When I saw the marquee that Jason Reynolds was speaking in Evansville, my jaw dropped. We discovered his writing and his books last year and Mason, Bill and I have been fans ever since.
He spoke for an hour and demonstrated that he is not only a master crafter of stories on the written page but live as well. He was incredibly relatable to both kids and adults alike as he made pop culture references that spanned the generations including the walkman, cassette tapes, Queen Latifah, life before the internet and more.
He shared the journey of how rap music ignited his passion for writing and confessed that he had not read a single book until he was 17 years old!
At the end of his talk, he entertained questions and Mason bravely approached the mike. His question related to Jason’s book Miles Morales: Spider Man and the upcoming movie about Spider Man.
Jason graciously signed Mason’s copy of Long Way Down. That will be a treasured copy for sure.
I heard Jason talk on PBS about Ghost and bought it for Joel for Christmas! (running connection) I want to give it to him now so that I can read it!