Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

First of all, the book's audience should be 14+, not 10 and up. Some very heavy topics and gritty type of writing. A woman getting beaten up by her husband, over and over. A boy who has been kissed by a gay student. Parents who have cancer, especially one mother whose cancer came back. Other heavy issues.

This is a delightful book. Each chapter, of which there are 10, is the story of a group of friends from a large inner-city middle school who, by just seeing their interactions with each other and those around them, open up a glimpse inside their souls. Living in a predominantly white midwestern city, I found it fascinating and illuminating. I convinced my local book club to read it in an effort to open our sense of understanding and empathy to people very different from ourselves. I'd recommend you do the same.

Look Both Ways is a collection of ten interwoven stories of middle school students making their ways home after school. Within each chapter, Reynolds takes a stereotypical type of character and delves just deep enough into their story for the reader to see another unexpected side of them. The characters are so lovable and funny, and many of them reminded me of specific students at my school. I wanted to give them hugs through the page!

That being said, this is probably my least favorite Jason Reynolds book that I’ve read. While some stories were hilarious and emotional, others were one or the other, and a few were neither. I wanted some sort of emotional connection or reaction with each character/story and was left underwhelmed more than once. When the chapters hit, they hit hard, but there were definitely a few misses for me in the mix. None of it was bad, but some of it just felt like fluff.

I do think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it instead of listened to it. The narrators were really good (each chapter had a different narrator, ending with Jason Reynolds), but I think I would have enjoyed interpreting the book and dialogue on my own. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to middle-grade readers! Grades 5+

I liked this one. Jason Reynolds has such a different voice than so many authors I read. This one is aimed at middle school age kids and I read it in a day. Jason Reynolds is a black author who writes for black children and it was a perfect Juneteenth read.

This is really several short stories about different kids as they walk home after school one day. The stories all tie in, but are mostly separate at the same time. Each of the kids are going through their own things. Some of them are healing from a sickness, one is working up the nerve to ask a girl out, one is just trying to get home in one piece. But they're all very sweet an unexpected. My favorite story was the second one.

If you have younger kids, you and your kids should read it. I definitely recommend.

The book has characters that truly melt your heart and reminds you that students see the world in a totally different light than most others. Reynolds does a great job of showing this and using the dialect of these students!

Loved it!!

it is a gift

Book arrived in great condition. However, I ended up not liking the various plots.

Excellently told! Lived every word!

So sorry. I did get this book. My granddaughters love it.
Great book. Well written.