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    All American Boys
    All American Boys
    All American Boys
    Audiobook6 hours

    All American Boys

    Written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

    Narrated by Guy Lockard and Keith Nobbs

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.

    In this New York Times bestselling novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

    A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

    There were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

    Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred reviewed tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken directly from today’s headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 29, 2015
    ISBN9781442398672
    Author

    Jason Reynolds

    A poet An artist One black One white Two voices One journey Jason Reynolds & Jason Griffin are superheroes.

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    Reviews for All American Boys

    4.5/5

    471 ratings35 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Powerful and emotional. Rashad is absent again today. It's spray painted on the sidewalk in front of the high school after Rashad is beaten up by a cop on a Friday afternoon. Some people take the cop's side and say Rashad was stealing, pointing to his sagging jeans as evidence. Other people take Rashad's side, saying he'd never break the law, pointing to his ROTC uniform as evidence. No matter who's side you take, the proof is in the video footage sweeping the internet: Rashad is restrained while he is being beaten, accused of resisted arrest. But how can you resist if you're already cuffed on the ground? Who knows how the case will turn out once it hits the courts, but before that, Rashad's high school classmates are hitting the streets for a good old fashioned protest, and they hope other citizens will join the cause.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This novel is a response to the protests that have occurred across the United States in the last couple of years. Jason Reynolds writes the black-side of the story, and Brendan Kiely writes the white-side of the story. For those of you sensitive to language, you will want to skip this novel.The novel is told in alternating points of view between Rashad, a young black teen and Quinn, a young white teen. Rashad is brutally attacked by a white cop and Quinn witnesses the attack. The problem is that the cop is a father-figure for Quinn. Paul, the cop, has helped him ever since Quinn’s father died. Seeing him commit such violence leaves Quinn feeling lost. He doesn’t understand how someone he knows well and has been so good to him could have so much violence within. Everyone plans on partying this Friday night, but Rashad doesn’t make it because he’s in the hospital. Video is released to the press, so when students return to school on Monday, they find a new atmosphere. Rashad only knows pain. He hurts from the beating and from his father’s assumption that he did something wrong and didn’t follow his father’s advice. When Rashad’s brother finds and releases the video to the news, life changes. Rashad sees his image on the news constantly. He’s a good teen and certainly doesn’t deserve what happens to him and finds life changing as he stays in the vacuum of his hospital room as the world and others take over making him a cause.The novel truly isn’t about Quinn and Rashad; it’s about the entire student body as a microcosm of America. Quinn and Rashad are the symbols of “white” and “black.” As to everyone else, the students at Rashad and Quinn’s school are left trying to do the right thing by understanding what happened and trying to change the world with understanding and ending with a lawful protest; they don’t want to be bystanders but people who advocate change for the better--at least some of them. Sides are taken, but most in the novel are on one side. There are enough characters placed in the novel to have “others” who disagree.At one point, there’s a moment of solidarity in a class where the students read Invisible Man, the novel they are reading in class, aloud. Somehow, this novel is mis-titled. If an author is going to cite a piece of literature and publishers are going to publish it, they should know the true title. The title they quoted was a book by a white English man instead of a book by a black American author. Beyond this gross negligence of editing, the book is a political statement. The ironies, unfairness of life, assumptions, prejudices, and anger that split people are all present. The characters are mostly stereotypes with little character development. Ironically, the authors’ point is that people need to know the facts and the true person instead of expecting a stereotype.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent story which takes a realistic look at racism in America- how it divides us and can unite us to fight against it. Through this high school boy’s story, people reading this book are having the hard conversations and looking at the problems that continue to plague our country.
    • 5/5
      this is the best book ive ever listned to ever
    • 5/5
      LOVED IT SO MUCH. Really schooled me. Thank you so much SPRINGFIELD PD WE DON'T WANT BRUTALITY.
    • 5/5
      I like it a lot! It feels exactly like what is happening now, but what is happening now isn't good.
    • 5/5
      Interesting how this book is still relevant today, are we ever going to learn?
    • 5/5
      the narrators are so dang gooooooooddd this was so amazing
    • 5/5
      Love both sides of the story. Amazing. I couldn’t stop reading.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful, poetic, relevant! This was a great read. Delving in to the minds of two people on opposite sides seeing how they transformed their thinking as they experienced what they'd never had before.
    • 5/5
      I read this book to my 7th grade students. I want them to know that they can make a difference, that they can stop the events depicted in this book from happening ever again.
    • 5/5
      This book was a good read!!!! Talked about issues going on in our society today. The narrators kept you engaged!!! Definitely recommend this book especially for the younger generation. A very powerful yet moving book. Pick it up read it, share it and pass it to someone else.
    • 5/5
      Jason Reynolds has written a powerful book here with a powerful message. Rashad Freeman is a young African American who has stepped into a local store to buy a snack. His trouble begins when a white lady trips over him. The store owner causes him of trying to steal and the cop in the store takes things a little too far. Rashad is beaten to the point of being hospitalized.Quinn Collins is a white boy on his way to a party with friends when he heads to the local store to get some beer. What Quinn gets is a front row seat to a young boy being beaten. The problem is that it is someone he knows and looks up to. What struck me was how the events that happened could have been ripped right out of the headlines today. As a teacher I could read how the teachers were feeling knowing they were told not to talk about it. I've been in their shoes where we've been told not to discuss certain incidents with students in the classroom. I felt like some of the teachers were told how they were supposed to feel.I was happy the way the author handled the tensions within the school and community. Awesome book everyone should read.
    • 4/5
      Summer 2021 (July);
      Fall School Book Club pre-read

      Another pre-read this one from two viewpoints, one of a black student and a white student at the same high school dealing with the ramifications of unlawful violence visited on the first of those two and witnessed by the second. This is such an honest portrait of where the world finds itself on both sides and I love how complicated and vulnerable, honest and confused, the navigating is.

      I'm really excited to see how the students take this read.
    • 5/5
      Should be required reading for everyone. Loved every page. Cried three times.
    • 4/5
      The story is told in two voices. Rashad is a 16-year-old Black boy who is a member of his ROTC at school. His dad is always on his case about not looking like “one of them” but overall he’s a good kid. Quinn is a white boy who plays basketball at the same school. Although the two boys don’t know each other, they know many of the same people. Rashad’s chapters are written by Reynolds while Quinn’s chapters are written by Kiely.On a Friday night, Rashad is accused of trying to shoplift a bag of chips. A police officer in the store drags him outside and severely beats him. Quinn witnesses the beating, but when he realizes the officer is a man who has been a stand-in dad for him, Quinn runs. As Rashad heals in the hospital, Quinn is forced to acknowledge things he has ignored in the past. Teachers at school are avoiding what happened, but the students are starting to speak up.Although written in 2017, it reads like it could have been written today. This book has been challenged many times--profane language, drug and alcohol abuse, promoting “anti-police” views, having divisive topics, and being “too much of a sensitive matter right now." Yes, it is a sensitive matter right now which is all the more reason why we should be reading it today.
    • 5/5
      teen fiction (race issues, all too real), Coretta Scott King Award winner. This didn't get really good until about halfway through, when Quinn starts really thinking about whether he can stay neutral, and characters start revealing their layers. A truly complicated issue and something that needs us all to take a good honest look at before things can improve. Thank you, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.
    • 4/5
      Alternating narrators: Rashad, ROTC, great art student, black and Quinn, same school, basketball player, white. With authentic voices & teen perspective, story unfolds of Rashad stopping into corner store for a bag of chips, having white lady trip over him, store owner panicking, thinking he's seeing something else - and a white police officer showing up, reacting suddenly, and pummeling Rashad until he's almost passed out on the sidewalk. The officer, Paul Galluzo, is Quinn's neighbor, older brother to his buddy Guzzo; Quinn was approaching the corner store just as Officer Galluzo was finishing his beating - at first frozen in shock, Quinn backtracks and warns his buddies in the alley to take off: sirens begin and Officer Galluzo's back up and an ambulance are arriving. Rest of the book traces the growing media coverage, the students' reactions, the slow recovery of the injured Rashad - weeks in the hospital!- the growing dread of Quinn, who reluctantly faces up to his own role in the incident, bystander but witness - and the growing protest movement that emerges from the aftermath. Perfect book for a study in racial relations/police brutality/anti-racism - includes discussion questions. Could be paired with The Hate U Give - male protagonists instead of female. Coretta Scott King award winner 2015.
    • 5/5
      This story is told from two perspectives - from two All-American Boys. Except one is white and one is black. Their lives become entwined when Quinn (white boy) witnesses a police officer beating up Rashad (black boy) without cause. Quinn and Rashad are both forced to confront race and racism in their community and in the country. Very well written and heart wrenching and beautiful.
    • 5/5
      I would argue that this is the most important young adult novel I have ever read in my life. It is heartrending in a way I never thought possible and so very important. If you read nothing else this year, please read this book.

      #RashadIsAbsentAgainToday
    • 4/5
      The subject this novel tackles is, without doubt, one of the most important issues in America today. This book sucked me in, and I found it hard to put down. It comes off as preachy at times, and while some anvils need to be dropped and indeed the preaching itself is well written, it makes the dialogue feel occasionally awkward and unnatural. This book also introduces a lot of conflict but very little resolution, appropriate because the true problem is far from resolved, but slightly unsatisfying to read. This may be another novel that is useful for opening the eyes of the people opposed or indifferent to the Black Lives Matter movement, and I would recommend it to anyone, but I hope what ground this novel broke proves fertile for more complete and moving works.
    • 5/5
      This is probably the most important YA novel of the last few years. There, I said it. If your students (7th grade , I'd say) want to understand Black Lives Matter -- either because they see the issue in the news, or because they live it -- they need this book. This is possibly the best book I've ever read about the process of awakening to the idea that some people are treated less fairly by the world than others, and what's scary about facing that and engaging with it.

      Same recommendation goes for adults. Read it, read it. Or better yet, listen to it; the two actors who perform the audiobook add a powerful dimension to Rashad and Quinn's stories.
    • 5/5
      Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins are students at the same high school, just typical high school kids. Quinn is a star on the school basketball team. Rashad's not an athlete, but several of his friends are on the team with Quinn.

      Rashad is black and Quinn is white.

      One day, Rashad stops at the local bodega to pick up a bag of chips. A white woman accidentally trips over him, knocking them both to the floor. A cop sees them, and Rashad's backpack on the floor where it fell open, and leaps to the conclusion that Rashad was shoplifting. He seizes and starts beating on Rashad.

      Quinn doesn't see what happens inside the store, but he sees the aftermath, when the cop, Paul Gallucci, has Rashad down on the ground, his face ground into the pavement, beating on him even after he's handcuffed. There's another witness also, a woman who records the whole thing on the phone once they're outside.

      The cop, Paul Gallucci, is a friend of Quinn's family, the man who has been in many ways a substitute father to him since his own father was killed in Afghanistan.

      Rashad and Quinn each tell their own stories of the days that follow, with different narrators voicing them. For Rashad, much of that time is in the hospital, as he recovers from his injuries. He's painfully aware that he could easily be dead, and despite what his lawyer tells him, he's not convinced being innocent is going to get him acquitted of shoplifting and resisting arrest.

      Quinn has to square what he saw with what he's always thought and felt about Paul Gallucci, and decide what he's going to do about it. Rashad also learns some painful truths about his own father, an ex-cop.

      This is a fascinating and moving novel, examining very real issues that affect us all, whether we all realize it or not. Rashad and Quinn, their friends, and at least some of their families learn a great deal, and it is a genuinely powerful story.

      Highly recommended.

      I borrowed this audiobook from my local library.
    • 4/5
      Smartly told from two unique point of views, all dealing with the same earth shattering event, the book is smart to let readers come to their own conclusions on the issue rather than stump for one side over another. Ultimately, communities come together through adversity and the truth comes out in the end.
    • 5/5
      This bold and compelling YA novel tackles a sensitive and potentially incendiary topic—police violence against people of color—in an effective and realistic manner. Told from the alternating perspectives of two adolescent male narrators, the story demonstrates quite vividly the vast differences that exist between the worlds that each teen inhabits despite the school and community that they share.Rashad, an African-American ROTC student, narrates most of his story from a hospital room, where he’s recovering from the brutal violence he suffered at the hands of a white officer, who suspected him of attacking a woman and robbing a convenience store. The officer is a close family friend of Quinn, a white, well-respected son of an Iraqi War vet who was killed in action. Quinn, who is Rashad’s classmate but doesn’t know him well, witnesses the assault and spends most of the novel struggling with questions of racism, privilege, and inequality.Reynolds and Kiely wisely keep Rashad and Quinn apart for most of the novel—and the effect is powerful. This technique highlights the disparity in their worlds and the impact that each boy’s race has on his life experience. Very much a contemporary novel, the story alludes to fairly recent and well publicized acts of police violence against Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and others. The novel is a quick read, yet that does not detract one iota from its impact or the authenticity of its social commentary. Reynolds and Kiely have crafted a gripping, trenchant narrative featuring believable characters coping with current social problems that have real consequences. This novel belongs in the hands of every teenager and secondary English teacher in the country.
    • 4/5
      Very good, thought provoking book that should be required reading for high school students
    • 4/5
      A black boy is unfairly accused of theft by a white store owner and a cop, and then brutally beaten by the cop, to the point where he spends five days in the hospital. A white classmate witnesses the beating, and has to decide how to respond. Written by two authors, one black, one white, this book honestly explores the reactions of both boys and their friends and families. Definitely a good read. Recommend to boys who are reluctant readers.
    • 4/5
      Rashad and Quinn alternate chapters in this story that explores police brutality and contemporary racial issues. Rashad is in a store trying to buy chips and some gum on a Friday after school. He finds himself accused of shoplifting and getting a severe beating by a police officer. Quinn witnesses the beating from the police officer, who happens to be a neighbor and Quinn's older brother. Rashad is hospitalized with internal bleeding and traumatized. His friends and family rally around him. Soon there is a protest march planned and racial tensions simmer on the basketball team. A timely book. Some strong language peppers the book but it is used in realistic ways as the teens navigate issues of police brutality, dealing with trauma, and forging a path even when it is controversial.
    • 5/5
      A woman tripped over Rashad at the corner market, sending the chips he was about to purchase flying. A cop in the store accused him of trying to steal the chips, dragged him outside and beat him. Suddenly, the school seems to divide into black and white
    • 3/5
      This book addresses some important points about racism and activism in our current society. While the found the writing style to be just ok, the juxtaposition of dual perspectives was a good choice. This book has the potential to stimulate thoughtful conversations.