Jason Reynolds, Look both ways, Knights of Media, October 2020, 240 pp., RRP $17.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781999642594
This book consists of 10 interlocking stories. A school provides the link between the children who are the protagonists in each of the stories. Each story is titled by the street they walk down after school. The streets act as place markers and the settings for the action that takes place.
The children often face challenges on their journeys home. Some face bullies, some strengthen friendships, some wish they had more courage or could learn to speak out. Quite often the stories explore a kind of ‘interiority’ as characters reflect on what they have done and said and what they wish they had done and said. These missed opportunities often lead to a change in the action – what might have been becomes what actually happened. A gallant and brave action by one of the boys is missed by the girl for whom he does it, for example.
Although this edition of the book is published in England, the book is originally American, with a strong sense of place and with occasional American slang. However, in many ways the themes of the book are universal and many of the characters, while convincingly drawn in the context of their American lives, could also be found in an Australian school.
The book can be read as a series of short stories or read right through as we see different children move in and out of each other’s story, while not necessarily knowing each other. The book has some funny moments, moments of pathos, moments when the reader wants to rail against the bullies and explores the sometimes difficult path to growing up.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel
