"A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A whimsical exploration of the role detours play in life follows a group of students who become so engaged in everyday activities while taking 10 different routes home from school that they fail to notice a school bus that has dropped from the sky. By the award-winning author of Ghost. 200,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)

A National Book Award Finalist
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Carnegie Medal winner
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A New York Times Best Children's Book of 2019
A Time Best Children's Book of 2019
A Today Show Best Kids' Book of 2019
A Washington Post Best Children's Book of 2019
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
'As innovative as it is emotionally arresting.' 'Entertainment Weekly

From National Book Award finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all the different directions kids' walks home can take.

This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy"

Talking about boogers.
Stealing pocket change.
Skateboarding.
Wiping out.
Braving up.
Executing complicated handshakes.
Planning an escape.
Making jokes.
Lotioning up.
Finding comfort.
But mostly, too busy walking home.

Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life. - (Simon and Schuster)

A National Book Award Finalist
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
UK Carnegie Medal winner
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Time Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2019
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
“As innovative as it is emotionally arresting.” —Entertainment Weekly

From National Book Award finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all the different directions kids’ walks home can take.

This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy—

Talking about boogers.
Stealing pocket change.
Skateboarding.
Wiping out.
Braving up.
Executing complicated handshakes.
Planning an escape.
Making jokes.
Lotioning up.
Finding comfort.
But mostly, too busy walking home.

Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life. - (Simon and Schuster)

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com. - (Simon and Schuster)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* How do you invest a reader in a short-story collection? Begin with the promise of "a school bus falling from the sky." This tease kickstarts the book, exciting the imagination before embarking—like a bus—on a neighborhood tour. Ten stories are told in parallel, each following different middle-graders home from school. On Marston Street, TJ lays out his hilarious hypothesis that "we all boogers." On Placer Street, we meet the Low Cuts, a four-kid crew that hustles for spare change to help their cancer-stricken parents. There's Bryson, jumped on Burman Street for showing that it's OK for boys to kiss boys. Cynthia, who learned joke telling from her grandpa on Southview Avenue before his health began to decline. Here Reynolds exhibits his mastery of character. Each protagonist is distinct—engaging, sympathetic, complex—each story uniquely memorable. The prose flows effortlessly, rhythmic and real, and by broadening the scope to 10 middle-grade stories, he captures that age. These are quite simply—and profoundly—stories about kids and the comedy and tragedy of childhood. As the chapters pass, readers will sink into the more-and-more familiar neighborhood, getting so invested in these linked human experiences that, when the bus finally falls, it's only to remind us that we're all connected. This is storytelling at its finest, a true masterpiece from one of kidlit's brightest ambassadors.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Reynolds, basically kidlit royalty at this point, will summon a crowd with this short-story collection. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Ten blocks. Ten stories about middle schoolers, each filled with humor and heart. The characters cope with difficult problems, but they are first and foremost ordinary, good kids. Names, jokes, and details are cleverly woven between tales to show the interconnectedness of the characters' world, while the individually distinct stories remind us that you never know what someone else is going through. Copyright 2021 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

Ten blocks. Ten stories. Lots of middle-school kids doing many different things after school. Jasmine and TJ walk home together, wondering what they're made of-dust and water? boogers? Four friends hustle for change all day and maneuver their capital into buying an urgently needed treat for one of their moms. Ty sprints to check on Bryson, who stayed home to recover from getting jumped the day before. Fatima manages the unpredictable by writing lists of things that don't change and keeping track of things that do. Gregory's friends spruce him up and hype him up as they walk him over to Sandra's house so he can finally tell her he likes her. And Canton, the son of the crossing guard who got injured by a school bus a year ago, sits at his mom's intersection doing homework. Each short story is filled with the heart and humor for which Reynolds's middle-grade and middle-school work (As Brave As You, rev. 7/16; the Track series) is known. The young characters cope with difficult problems, from stressed-out parents and aging grandparents to siblings they've lost to death or prison, but they are first and foremost ordinary, good kids. And all throughout their striving, surviving, laughing, and groundedness, they relate to one another and to readers in a way that captures the heart. Names, jokes, and details are cleverly and deeply woven between stories to show the interconnectedness of the characters' world, while the individually distinct stories remind us that you never know what someone else is going through. Autumn Allen November/December 2019 p.95 Copyright 2019 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

In each of 10 stories, kids reentering the neighborhood from their school day reveal their unique narratives. BFFs T.J. and Jasmine find their yearslong friendship getting them through parental separation, illness, and foster care. A group of four, all children of cancer survivors, has been brought together by a school counselor. A female skateboarder is the target of a bully—to the relief of his usual victim. A teen with the signs of OCD meets a street musician who changes her outlook. Two ardent gamers are caught up in the confusion of sexual questioning, and there's an odd couple of friends whose difference in size is no barrier to their bond. A teen with a fear of dogs devises an elaborate plan to get past his neighbor's new pet, and the class clown tries to find a way to make her overworked mother laugh. Three boys work to make their friend presentable enough to tell a classmate that he likes her. An accident sustained by the school crossing guard causes her son significant anxiety. There are connections among some of the stories: places, people, incidents. However, each s tory has its own center, and readers learn a great deal about each character in just a few lines. Reynolds' gift for capturing the voices and humanity of urban teens is on full display. The cast adheres to a black default. The entire collection brims with humor, pathos, and the heroic struggle to grow up. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Reynolds (the Track series) packs the 10 blocks surrounding multiple schools with 10 relatable slice-of-life stories that start after school ends, each beginning with a black-and-white drawing by Nabaum. An overlapping cast of black characters populates the tales as they experience the tribulations of familial love ("Ookabooka Land"), fears ("Satchmo's Master Plan"), first crushes ("How a Boy Becomes a Grease Fire"), near-death experiences ("The Broom Dog"), and more. Among the most memorable of these stories are "The Low Cuts Strike Again," about a group of free-lunch students who are all children of cancer survivors (and rock low-cut haircuts in solidarity); "Skitter Hitter," about Pia Foster, skateboarder extraordinaire, her deceased expert skateboarder sister Santi, and the boys who bully them about their skill; and "Call of Duty," which portrays one hopeful, compassionate outcome of standing up against homophobic bullying. In Reynolds's signature style, each story rings with emotional authenticity and empathy, and not a small amount of rib-tickling humor offsets the sometimes bittersweet realities of the characters' lives. Ages 10–14. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Oct.)

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 5–8—Ten short stories paint a picture of what happens one particular afternoon after the dismissal bell at Latimer Middle School. Each tale focuses on one student or group of friends. The magic of this book is Reynolds's ability to weave the same teachers and various students in and out of the ten stories. Students after school swirl and eddy. Ms. Post the crossing guard helps everyone cross the street while her son looks on from his spot by the stop sign; Ms. Wockley, the principal, stands in the hall yelling at students; and Ms. CeeCee sells penny candy from her house. Some backstory in each piece puts the characters' actions into perspective, with each entry ending with a bit of a surprise. The very last one ends where the first one begins, with a mythical flying school bus. Poetic language is used throughout to help distinguish one character from the next. VERDICT The perfect book to hand to reluctant middle grade readers, who will relate to the hectic and uncertain lives of these characters.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Avondale, LA