Ain't Burned All the Bright

Title: ain't burned all the bright

Author: Jason Reynolds

Illustrator: Jason Griffin

Genre: Young Adult, Poetry, Art, Realistic Fiction, Social Justice

Publisher: Atheneum

Source: Free Little Library

My review:

I had no plans to read this book.

My free little library won it in a giveaway. When I opened it this morning, I started flipping through it, and it immediately captured my attention.

Why?

Because it is different from anything I have ever read before. It looks kind of like a graphic novel, but it's not. It has large, captivating pictures on each page with just a line of text on it, but even the text is different. I was at least thirty pages in before I  realized I was reading the book standing at my kitchen counter. I only stopped because I had something else that I needed to do at that moment in time. 

While the synopsis says this book "viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right now.," I found myself relating to the words and also feeling the weight of the words. The dedication says, "For everyone we lost and everything we learned in the strangest year of our lives-2020." So, when I got to this part:

"and she (mom) wipes weary from her eyes still glued to the no-good glued to the high-definition glare of low-definition life (tv)"

it resonated with me, not only for 2020, but even now, I feel weary. Anyone else?

There may not be very many words to this story, but the ones used and the images with them, pack a powerful punch that conveys much. I am not the target audience for this book. I am not a young adult, I am not African American, and I don't even read a lot of poetry. However, I got a lot out of this book that you need to experience for yourself. It's hard to review without giving spoilers because there is so little text. 

Ain't Burned All the Bright is a quick, powerful read. I highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of age, race, or even where you live. I think there is much that we all can find relatable and, hopefully, understand a little more about what people of different ethnicity have to experience in a world that hates who/what is different.

★★★★★

Synopsis:

Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.