Ain't Burned All the Bright

Jason Reynolds and his best bud Jason Griffin had a mind meld. They decided to tackle, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences and 300 pages of art, this piece — this contemplation-manifesto: fierce, vulnerable, gorgeous, terrifying, What Is Wrong With Humans, hope-filled, searing, eye-poppingly illustrated, tender, heartbreaking — how the heck did they come up with this project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially now.

And so, for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, really breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do will be nodding yep, yep — that is exactly how it is.

Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: a smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black in America right now.

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Written by number-one New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.