about the book
Ali doesn’t live in a good neighborhood. Bed-Stuy is a place full of drugs and violence; a small misunderstanding can escalate into having a price on your head.
When he’s not boxing or in school, Ali spends all his free time with brothers Noodles and Needles, who live next door. Noodles is into comics books. And Needles, he’s into knitting. It’s not as strange as it sounds. The knitting helps him focus, keeping his Tourette syndrome under control.
After a friend gets the three into an exclusive party, things get out of hand. How will the boxer, the comic book nerd, and the knitter deal with fallout of that eventful night?
about the author
Jason Reynolds grew up in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in English. He spent 65% of his time at college writing and reciting poetry all over campus.
Even though he started out as a poet, he feels more like a novelist now. In his novels, he bases his characters off of people in his life, whether they want him to or not.
He knows how to knit, but is much better at crochet.
If Jason had the opportunity to have dinner with five people, living or dead, he would choose to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He believes you can tell a lot about a person from whether or not they like PB&J, even though you really can’t. He doesn’t think you can trust someone if they don’t like PB&J. So, don’t dis peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in front of him.
Jason now lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he can often be found walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment while talking to himself. The “conversations” consist of him repeating character names and plot lines that he thought of on the train. He’s afraid to forget the ideas before he gets home.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Simon and Schuster
Author biography: Pippin Properties
Author interview: Voya Magazine
Also by Jason Reynolds:
The Boy in the Black Suit. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2015.
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