VTHS English students talk to bestselling author

VERNON — Marianne Longchamp’s sophomore English class at Vernon Township High School enjoyed a lively give-and-take with Brendan Kiely, co-author of the best-selling novel, All American Boys.
With co-writer Jason Reynolds, Kiely explores the deep territory of race relations. He is white; Reynolds is black. They met while on a book tour for separate books that no one really came out for since they were new authors. But it seemed fate threw them together as shortly after the country began dealing with police shootings of young black men in several cities, heightening racial tensions. So they decided to write a book together, each one covering his own race’s perspective. He talked about how it really is impossible to understand another race’s thinking since it is influenced by so much outside of everyone else’s scope of experience, no matter what the race. He discussed with students how he and Reynolds wrote each of their parts of the book separately, then melded them together. Since they had a common goal, their writing blended perfectly, he said.
Winner of the 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Award, the novel follows two teenagers, one white and one black, as they face the challenges of a divided and heated society.
“A single violent act…leaves their school, their community and ultimately, their country, bitterly divided by racial tension” explains the book’s website. Kiely and Reynolds saw a topic that needed some airing, a platform for conversation.
The students, who are more than halfway through the novel, were ready with questions about the characters and Kiely’s writing process. Sophomore Matthew Beisler said he really liked the fast action in the novel that covers only one week, but offers the two visions of that one week. Mrs. Longchamp echoed students’ enthusiasm in the Skype session. “They can't wait to arrive every day and begin reading,” she said. “It's an unusual occurrence to see them so excited about a book!”
Kiely has just published another novel, The Last True Love Story, about a teenager and a friend who break Grandpa out of his nursing home so he can revisit the hill where he first kissed his wife before Alzheimer’s wipes his memory clean. Students said they are excited to pick that one up on their own when they finish All American Boys.