YA Literature Chose Jason Reynolds
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For author Jason Reynolds, the key to writing compelling young adult literature is reconnecting with the formative childhood experiences that made him. He has become a rockstar among kids and young adults for books like As Brave As You and Ghost that tell honest stories about Black childhood. The author joins host Kai Wright to discuss his storytelling philosophy, successes, fears and relationship with his mother. Hear more from Jason Reynolds in Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me.
This episode was was originally published as ‘Jason Reynolds Needs to Be Useful’ on July 18, 2022. Listen to more episodes here.
Companion listening for this episode:
Lynn Nottage: Unexpected Optimist (1/3/2022)
Playwright Lynn Nottage breaks down her remarkable career and shares how, as an optimist at heart, she finds the light and resilience in unexpected stories.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone! How y'all doing today? Well, I'm doing amazing because I just finished |
| 0:07.5 | another outstanding book. This book is called Ghost. This month we'll be reading Sunny |
| 0:12.5 | by Jason Reynolds. Start going in the meantime. It's by Jason Reynolds, you probably heard |
| 0:17.6 | from before. Right now a lot of people are bringing up the effect of Black Lives Matter |
| 0:21.8 | and it's basically what this book is about. I recommend to read this book. Not a mind |
| 0:26.8 | of age, I say 10 out of 10. Enjoyed reading every page of it. It's still very relevant |
| 0:32.4 | in today and I think it's very important to read this book. I love this book so much and |
| 0:37.5 | I think you guys should definitely add this to your reading list. If you go to your local |
| 0:43.2 | library, be sure to ask for Jason Reynolds. I'm just going to be one of those. I'll be |
| 0:47.7 | reading to you in the next episode together. |
| 1:09.0 | It's Notes for America. I'm Kai Wright and Mary Christmas. I hope those who celebrate |
| 1:14.4 | the holiday have had a day full of love and relaxation or just whatever it is you're |
| 1:20.6 | seeking today. We're going to celebrate the holiday here by revisiting one of my favorite |
| 1:25.6 | conversations this year. Those voices you just heard were a sampling of the many young |
| 1:31.4 | readers who have taken to YouTube to talk about Jason Reynolds. He's published more than |
| 1:37.5 | a dozen books for young readers since his 2014 debut. And to many of those readers, frankly, |
| 1:43.8 | many parents and educators, his books are groundbreaking and essential. He crafts these |
| 1:50.6 | rich, varied and black worlds built around black protagonists from all walks of life, |
| 1:58.5 | which is sadly still all too uncommon for this genre of publishing. |
| 2:04.0 | Earlier this year, Jason released a four-part podcast in which we learn about his own |
| 2:08.7 | story through the prism of his relationship with his mom. It's called My Mother Made |
| 2:13.8 | Me from Radio Topia. And I spoke with him about it this past summer. |
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