Hardcover, 112 pages
Release Date: April 10, 2018Published by: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Read from: April 6, 2018Stand-aloneSource: TxLAFor fans of: Poetry, Contemporary, Non-fiction, All Ages, Stand-aloneOriginally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying cry to the dreamers of the world.
For Every One is just that: for every one. For every one person. For every one dream. But especially for every one kid. The kids who dream of being better than they are. Kids who dream of doing more than they almost dare to dream. Kids who are like Jason Reynolds, a self-professed dreamer. Jason does not claim to know how to make dreams come true; he has, in fact, been fighting on the front line of his own battle to make his own dreams a reality. He expected to make it when he was sixteen. Then eighteen. Then twenty-five. Now, some of those expectations have been realized. But others, the most important ones, lay ahead, and a lot of them involve kids, how to inspire them. All the kids who are scared to dream, or don’t know how to dream, or don’t dare to dream because they’ve NEVER seen a dream come true. Jason wants kids to know that dreams take time. They involve countless struggles. But no matter how many times a dreamer gets beat down, the drive and the passion and the hope never fully extinguish—because just having the dream is the start you need, or you won’t get anywhere anyway, and that is when you have to take a leap of faith.
A pitch perfect graduation, baby, or love my kid gift.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Every time I read something by Jason Reynolds I am always amazed at how I ever said I wasn’t a fan of poetry. It’s like he awakens a love of poetry inside mw that I didn’t know was there. And for that, I thank him because without him, I wouldn’t get to experience these things.
I LOVED the message behind this. No matter what age you are, no matter what you’ve been through, don’t give up on your dream. It may take a bit longer than you’d like, but who’s to say that wasn’t the plan the whole time? These were things I knew, but this poem helped me to remember it. It also helped me to remember that making it is different for everyone. For some, making it might not be what you think it might be. Perfect example, there are DOZENS of people who said I was crazy for going to school to be a librarian because libraries and librarians will be non-existant soon. If I had listened to them, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am today. It’s all in what it means to you and this helped me see that.
Jason Reynolds sucked me into this poem, letter, story whatever you want to call it and I finished it within an hour. And then I read it again. This story needs to be read by anyone who might be thinking of giving up. So that they can realize that sticking around and excercising patience can be the pay-off you need.
Overall, I give this
