2016 One Maryland One Book

Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Sunday, September 25 @ 1:00 p.m.

Author Tour Kick-Off at Baltimore Book Festival’s Literary Salon

Telephone: (410) 685-0095

 

Boonsboro, Washington County

Monday, September 26 @ 10:00 a.m.

Boonsboro High School, 10 Campus Ave

Telephone: (301) 766-8022

Co-hosts: Washington County Free Library

Local Partners: Friends of the Washington County Free Library, Washington County Public Schools

 

Abingdon, Harford County

Monday, September 26 @ 7:00 p.m.

Abingdon Library, 2510 Tollgate Road

Telephone:  (410) 638-3990

Co-host: Harford County Public Library

Local Partners: Harford Community College, Harford County Department of Community Services Senior Division, Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County

 

Salisbury, Wicomico County

Tuesday, September 27 @ 7:00 p.m.

Salisbury University Academic Commons, 1101 Camden Avenue

Telephone: (410) 543-6450

Co-host: Salisbury University

Local Partners: Wicomico Public Library, Eastern Shore Regional Library, Maryland Teachers of English Language Arts, Maryland Council of Social Studies, Eastern Shore Reading Council

 

Waldorf, Charles County

Wednesday, September 28 @ 11:00 a.m.

St. Charles High School, 5305 Piney Church Road

Telephone: (301) 753-2090

Co-host: St. Charles High School

Local Partners: Charles County Public Schools Department of English and Office of Minority Achievement, Charles County Public Library, Kiwanis Club of Charles County, Education Association of Charles County, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority—Tiara ASCEND Club

 

Oxon Hill, Prince George’s County

Wednesday, September 28 @ 7:00 p.m.

Oxon Hill Branch Library, 6200 Oxon Hill Road

Telephone: (301) 839-2400

Co-host: Prince George’s County Memorial Library System

 

In All American Boys, an unforgettable new novel from award-winning authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

But there were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.

  Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds earned a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, before moving to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career in writing. He is the author of the critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, the Coretta Scott King Honor Author Books Boy in the Black Suit and All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely), and As Brave as You, his middle grade debut. His middle grade novel Ghost is a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

  Brendan Kiely

Brendan Kiely received his MFA from the City College of New York. He is the author, with Jason Reynolds, of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book All American Boys. His debut novel, The Gospel of Winter, has been published in ten languages, was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2015, and was a Kirkus Reviews selection for the Best of 2014. He is also the author of The Last True Love Story. Originally from the Boston area, he now lives with his wife in Greenwich Village. Find out more at BrendanKiely.com.

• 2016 Walter Dean Myers Award
• 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
• Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and School Library Journal Starred Reviews

All American Boys, at the core, is a book about humanity. Yes, it delves into the fear, confusion, and anger that often brews beneath the epidermis of a culture bent on using differences as a way to justify injustice. But that in and of itself, is, in fact, a human trait, one that we hope All American Boys challenges. One that we hope the readers see as an unnecessary, hurtful roadblock, to a more communicative, empathetic future. I couldn’t be more honored, more humbled, that One Maryland One Book has chosen All American Boys as this year’s selection. But more importantly, I couldn’t be more hopeful. – Jason Reynolds

I believe books can change lives, but only when they are in the hands of powerful advocates… We wrote this book to set a fire in people’s hearts and spark the necessary conversations we all need to have about systemic racism and bias in our communities. We hoped and dreamed the book could facilitate those kinds of community conversations. Thank you One Maryland One Book for making this dream come true. We’re humbled and honored to be a part of it with you! – Brendan Kiely

“At once timely and timeless, funny and wickedly smart, All American Boys is a beautifully written narrative about … about so many things — but most importantly – what it means to be a young man in America – across lines of race — and what it means to be a GOOD person in America — across lines of Everything.” — Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming, winner of the National Book Award

“The scenario that Reynolds and Kiely depict has become a recurrent feature of news reports, and a book that lets readers think it through outside of the roiling emotions of a real-life event is both welcome and necessary.” —Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

“Diverse perspectives are presented in a manner that feels organic to the narrative, further emphasizing the tension created when privilege and racism cannot be ignored. Timely and powerful, this novel promises to have an impact long after the pages stop turning. Great for fostering discussions about current events among teenage audiences. A must-have for all collections.”— School Library Journal Starred Review

“This life-changing, nation-changing book is written with fire and love and courage. Read it, weep, and then share its power with everyone you know.” — Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times-bestselling author of “Speak”