AudioFile Spotlight: Jason Reynolds

In Conversation with Jason Reynolds, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

AudioFile’s Josephine Reed spoke with author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds about STAMPED, a remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from The Beginning for young people, which Reynolds also narrates. Highly recommended as a work for young readers, the audiobook is accessible to anyone interested in learning about how racism and antiracism developed in America. In all of his work, Reynolds is known for writing and speaking directly to young listeners, meeting them where they are, and helping young Black readers see themselves reflected in books they’re excited to read.

Jason Reynolds
Photo credit: Robert Van Kolken

What did you say when Dr. Kendi asked you to adapt Stamped from The Beginning?

I said, “No,” because he had spent his life working on this. This was a tome, one that I think was one of the most important academic contributions, at least in the top five in the 21st century. It literally was a shift in the way that we talk about race, it was an addition to our lexicon, and I felt like to try to tamper with it would be a travesty because one, I didn’t think I had the intellectual capacity to even contend with what he made: it’s a lot. And anyone who’s read that book knows it’s a lot, and I struggled with it. I’ve read it 10 times at this point, but the first read was like reading Beloved for the first time; it’s tough.

He kept asking, and eventually I broke, mainly because I realized that it was bigger than me, bigger than him, that what we were trying to do is ensure that the conversation around antiracism permeates every single sector of our country, not just scholars and academics and people who are thinking about race, but our children, that they have the vocabulary to shift culture as they get older, that they have the vocabulary to have informed conversations, less emotional conversations, to turn the discomfort into comfort, to turn the dis-ease into ease. All these things were what I was thinking about when I finally said yes, and of course saying yes is the easy part; the hard part is actually making it happen.

How did you go about making it accessible for young readers without dumbing it down?

I was struggling with it, trying to figure out what do we keep, what do we cut, because everything is necessary, but how do we work this out? And he sent me a cheat sheet that said “Here are the non-negotiables. Here are the ideas that have to be in this book, and here are a few of the historical moments that have to be in this book. The rest of it you can fool around with, but these parts have to be there.” And so that gave me a bit of a true north. That gave me something I could always count on by saying, “Well, I know I have to talk about this, but I got to figure out how to get from here to here. I got to figure out what I’m going to use, whether it be literary and poetic devices, whether it be personal stories and anecdotes, whether it be analogies. I got to figure out how to get from here to here to make this thing flow, make it feel like music.” And so I went through a few different drafts, just sort of doing edited versions of his book and it just wasn’t working.

And I remember going to New York to talk to our editor, Lisa, and she said, “Jason, it’s just not doing what you need it to do. It’s not working because it’s not you.” And I said, “Well, yeah, it’s not my book,” and she said, “Yeah, but we hired you, right. The reason that he wanted you to do it is because he wanted you to do it. He wanted it to be you. He wanted it to be your voice, your style; whatever that intangible thing that you have that’s only yours, your intuition, your gut.” And I said, “Well, in order for me to do that, I have to poke fun at what an academic book is,” which is why it starts with ‘This is not a history book.’ This book has to feel and sound like real life, like a real person, and that was my approach, and then after that it was party time.

You also recorded it, and you recorded it brilliantly. Tell me about that experience.

Another moment when I said no. I’m fully aware of my strengths and my capabilities, and I try to stay in my lane as often as possible. I did Long Way Down; I did For Every One. I’ve done a bunch of the ones when I’ve written a preface or a foreword or an afterword or an essay, but for all those listening, it’s no fun; it’s just not. It’s a wonderful thing to have done, but it’s not a wonderful thing to do. So I said no, and then the publishing company said, “We think it would be really important, and just for posterity, for you to do it yourself.” And honestly, now that it’s done and it’s already kind of floating around to educators and things of that nature, I am grateful to have done it. I’m glad that it’s my voice. I mean, it’s my interpretation of the story, and it’s my voice telling it, and I honestly don’t even know what I was thinking to interest anybody else with this thing that I toiled over for so long. I’m glad it’s me.

https://www.amazon.com/Stamped-Antiracism-National-Award-Winning-Beginning/dp/B081QNPQH9/?tag=thbith-20

Part of what you do in the book—the font changes, bigger and bolder words, playing with words on a page so that it looks almost like verse occasionally—had to be conveyed with your voice. Is that what made it so challenging?

Absolutely, and that’s the reason why no one else should have done it. It’s a little more complex, and the nuances are so deft and so slight that you kind of have to know where they are in order for it to come across, and so I was happy to have done it, because I could see those moments where I was playing around with verse or I was playing around with repetitions, poetic devices, and I know what that’s supposed to sound like, and I know what that’s supposed to feel like because it’s me, right, and so I was able to bring that to life, hopefully.

Suspenseful Listens for April from AudioFile Magazine

Here are AudioFile’s picks for five new, not-to-be-missed mystery and thriller titles that will keep you glued to your earbuds.  Happy Listening!

EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS

Earphones Award Winner

by Peter Swanson | read by Graham Halstead

Harper Audio

Narrator Graham Halstead voices Malcolm Kershaw, crime fiction bookstore owner, with a perfect next-door-neighbor tone that simply seduces the listener into trusting him. Mystery aficionados will delight in the literary references and enjoy the twists and turns in this cleverly written audiobook by an author who truly appreciates the genre.

Review

THE BOY FROM THE WOODS

Earphones Award Winner

by Harlan Coben | read by Steven Weber

Brilliance Audio

Steven Weber returns to narrate the newest Harlan Coben thriller, and the pairing makes for a super suspenseful listen. When his classmate goes missing, Matthew Crimstein turns to his grandmother, Hester, a feisty criminal lawyer and TV personality, for help. Weber is perfectly in step with the pace of the action, which is interspersed with touching relationship scenes and terrifying depictions of the vulnerability that arises from our reliance on social media for our facts.

Review

DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT

by Meg Gardiner |  read by Hillary Huber

Blackstone Audio

Narrator Hillary Huber brings her trademark blend of measured intensity and thoughtful characterization to this third installment in Meg Gardiner’s Unsub series. FBI behavioral analyst Caitlin Hendrix is tasked with hunting down a new and disturbing serial killer, the self-styled “Midnight Man.” Huber’s crisp style complements Gardiner’s staccato prose, further contributing to this audiobook’s unsettling atmosphere.

Review

THE ABSOLUTION

Children’s House, Book 3

by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir | read by Lucy Paterson

Macmillan Audio

Lucy Paterson brings finely honed narration skills to this mystery involving bullying, trauma, and murder. Her very English voice is smooth and expressive, her characters well delineated. In this third installment featuring the Icelandic team of psychologist Freyja and detective Huldar, someone is killing school bullies. Sigurdardóttir pulls the pieces into a solid story; Paterson’s performance makes it a more satisfying whole.

Review

WESTWIND

by Ian Rankin | read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Ian Rankin [Intro.]

Hachette Audio

Ian Rankin’s narration of this novel’s insightful introduction helps set the scene for listeners being transported into a world of spies. Fear and mistrust are pervasive in an alternative Europe at the end of the 1980s. Narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt helps to bring the wide cast of characters alive and build the tension as the plot develops. The result is a thrilling and fun presentation of the novel Ian Rankin at one time wanted to disown!

Review