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Jason Reynolds

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Long Way Down Kindle Edition

by Jason Reynolds (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 7,536 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A Newbery Honor Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Printz Honor Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award
An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction
Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner
An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017
A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017
A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017

An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.

Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—Fifteen-year-old Will's big brother has been shot and killed. According to the rules that Will has been taught, it is now his job to kill the person responsible. He easily finds his brother's gun and gets on the elevator to head down from his eighth-floor apartment. But it's a long way down to the ground floor. At each floor, a different person gets on to tell a story. Each of these people is already dead. As they relate their tales, readers learn about the cycle of violence in which Will is caught up. The protagonist faces a difficult choice, one that is a reality for many young people. Teens are left with an unresolved ending that goes beyond the simple question of whether Will will seek revenge. Told in verse, this title is fabulistic in its simplicity and begs to be discussed. Its hook makes for an excellent booktalk. It will pair well with Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give and Reynolds's previous works. The unique narrative structure also makes it an excellent read-alike for Walter Dean Myers's Monster. VERDICT This powerful work is an important addition to any collection.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

Review

*"A moving rendition that stands on its own." -- Kirkus, starred review

*"Novgorodoff’s watercolors, which bleed at the edges like pavement stains, match the text in mood and fluency, and by putting faces to characters, they tacitly untangle the web of revenge killings and mistaken identities foundational to the plot." -- BCCB, starred review

*"Reynolds’s words paint pictures of their own in this tragic yet poignant illustrated tale that offers no answers to the seemingly impossible choices some communities face." -- School Library Journal, starred review

*"Far more than just an illustration of the events of the novel, Novgorodoff’s iteration powerfully cultivates the tone and mood of its source material, demonstrating just how effective and artful comics can be." -- Booklist, starred review

"Danica Novgorodoff has done a superb job of graphically capturing the gritty emotions of the original story—the anguish, the cyclical bloodshed, and the terror of the present situation."

Highly Recommended -- School Library Connection — November-December 2020

"Reynolds has skillfully edited and rearranged his original verse novel to create room for Novgorodoff’s impressionistic ink and watercolor illustrations to flourish, resulting in an adaptation that feels authentic to its new comics format." -- Horn Book Magazine *STARRED* — January/February 2021

"In his YA novel Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds uses the painful past to reveal the difficulty between doing what you are taught is right and doing what is moral.

Danica Novgorodoff's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are a beautiful addition to Reynolds's lyrical text. A gorgeously illustrated reinterpretation of the novel." -- Shelf Awareness for Readers — November 17, 2020

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06ZZLYTK9
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books; Reprint edition (October 24, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 24, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6643 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 332 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B09VCRDTG6

Best Sellers Rank: #65,828 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 7,536 ratings

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Jason Reynolds

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The first name bits:

What Jason knows is that there are a lot — A LOT — of people, young, old, and in-between, who hate reading. He knows that many of these book haters are boys. He knows that many of these book-hating boys, don't actually hate books, they hate boredom. If you are reading this, and you happen to be one of these boys, first of all, you're reading this Jason's master plan is already working (muahahahahahaha) and second of all, know that Jason totally feels you. He REALLY does. Because even though he's a writer, he hates reading boring books too.

So here's what he plans to do: NOT WRITE BORING BOOKS.

That's it, and that's all.

Now, for the last name bits:

Jason Reynolds is an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Jason’s many books include Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Correta Scott King Honor, and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

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4.7 out of 5

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AKCunningham

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024

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I read this in school with my students. They love the story, and it's great for teaching poetry. They can understand the poetic devices better since they can understand the poems.

One person found this helpful

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Jacob Hasson

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024

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This book is a must read, a beautifully told story. I finished it so quickly, and want to reread it already. Wonderful!

One person found this helpful

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NK

AMAZING BOOK

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2024

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I read this for school, and it is by far one of the greatest books I've ever read. Totally not boring and there's so many words and details on each page. I loved the unique formatting of this book! #blacklivesmatter

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Destiny B.

” I’ve always loved stories written in verse

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018

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“ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES:
They weren't meant to be broken.
They were meant for the broken to follow.”

I’ve always loved stories written in verse, so when I heard about this own-voice tale of the struggles that toxic masculinity and systemic racism place upon young black men, I was immediately interested. I wanted to focus on supporting as many new-to-me black authors as possible in February, and Jason Reynolds was at the very top of my list. This man has a writing voice that absolutely needs to be heard.

“But if the blood inside you is on the inside of someone else,
you never want to see it on the outside of them.”

Will’s words are so haunting and broken; he’s lost his big brother, his hero, and now all he wants is to follow the rules – the rules that he’s been taught his whole life. The rules that say the only fair response to the wrongful death of a loved one… is revenge. Will knows his mission is probably going to leave him in the same state as his brother, but it’s all he’s equipped to do. It’s such a powerful metaphor for toxic masculinity and the ways in which it prevents boys and men from knowing how to cope with trauma in meaningful, productive ways – not through their own faults, but because they’re never been shown a better way.

“Just remember, when
you're walking in the nighttime,
make sure the nighttime
ain't walking into you.”

My only complaint about this incredible little book, and the reason that I only gave it 4 stars, is that it was so short that it was incredibly difficult to connect to the story or characters. While the events were hard to stomach, things moved so quickly and with so little development or preamble that, by the time I felt attached to Will or his pain, I was turning the last few pages. I would’ve loved to have seen this story fleshed out a bit more; most of the pages have only 10-20 words printed on them, and I just think that, had this been written like most verse novels, where there was a solid paragraph or two per page, it would’ve carried the impact across so much better and would have meant that much more. That said, I still absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to see what Jason Reynolds releases next.

One person found this helpful

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Good is good

This is genius

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024

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I would have treasured this book when I was young. It would be incredibly powerful and meaningful to any struggling teen.

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2017

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There is no fitting way that I can think of to describe a book of this caliber. I cannot even admit that I have completely understood the full magnitude that this story carries.

Long Way Down takes place in a span of one minute.

Sixty seconds.

It is set in an elevator, in which a young, angry boy gets on and begins his long journey down.

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

A moment.
An instant. That is all it takes. An elevator ride down, seven floors.

In one minute, Jason Reynolds changes your perception of everything.
In that one minute, you are blindsided.
In that one minute, he leaves you reeling.

In a single minute, the book outlines the life of this young man, Will, the day after his brother, Shawn, was found shot dead. Will knows the rules. He lives by the rules.

1. You don’t cry
2. You don’t snitch
3. You seek revenge

Will is absolutely certain he knows the man behind the murder, and he is out for vengeance. After a long sleepless night, he wakes up knowing exactly how his day is going to go. He finds his brother’s gun and leaves the house with the intention of going after the person responsible for his brother’s death. He steps onto the elevator, but it keeps stopping at every floor, forcing Will to confront his fears, his doubts and most importantly, his beliefs.

Long Way Down is written in verse-form, and although this style is usually not my preferred style, Jason Reynolds set a completely new standard with his writing, eloquence and articulation. He manages to deliver clear, distinct and important messages with just a few words. In fact, the book will not take you more than 30 minutes to read, but the impact left afterwards is powerful and long lasting. In an interview I read, Jason Reynolds says:

“I need my young brothers who are living in these environments, and the kids who are not living in these environments to have no excuses not to read the book. The truth of the matter is that I recognize that I write prose, and I love prose, and I want everybody to read prose, but I would never, sort of, deny the fact that like, literacy in America is not the highest, especially amongst young men, and especially amongst young men of color. It's something that we've all been working very hard on, and my job is not to critique or judge that. My job is to do something to help that, and to know you can finish this in 45 minutes means the world to me, so that we can get more young people reading it and thinking and then having discussions on what this book is actually about.”

He also explains that he set the story in an elevator, because he wanted to mimic the feelings of anger, pain and helplessness. To him, these feel claustrophobic, like you are wound up tight.

“It feels like tightness and coldness, steel, jagged movements and vertigo. All the things that an elevator brings, is what it feels like to be that angry.”

One of the reasons Reynolds was able to convey these feelings so accurately was because of his own past experiences struggling with those same feelings of anger and pain when his best friend was killed, and his first impulse was to end the life of the person responsible. He also wanted to change the perception that people who commit these crimes are fearless or without emotion.

“The truth is that everyone who has ever been around anyone who has been in these environments knows that the people who pull the triggers are terrified.”

Long Way Down really pushes boundaries, questions your thoughts and beliefs and does not shy away from treading on important topics, such as race and gun violence. Getting a glimpse, albeit a very brief one, of Reynolds’ way of thinking makes you look at things differently and go, “Ahh, yes. I see now.”

146 people found this helpful

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jm1632

Good

Reviewed in Canada on April 24, 2023

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Good

Amazon Customer

Best poetry book I've ever read

Reviewed in Brazil on March 8, 2022

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This is perfection, everything is extremely well done from the narrative to the page design, after reading this you will definitely see some changes in your point of view when it comes to the discussions brought up by the author.
As expected 10/10 would recommend

DG

Ottimo

Reviewed in Italy on April 6, 2024

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Customer X

Great reading experience

Reviewed in Germany on November 13, 2021

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Loved the language and the story, the author found a fresh and appealing way of dealing with the topic of youth violence

Cheerioh

l'histoire est forte, la poésie la porte parfois mais elle manque de rythme

Reviewed in France on August 3, 2021

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J'ai du mal avec la poésie sans rythme. Ici la forme soutient parfois la pensée mais c'est très artificiel. Par exemple si je prenais mon commentaire et que je le détachais en vers, ça donnerait pareil et ça n'a pas toujours grand intérêt.

L'histoire par contre est plus intéressante. On suit notre protagoniste, dans sa tête, qui souhaite venger la mort de son frère, tué par balle dans contexte de règlement de compte entre gangs de rue. Il suit les Règles comme son frère, comme son père. Il prend l'ascenseur et à chaque étage, quelqu'un rentre.

L'occasion est ici donnée d'explorer ces règles de la rue, la transmission, la vengeance...

Apparemment l'histoire n'avait pas été conçue sous forme poétique. Pourquoi pas. En tout cas on le sent bien. Parfois ça fonctionne et d'autres fois pas. Pas à voix haute en tout cas. C'est un peu le défaut du récit.

J'ai quand même bien aimé globalement, le personnage est sympathique et on espère qu'il fera le bon choix.

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