#twitterviews Tuesday: Jason Reynolds

Welcome to one of my cooler segments of #twitterviews. There are a lot of things to celebrate about Jason Reynolds. His two novels, When I Was the Greatest and The Boy in the Black Suit, give the YA genre fresh looks at both friendship and grief (in a genre where we thought those might have been all used up). He is also a black writer humanizing urban like in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, in a way that strips down stereotypes. But what I like? The guy doesn't write boring books. He has come onto the YA scene like an explosion of new and different.

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Question 1: If YA had its version of slam poetry, who's on your team?

Question 2: What elevates a book from boring to bad ass?

Question 3: Have you had a moment in your own life similar to the basement scene with Mr. Ray in The Boy in the Black Suit?

Question 4: How can we increase diversity in classroom literature?

Question 5: As a well-dressed writer, do you have advise for the sad state of fashion witnessed in most of the rest of us?

The latest from Jason Reynolds is The Boy in the Black Suit, a novel about grief and growth and not so much "coming-of-age" as it is about becoming human and coping with life. It's a quick read and definitely worth a look. And Jason Reynolds is one to keep on your radar.

"My whole life is a game of I Declare War... I NEVER intended on being a novelist. NEVER."
                                --Jason Reynolds

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