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Table of Contents
Listen To An Excerpt
About the Book
A Newbery Honor Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Printz Honor Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s “tour de force” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse takes place in sixty potent seconds: the time it takes a kid to go down an elevator—and decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.
Will’s older brother, Shawn, has been shot.
Dead.
Will feels a sadness so great, he can’t explain it. But in his neighborhood there are THE RULES:
No. 1: Crying.
Don’t.
No matter what.
No. 2: Snitching
Don’t.
No matter what.
No. 3: Revenge
Do.
No matter what.
So fifteen-year-old Will puts a gun in the waistband of his jeans and sets out to do just that. Avenge his brother. But when he gets on the elevator, it inexplicably stops on every floor, and each time, a different person—each connected to his brother—steps on. And each person gives Will a bigger piece of the story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.
Not to mention that each person who gets on that elevator is…dead.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Printz Honor Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s “tour de force” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse takes place in sixty potent seconds: the time it takes a kid to go down an elevator—and decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.
Will’s older brother, Shawn, has been shot.
Dead.
Will feels a sadness so great, he can’t explain it. But in his neighborhood there are THE RULES:
No. 1: Crying.
Don’t.
No matter what.
No. 2: Snitching
Don’t.
No matter what.
No. 3: Revenge
Do.
No matter what.
So fifteen-year-old Will puts a gun in the waistband of his jeans and sets out to do just that. Avenge his brother. But when he gets on the elevator, it inexplicably stops on every floor, and each time, a different person—each connected to his brother—steps on. And each person gives Will a bigger piece of the story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.
Not to mention that each person who gets on that elevator is…dead.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.
About the Author
Photograph (c) Adedayo "Dayo" Kosoko
Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); Twenty-Four Seconds from Now...; and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.
About the Reader
Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He’s also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright; My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (October 24, 2017)
- Runtime: 1 hour and 43 minutes
- ISBN13: 9781508241584
- Grades: 7 and up
- Ages: 12 - 99
Browse Related Books
Awards and Honors
- ALA Newbery Honor Book
- ALA Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book
- ALA Notable Children's Books
- CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
- Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Master List
- CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
- Flicker Tale Award (ND)
- ILA Young Adults' Choices
- Oregon Battle of the Books List
- ALA Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
- Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee (AZ)
- Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best
- Kansas NEA Reading Circle List High School Title
- NYPL Best Books for Teens
- NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
- YALSA Teens Top Ten (TTT) Nominee
- Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Master List (IL)
- Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI)
- Blue Hen Book Award Nominee (DE)
- ILA Notable Books for a Global Society
- Volunteer State Book Award Nominee (TN)
- Iowa High School Book Award Nominee
- High School Sequoyah Book award Master List (OK)
- Evergreen High School Book Award (WA)
- North Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee
- Edgar Allan Poe Award
- Nutmeg Book Award (CT)
- ALA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
- Young Adult Reading Program Reading List Selection (SD)
- Soaring Eagle Book Award (WY)
- Truman Reader Award Final Nominee (MO)
- Isinglass Award Nominee (NH)
- Great Lakes Book Award
- Amelia Elizabeth Walden Finalist (NCTE/ALAN)
- ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award
- ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults - Top Ten
- Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year Selection Title
- ALA Notable Children's Recording
- Odyssey Honor for Audio
- National Book Award Longlist
- TAYSHAS Reading List Top Ten Title (TX)
- Pennsylvania Reader's Choice Award Nominee
- Amazing Audiobooks for YA
- Wisconsin State Reading Association's Reading List
- Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee
- Virginia Readers’ Choice Award
- Louisiana Teen Readers' Choice Award Nominee
- Walter Dean Myers Award
- Arnold Adoff Poetry Award
- Arkansas Teen Book Award
- Oregon Reader's Choice Award Nominee
- Intermediate Sequoyah Book Award Master List (OK)
- Great Texas Mosquito List
- California Young Reader Medal finalist
- Milwaukee County Teen Book Award
- South Carolina Book Award Nominee
- Land of Enchantment Black Bear Book Award
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award Honor Title
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Long Way Down
Unabridged Audio Download 9781508241584
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Author Photo (jpg): Jason Reynolds Photograph (c) Adedayo "Dayo" Kosoko(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
