But having finished the latest Jason Reynolds title in the Track series called Patina, if I could go back in time and hand my younger self one book that fell squarely outside her comfort zone, I’d probably hand her this. When I was a 9-12 year old I went out of my way to avoid works of realistic fiction that could potentially depress me. I often wonder what would have happened if I’d encountered this challenge as a child. You can read about a character that doesn’t look like your, a topic you don’t know much about, and/or a format you don’t usually pick up. Our current National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang, put this far more eloquently when he urged people to partake in the Reading Without Walls Challenge. You cannot be a children’s librarian or an adult children’s book reviewer if you do not constantly remind yourself that you have to read outside your comfort zone on a regular basis. And now he wants Patty to run relay…where you have to depend on other people? How’s she going to do THAT?

But can you ever really run away from any of this?Īs the stress builds, it’s building up a pretty bad attitude as well. And so Patty’s also running for her mom, who can’t. She runs from the reason WHY she’s not able to live with her “real” mom anymore: her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom’s legs will one day take her away forever.

She runs for many reasons-to escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she’s been sent to ever since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom.

They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team-a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. A newbie to the track team, Patina must learn to rely on her teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons in this New York Times bestselling follow-up to the National Book Award finalist Ghost by New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds.

Patina by jason reynolds