-
I believe that every character is a setting, a world with moving parts, and on the other hand, every setting is, in fact, a character - a living breathing thing with personality and backstory. The way stories come to life, at least for me, is when these elements commune in relationship to one another.
Jason Reynolds -
I read 'The Young Landlords' and felt almost a chemical change. What I realized while reading that book was that I could write in my voice, use my tongue, my language, my style, and write a story.
Jason Reynolds
-
The truth is, my life was made infinitely more difficult because I didn't read any books. But I didn't read any books. That's my story. That's my truth.
Jason Reynolds -
The people who know me do not ask me about the next book or how it's going. They ask, 'Jason, are you sleeping?' because they know my brain will not shut down.
Jason Reynolds -
I would go to the store, I would buy cassette tapes, and I would read the liner notes and sort of subconsciously creating the connections between the rappers that I was reading and the poets that they were teaching us in school.
Jason Reynolds -
Rappers are the white authors of our generation. They know me, my language, my codes, my family, my block.
Jason Reynolds -
There are so many things I want to do, so many things I have to say.
Jason Reynolds -
The literary world has to compete with YouTube, Instagram, PlayStation, Xbox, Hulu.
Jason Reynolds
-
I write about six to seven hours a day, five days a week, unless I'm traveling.
Jason Reynolds -
All I want kids to know is that I see them for who they are and not who everyone thinks they are.
Jason Reynolds -
Writing is like any other sort of sport. In order for you to get better at it, you have to exercise the muscle.
Jason Reynolds -
I wanted to be a poet. I fell in love with poetry around eight years old, but not through literature. Instead, it came through hip-hop lyrics and my obsession with reading liner notes. Queen Latifah's 'Black Reign' is the album that stands out the most.
Jason Reynolds -
It's naive of adults to believe that young people aren't aware of what is going on in the world. The best thing we can do is confront that to help them navigate it. We can help them say, 'These things are happening. What does that mean for your life?'
Jason Reynolds -
Queen Latifah was writing poetry. Maybe Latifah's 'Ladies First' and Angelou's 'Phenomenal Woman' are the same thing, a generation apart.
Jason Reynolds
-
I have a hard time with people who say they write for children but they don't really like children. I love children. I love talking with them.
Jason Reynolds -
People always say time heals. Time doesn't necessarily heal anything. It allows you to manage things. There are occasions where you feel the pain as if it just happened, but you know that it's a fleeting moment.
Jason Reynolds -
Rap music was a savior to me.
Jason Reynolds -
The stories of kids who grew up in communities like mine weren't being written about in many books for kids.
Jason Reynolds -
Poetry has the ability to create entire moments with just a few choice words. The spacing and line breaks create rhythm, a helpful musicality, a natural flow. The separate stanzas aid in perpetuating a kind of incremental reading, one small chunk at a time.
Jason Reynolds -
Sometimes it's okay for careers to find you.
Jason Reynolds
-
My relationship to comics isn't nearly as strong as some people's. Ha! I mean, I grew up with a comic book fanatic. My older brother was, and still is, obsessed. And I was obsessed with the fact that he was obsessed, because I was obsessed with him. But not necessarily with comics themselves.
Jason Reynolds -
I'm writing all the books I wish I had when I was a kid.
Jason Reynolds -
I grew up around a whole bunch of girls, and one thing I realized is what they had on their plate was very different than what I had on mine. The things girls are made to be responsible for is a heavy burden - take care of your younger siblings, do good in school, have some extracurriculars. The pressure is intense.
Jason Reynolds -
All the academy will tell you that the language that is familiar to you is not appropriate. and that's not to say that there shouldn't be a standard, but when I come to school with my friends' language, my grandmother's language, the language in my mouth - you're going to tell me that's improper?
Jason Reynolds