Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (2017)
A gun is what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. His brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. Will goes after the latter as he gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. As the elevator descends, Will is joined by spirits of the past, spirits whose life experiences reflect violent pasts, spirits that carry messages that carry pieces of a bigger story than the one Will thinks he knows.
Quotes:
“Another things about the rules
They weren't meant to be broken.
They were meant for the broken
to follow.”
“People always love people more when they're dead.”
Book Leader Miriam Scott Discusses Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (2017)
Miriam Scott was born in a small town called Mechernich in western Germany. In 2000, she met her future husband, a Marine security guard at the American embassy. They married in Colorado in 2002 and moved to Amarillo, Texas in 2005. A member of St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Amarillo, Miriam was ordained to the priesthood in May of 2021, and just as she finished a bachelor’s in social work WTAMU where her internship was with the Potter County Sheriff department in the inmate program.
