Bibliography
Reynolds, J. (2020). Long way down. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1481438263
Summary
When his older brother, Shawn, is shot and murdered, Will knows that “the rules” means he must take revenge. In sixty seconds, he must make the decision of whether or not to become a killer too.
Analysis
On the cover of Long Way Down is an illustration of a beat up row of elevator buttons. This image represents the place where much of Will’s unbelievable story takes place. According to his story, after deciding he needs to seek revenge for the death of his brother, Will is making his way down the elevator of his apartment complex when he meets person after person in his life who have been killed by gun violence. The book, a novel in verse by author Jason Reynolds, explores this cycle of violence, and how “the rules'' have led to the deaths of many men. As Will contemplates continuing the cycle, the ghosts of violence past make him question if “the rules” really are the rules. This comes to a head in the poem THE RULES ARE THE RULES which consists of the question “right?” over and over again in the shape of a question mark. This shape poem is just one example of the many poetry types seen in Jason Reynolds’ novel in verse. Poems take on many shapes and placement of them on the page varies from poem to poem like scattered, conflicting thoughts. Some poems are long conversations between Will and the other riders in the elevator like his uncle and childhood friend. Others are single lines to emphasize the tragic events described like on page four where only the words “and killed.” are written. There is much variety in poetic elements as well. For example, repetition is often used like on page eight where Will is repeating “Shawn’s dead.” as he is in disbelief about what has happened. Reynolds also uses metaphor often to make the deep emotions behind these events more tangible. One example of this is in the poem The Sadness in which Reynolds compares the loss of Will’s brother Shawn to a tooth being removed and running your tongue over the gaping hole left behind. Reynolds poems are free verse, but rhythmic. This book is heavy, but for many, violence in loss are familiar topics and Reynolds writes about it beautifully.
Sample Poem
THE SADNESS
Is just so hard
to explain.
Imagine waking up
and someone,
a stranger,
got you strapped down,
got pliers shoved
into your mouth,
gripping a tooth
somewhere in the back,
one of the big
important ones,
and rips it out.
Imagine the knocking
in your head,
the pressure pushing
through your ears,
the blood pooling.
But the worst part,
the absolute worst part,
is the constant slipping
of your tongue
into the new empty space,
where you know
a tooth supposed to be
but ain’t no more.
Activity Ideas
Introduce the book to students. Introduce students to Jason Reynolds. This is a great video to use: https://youtu.be/cuXNsJvNaFs. Read the selected poem to students. It’s a good introduction to the type of writing students will see in the book. In the video, Reynolds describes the book as “boys in the hood meets the Christmas Carol”. This could be a good conversation about how writing can build on other stories and use ideas in them for inspiration. Let students spend time using Reynolds poem which compares loss of a loved one to loss of a tooth to write their own poem using extended metaphor. This book is great for a class read aloud, so don’t stop at reading the one poem, but read the whole book or listen to the audio book with students.
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