Long Way Down is a young adult novel in verse written by Jason Reynolds. It was published on October 24, 2017 and it consists of 306 pages. The awards and nominees for the novel are:

• Printz Honor Book.
• Coretta Scott King author award.
• Newbery Honor.

Long Way Down is about the struggles of an African-American teenaged boy who wants to avenge his brother’s death. He takes his brother’s gun and he wants to kill the person who he thinks is his brother’s murderer.

I wanted to read this novel because although I have been reading a lot of novels with a similar theme of injustices and struggles of POC, this one has a unique spin that I never really read before. That unique spin being that it’s about a POC character who wants revenge. It’s a novel that really felt that it wasn’t repetitive (even though being repetitive is valid, considering that the struggles of POC and injustices is just as repetitive in our society).

What I find to be even more unique and new (to me personally) is how this novel is a novel in verse. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel in verse with a storyline that revolves around a character on a path for vengeance. It also teaches me the various different styles in writing and inspires to me to want to attempt a similar style with my own stories.

I would read this novel as a group with my students, but I would also recommend individual reading. I think that since the story involves guns and vengeance, even though it’s more implied than depicted in nitty-gritty details, I would recommend it to sixth graders and up. Even so, I would still make sure that the students are aware of what they will be reading about.

I especially think that this novel will easily capture students’ attention because since it’s a novel in verse, the page aren’t cluttered up with words like the usual novel. Not that that should be an excuse for students to not read, a novel in verse with a unique story like this can easily grab students’ attention and hang on to it.

For read alouds, I would especially read:

• Pg. 8, “Comparing Sadness”.

• Pg. 10, “Shawn’s Death”.

In general, I’m really interested in movies, tv shows, novels, graphic novels, and video games that have a story about revenge. The genre isn’t new to me and I really enjoy it, but it’s the first time I’m experiencing a novel in verse with POC characters with a story about revenge. I think it’s very interesting and this novel in particular has such a unique take to it.

I want to explore more novels similar to this one with revenge plots that focus more on POC lives and struggles. This novel was a very fun read and kept me hooked to the very end.