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Table of Contents
About The Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
Jason Reynolds’s Newbery Honor, Printz Honor, and Coretta Scott King Honor–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel Long Way Down is now a gripping, galvanizing graphic novel, with haunting artwork by Danica Novgorodoff.
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.
But bullets miss. You can get the wrong guy. And there’s always someone else who knows to follow the rules…
Jason Reynolds’s Newbery Honor, Printz Honor, and Coretta Scott King Honor–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel Long Way Down is now a gripping, galvanizing graphic novel, with haunting artwork by Danica Novgorodoff.
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.
But bullets miss. You can get the wrong guy. And there’s always someone else who knows to follow the rules…
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 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, 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); 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.
About The Illustrator
Danica Novgorodoff is an artist, writer, graphic designer, and horse wrangler who lives in Kentucky. Her books include A Late Freeze; Slow Storm; Refresh, Refresh (included in The Best American Comics 2011); and The Undertaking of Lily Chen. Her art and writing have been published in Artforum, Esquire, Virginia Quarterly Review, Slate, Orion, Seneca Review, Ecotone Literary Magazine, and many others. She was awarded a 2015 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in literature and was named Sarabande Books’ 2016 writer-in-residence. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and Willapa Bay AiR. Visit her online at DanicaNovgorodoff.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books (October 13, 2020)
- Length: 208 pages
- ISBN13: 9781534444973
- Grades: 9 and up
- Ages: 14 - 99
- Lexile ® HL630L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®
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Raves and Reviews
*"A moving rendition that stands on its own."
– Kirkus, starred review
*"Novgorodoff’s watercolors, which bleed at the edges like pavement stains, match the text in mood and fluency, and by putting faces to characters, they tacitly untangle the web of revenge killings and mistaken identities foundational to the plot."
– BCCB, starred review
*"Reynolds’s words paint pictures of their own in this tragic yet poignant illustrated tale that offers no answers to the seemingly impossible choices some communities face."
– School Library Journal, starred review
*"Far more than just an illustration of the events of the novel, Novgorodoff’s iteration powerfully cultivates the tone and mood of its source material, demonstrating just how effective and artful comics can be."
– Booklist, starred review
"Danica Novgorodoff has done a superb job of graphically capturing the gritty emotions of the original story—the anguish, the cyclical bloodshed, and the terror of the present situation."
Highly Recommended
– School Library Connection, November-December 2020
"Reynolds has skillfully edited and rearranged his original verse novel to create room for Novgorodoff’s impressionistic ink and watercolor illustrations to flourish, resulting in an adaptation that feels authentic to its new comics format."
– Horn Book Magazine *STARRED*, January/February 2021
"In his YA novel Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds uses the painful past to reveal the difficulty between doing what you are taught is right and doing what is moral.
Danica Novgorodoff's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are a beautiful addition to Reynolds's lyrical text. A gorgeously illustrated reinterpretation of the novel."
– Shelf Awareness for Readers, November 17, 2020
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
- Iowa Teen Award
- 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)
- Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Nominee (MD)
- 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 Great Graphic Novels for Teens
- 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
- Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List (TX)
- 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
- Just One More Page Recommendation List
- Milwaukee County Teen Book Award
- South Carolina Book Award Nominee
- Land of Enchantment Black Bear Book Award
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award Honor Title
- Arkansas Teen Book Award Master list
- North Star YA Award Finalist (ME)
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Long Way Down Fixed Layout eBook 9781534444973
- 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
