All American Boys

All American Boys

YA fiction
"There was blood pooling in my mouth--tasted like metal. There
were tears pooling in my eyes. I could see someone looking at me,
quickly fading into a watery blur. Everything was sidewise. Wrong.
My eyes were clogged, plugged by the pressure. All I could make out
were the washed-out grunts of the man leaning over me, hurting me,
telling me to stop fighting even though I wasn't fighting, and then
the piercing sound of sirens pulling up.
My brain exploded into a million thoughts and only one thought
at the same time--
please
don't
kill me."
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely's All American Boys is a
narrative ripped out of today's headlines. A black teen goes into a
neighborhood store to buy chips. A series of unfortunate moments
leads to his being charged with shoplifting. The arresting officer
beats him so brutally that he has to spend about a week in the
hospital. At the boy's school and in the community where both reside
reactions are mixed. Some people are outraged. Some say the cop was
just doing his job. Some want to avoid the topic by any means possible.
The story unfolds from the perspectives of two very memorable
narrators.
Rashad is the boy who was beaten. He's also an artist, a
basketball player, and a member of JROTC. As he lies in the hospital
bed, in considerable pain, he has a lot to think about. His dad, a
former soldier turned cop with a staunch belief that things will work
out if you play by the rules, is sure he must have done something.
His older brother, Spoony [Randolph], sees the matter in terms of
Racial injustice.
"But he could've been [killed]. For a bag of chips that he was
gonna pay for! For having brown skin and wearing his jeans a certain
way..."
His mom's caught in the middle. And then things start happening
at school, beginning with a message spray painted near the stairs.
Quinn is the older of two sons of a woman who was widowed when
her husband was killed on a tour of duty overseas. Quinn's best
friend, Guzzo, is the younger brother of the police officer, Paul. In
fact Paul had taken Quinn under his wing after he lost his father.
Quinn is being told that Paul is the real victim--being crucified for
just doing his job. But he's seen a video. The man brutally beating
an already subdued black boy doesn't square with either his mentor or
someone "just doing his job." School is starting to feel like a mine
field.
"At first you could tell the teachers were deliberately avoiding
discussing it, but it was pretty much all we (the students) talked
about between classes or at lunch. I say 'we,' but I was still trying
to take Coach's advice and ignore all distractions [from winning games
and impressing college scouts], so when it came up I tried not to
engage. But it was frigging impossible."
Spread out over eight days, All American Boys evokes thought
provoking questions even as it delivers a suspenseful and down to
earth narrative.
On a personal note, I had a wonderful Mothers Day spread over two
Days. Saturday was a picnic at Amber and Brian's with Eugene, Katie,
and Jacob as well. After Katie and Jacob came back to the house and
spent time with precious Joey. Sunday Eugene and I paid respects to
his mom and then went on a ride. We got subs for lunch and a did a
Goodwill run. I got some really nice clothes including two cat shirts.
A great big shout out goes out to my wonderful family including the
best little cat in the world.
jules hathaway




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