. Kendi won the award, and his popularity seemingly exploded overnight. Later, when the two reconnected, Kendi revealed to Reynolds that numerous people commented how they wished there had been a book like Stamped From the Beginning when they were young. Kendi convinced Reynolds to help him make the book accessible to children and young adults. Reynolds took Kendi's extensive research and wrote a book in his style for young people to understand our history as a nation around issues concerning diversity.
Feelings of doubt crept in for Reynolds, and he resisted the task at first. He admitted he was not a great student and could have done better. Fortunately, however, he had a teacher who saw him. Reynolds was a guest on a podcast episode of “Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us” and relayed an experience with his 10th grade English teacher, Ms. Blaufaz. He felt she was “mea” and didn’t like him, and Reynolds initially begged his mother to transfer him out of her class. Wisely, his mother encouraged him to give it some time.
“It turns out this is the lady that acknowledges that I can write, first time ever,” Reynolds said. “And I wasn’t doing that great on the papers, but she was able to say, ‘I’m giving you a C, but not because it’s poorly written, really because you’re not following directions. But not because you’re not exhibiting some sort of chops here, something’s happening in your work, and I can see it.” The teacher created a writing class, chose eight students, including Reynolds, and introduced them to various writing styles. Reynolds said, “I’m like, oh, this is it. I love this. And then she called my mom and said, ‘If he goes to college, find a college with a good writing program.’ This is a teacher that was so invested in a thing that most people could not see in me, and she saw it, and she’s still a very good friend.”
At the Virginia Beach event, English teachers made up a large part of the audience. Kellam High School English teacher Macy Pniewski stated, ”I have gotten so many students to begin reading by simply introducing them to his [Reynolds] books.”
Reynolds wears a meaningful tattoo of the number 26 on his hand. “I see it all day, every day, and it represents the letters in the English alphabet,” he said. “And the reason that I got it is because I think about the letters of the English alphabet as sort of the tools for alchemy.”
Language truly is transformative, and the pen can manipulate and extensively affect culture. Stamped explains how in the 1400s, Gomes Eanes de Zurara, an obedient commander in the army of Prince Henry of Portugal, was tasked with giving Prince Henry a public relations makeover when he enslaved Moors to gain access to the wealth of the Muslim trading depot in Morocco. Zurara wrote a biography of the life and slave trading of Prince Henry, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, and claimed that enslaving humans was missionary work — a mission from God to help civilize and Christianize what he called African “savages.”
Reynolds wrote, “Zurara's documentation of the [false] idea that Africans needed slavery in order to be fed and taught Jesus, and that it was all ordained by God, began to seep in and stick to the European cultural psyche. And a few hundred years later, this idea would eventually reach America.”
Reynolds explained to the event audience, “All of this started from someone’s figment of their own imagination — the idea around [the slaves] not seeming whole and needing help from being savages.”
Stamped leads readers into significant eras throughout history to the modern day. Reynolds highlights the influence multiple authors had and continue to have in our country — those that fought against human hierarchy and those that believed it. For example, Reynolds made a fascinating observation of how the concepts of segregation, assimilation and anti-racism can be found in unexpected places, such as in many of the John Hughes films from the 1980s. Indeed, the social stratification is strikingly apparent in “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Sixteen Candles.”
Reynolds has faith and hope for his audience of young readers and their generation. He said, “Someone started by saying, ‘I know this [human hierarchy and slavery] is wrong, but I’m going to say it’s right.’ If our kids say the opposite, what will it look like in 40 years? Can we lean into discomfort — shift the narrative another way, a better way.” Reynolds pointed out that compared to most of the world, our country is in the preteens and has been acting like it. However, he added that this means there is room to grow.
Reynolds engaged in an interesting question-and-answer session with the audience and fielded questions from those curious about his experience and even one questioner who believed he shouldn’t share it. He patiently listened and engaged in dialogue with the questioner but later admitted, “If someone doesn’t want to change their mind, I don’t want to try to do it.”
Reynolds has an impressively compassionate view towards those who avoid discussing hard topics. On Brown’s podcast, he discussed the act of banning books, an experience he has had with some of his own books, and stated, “So if there are adults who are taking information, taking truth, taking opportunity for discourse and growth from our children, it’s usually because it is something that they do not have, and that they did not have [in their childhood].”
As he wrapped up the library event, Reynolds explained that ultimately, it’s about listening to the stories of others, having discussions and engaging in personal inquiry. “We talk about saving the world when we don’t talk to our neighbors,” he said. He also admitted that he is often asked by others how to be more tolerant and inclusive. “Self-reflection is the only way,” Reynolds said. “Make sure before you say anything out, you say everything in.”
