In select Blue Cluster reading groups, students have been reading the novel All American Boys, written by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds. On November 22, they were treated to a visit from co-author Brendan Kiely, who was enthusiastic about sharing the message of the novel and answering the students’ questions. Kiely is a New York Times bestselling author, and has written four books aside from All American Boys. He has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program.
Kiely began his discussion with the students by giving them an overview of how All American Boys came to be, and how he and his co-author, Jason Reynolds, decided it would be best to write this book together. All American Boys is a novel from the perspective of two young boys, one Black and one white, and how an act of police brutality changed their lives. Kiely explained that he and Reynolds had initially met in 2014 while on tour together for their individual books. He went on to describe instances on this tour where he, as a white man, was treated differently than Reynolds was as a Black man, despite both being successful authors. They ended up having quite a few discussions together surrounding race and racial profiling, and Kiely said that the two of them recognized they were, “the living embodiment of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. meant in 1968 when he spoke about ‘two Americas living side by side.’” Realizing they were on the same page about these issues, the two authors decided to team up together to write one book, with two perspectives, that would tackle the issues of race and police brutality. Kiely said they wished to inspire others to be as passionate about these topics as they are, and to be given the ability to express their feelings about these topics through books like this one.
After Kiely’s explanation of how the book came to be, he took questions from students. Some had already finished the book, but others hadn’t, so he was conscious to avoid spoilers! Students asked about the inspiration behind some of the characters in the book, who wrote which boy’s perspective, and how the cover was designed. When one student asked why they chose the title “All American Boys,” Kiely turned the question around to ask what they thought was the meaning. He was interested in learning about what their class discussion had been like, and what the students had thought of while reading. The students even connected the book to real-life events, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, and questioned why books like this one would be banned. Kiely was an impassioned speaker, and the students took in every word.
After they had finished with their questions, students had the chance to get their books signed by Kiely! This visit was a great opportunity for the students to learn more about and understand the context of the book’s events, and the authors’ decision to write it. Thank you to Brendan Kiely for coming in to visit our students, and thank you to their teacher Madeline Stevens for organizing this visit!
