Why I'm Reading, What I'm Reading

With the world being so topsy-turvy, I find that my reading habits are as well.  While it would seem that I have all the time in the world to read - and two bags full of new titles to pick from, I have honestly been reading the most at night and often falling asleep with an open book.  I also find that I have been picking up sequels more than reading those new titles.  I think that is because there is a comfort in rejoining old friends.  My brain and heart aren't being forced to engage with new, unknown characters.  I suppose that familiarity is something I need right now.  When I am picking up new titles, Stamped, They Went Left, Internment - for example,  I have to balance it with lighter fair, The Opposite of Always, Sick Kids in Love, and Frankly in Love. And I am OKAY with this.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to read about love and happy endings.  I also feel that even in this lighter fair, I am learning answers to questions I didn't know I had, becoming wiser, and better.  In the end, that's what reading really is meant to be.
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Stamped

I haven't stopped thinking about Stamped since I finished reading it. I was familiar with Jason Reynolds' writing after reading All American Boys and Long Way Down several years ago. I appreciated his skill as a writer and a communicator after reading both.  In his writing, he is able to create complex characters and situations while making the stories accessible to his audience. Stamped in no different. While the characters in Stamped are actual people, Mr. Reynolds allows his readers to understand the complexities that lived within them.  I'm looking at you Thomas Jefferson!  And while the situations are our actual history (even though Stamped is not a history book) much of what you read feels unbelievable and infuriating because studying the whole story never really happened before. 

I have had the opportunity to listen to Jason Reynolds speak twice over the last few weeks.  His words have stayed with me: 

• It's [racism] woven into the fiber of our whole country.  Mitigate the harm by approaching everybody as human beings. 
• No one gives you a cookie for being a "good" person. If you want to do it right, learn how to listen.... Your cowardice is killing people.
• Crawl towards judgment and sprint to understanding.  There is a "why" we have to answer.

Jason Reynolds is an author whose voice I will continue to value, listen to, and learn from.  I hope you will do the same.

Learn more about Jason Reynolds, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature