Look Both Ways, by Jason Reynolds

Reynolds is a master storyteller. A lot of people write good books for teens, young adults and adults as well. But a few are masters - people who write so well that it is quickly obvious that they're a step above what most other good writers write (not to mention the many not-so-good writers). In my pug opinion, Sharon Creech, Kate DiCamillo, and Louis Sachar are a few master storytellers. Not every one of their books is amazing, but several of them are, when most writers never  get to one amazing book.

That said, Look Both Ways is not my favorite Reynolds book, but it is his latest. It's good, and has flashes of greatness, but a couple of the stories are just good - which isn't a bad thing - just not all of these stories are great. This book is 10 short stories written from the time the end-of-the-school day bell rings until the kids get home. 10 chapters, 10 kids or groups of kids, 10 different stories about life between school and home. All the kids and their stories emanate from one school, and the stories do loosely interact. A really cool and unique idea, and most of the stories work. A few didn't work really well for me, but a couple were gold. Read this book for the gold - Reynolds is always worth it! 4 paws!