Photo by Adedeyo Kosoko
On Friday, January 13, Charles River School is thrilled to welcome New York Times best-selling author Jason Reynolds for a special program with students in Grades 5-8. Reynolds served as the inaugural National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature through the Library of Congress. He is a Kirkus Prize winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award winner, a National Book Award finalist, and the recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, multiple Coretta Scott King Award honors, and a CILIP Carnegie Medal. Reynolds was also the American Booksellers Association’s 2017 and 2018 spokesperson for Indies First. His many books include When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely), As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks and Long Way Down. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, and various media outlets. Reynolds is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC.
Director of Equity, Belonging, and Community Life Nia Jacobs will kick off the program, discussing with Reynolds the importance of personal storytelling, creating literature accessible for all people, and the need for diverse representation in books. Students will also have time to pose their own questions during a Q&A session before a book signing and photo opportunity. We are honored to host this amazing author, speaker, and ambassador; check back for photos and other highlights from the event.