Introduction

Jason Reynolds is an African American man born in 1983 and is now a multi award winner for his literary works, one of which being “ All American Boys”, right along with Brendan Kiely. “All American Boys”, was written recently during outbreaks of police brutality, and the purpose of this novel was to share how racism and violence affects children and innocent lives for generations. This book was written in the perspectives of both these authors to capture the personalities of the two main characters in this book, one of which is white and the other is black. Throughout the book the reader experiences the struggles, no child should be forced to face, of these very different characters and how the influence of racism shapes them and their families.

                “As a black man and a white man, both writers and educators, we came together to cowrite a book about how systemic racism and police brutality affect the lives of young people in America, in order to create an important, unique, and honest work that would give young people and the people who educate them a tool for talking about these difficult but absolutely vital conversations,” said Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.   

       

    “All American Boys.” Brendan Kiely, www.brendankiely.com/all-american-boys/.    

The nature of this novel leads the reader to think the authors both experienced some form of injustice prior to the novel and wanted to send an inspiring message to young readers and parents to express how influential their own hatred can be to their children.