Look Both Ways review written by Hannah Gottschalkon 6/22/2020
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Know Before You Read:
Book: Look Both Ways
Author and Illustrator: Jason Reynolds
Pages: 188
Published: 2019
Age Suggestion: 4th-8th grade
Themes: Perspective, parental illness, inclusion of same sex relationships, friendship, bullying, and middle school subjects
Warnings: This book touches briefly on several heavy topics including the death of loved ones, aging family members, physical abuse, bullying, and terminal illness. This story is a beautiful way to open up conversation around difficult topics, so be ready to discuss how these things affect the characters as well as your young reader.
Look Both Ways Quick Summary:
In Look Both Ways, Jason Reynolds beautifully weaves together 10 short stories featuring 10 middle school students who each face their own roadblocks in the unsupervised minutes between school and home, and reveal the heartwarming and heartbreaking motivations behind their at-school personas. The seemingly mundane, routine act of walking home from school gives the reader unique insight into the thoughts and feelings of middle school students as they face bullies, absent parents, aging family members, and anxiety.
Why Read It:
Jason Reynold’s poetic narrative style will sweep you up and keep you reading without realizing any time has passed. Each chapter is short, but you create an instant bond with the characters as you immediately jump into the action of the chapter. I loved this book because the characters are so very relatable, and they give us a deeper look into the archetypes that so often come with middle schoolers.
Reynolds dives into why the class clown is always telling jokes, why the bully is so mean, and why the quiet girl was out of school for a month. As an upper elementary/middle school student, it is so powerful to be able to see yourself in a story, as well as build empathy for those who you may not understand. These are great stories to walk through and discuss with your kids.
3 Look Both Ways Discussion Questions:
- What do you think about or do on your way home from school? Who do you see? What do you notice?
- Throughout the book several characters who lash out or are rough around the edges are revealed to be facing difficulty at home. (Example: Kenzi’s brother is in jail, Marcus has an abusive father, etc.) Did this new information change the way that you viewed the character? Did it validate their previous bad actions?
- What strategies do characters use to manage their anxiety or overwhelming feelings? Are they healthy strategies?
Favorite Part:
The last chapter is my favorite! It has a really beautiful display of kindness from an unexpected character. There are some reviews that talk about how the stories are not tied well together, but it was beautifully written. I thought the last chapter also ties all of the previous chapters together to provide nice closure. This was such a good read!
If you enjoyed our Look Both Ways review, also check out:
–Jason Reynolds Website with extra resources for parents & teachers!!
-He is also the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He’s doing a great Write. Right. Rite. interactive series over at the Library of Congress! You can find it here.
-Our New Kid Book Review
–Talking your Teens through Just Mercy
-Our Inquisitor’s Tale Book Review
Meet the Author- Hannah Gottschalk
Hello! I am an elementary school teacher in the Bronx, New York and am passionate about teaching students to love reading! In my free time you will find me hiking, visiting museums, reading, and drinking caramel frappucinos. Find me @hannahhaschalk on Instagram or @mrs.haschalk TikTok!
Down The Hobbit Hole Blog and this Look Both Ways review use affiliate links, we only link products we think you’ll like and you are never charged extra for them. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. We also use cookies to gather analytics and present advertisements. This allows us to keep writing discussion questions and telling ridiculous dad jokes. Find our other reviews with discussion questions here. Our posts about faith here. And our posts about family stuff here.
I appreciate the way Hason Reynolds tackles tough topics. He’s such a talented author. I will put this on my list to read for sure!
He is!! And he and his team have so many great resources for teachers on his website!!
Thanks for checking out this post 🙂