Long Way Down

by Reynolds, Jason
ISBN: 9781481438261
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Overview

"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 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.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Reynolds, Jason
  • ISBN: 9781481438261
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.20 x 1.10
  • Number Of Pages: 336
  • Publication Year: 2019

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  • Amazing!

    Hannah H. - 5 years 6 months ago

    "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds is one of the most profound books I have ever read. As a high school English teacher, I knew that after I read this book I needed to get it into my curriculum. The ways in which the main character, Will, grapples with "the rules" of his society create a never-ending feeling of suspense and empathy for the reader. Read this book if you want to feel, understand, empathize, and create your own ending. #SpringPicks

  • Important book, everyone should read

    Karlie S. - 6 years 4 months ago

    "People always love people more when they're dead." I'm always surprised when I enjoy a book written in prose, but I'm not sure why. Jason Reynolds is a fantastic author, and everyone should really read all of his books. Long Way Down is no exception. The entire book takes place in the mind of the main character as he rides down an elevator with the intent to go shoot his brother's killer when he reaches the Lobby.  It's incredible what Reynolds is about to convey in such a short amount of time, and so importantly.  I believe they're adapting this book for screen soon, and I so look forward to seeing how they portray it. #SummerReading