For Every One (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
Jason Reynolds’ For Every One is for anyone who’s irrational, untamable passion has ever needed company and a place to exist. Originally written as a letter, for Reynolds himself during implausible times when a future seemed barricaded, he now shares his personal “poem in form only” with the world as solace to fellow dreamers. Through his pinpointing words and lyrics, teh story takes on the struggle of satisfying life’s purpose. Reynolds validates both the uncertainty and the vitality of chasing an elusive goal. For Every One is a tome to keep in your back pocket while guided to who-knows-where by your aspirations.
— M. Rae K., Tattered Cover Teen Advisory Board
Award-winner Jason Reynolds explores the dangerous art of pursuing your passion in his new book, For Every One. He convinces you that the dreams inside you aren't crazy or foolish--they might change the world. And, don't miss his groundbreaking book, Long Way Down, optioned for a movie with John Legend as a producer!
— Dylan M., Tattered Cover Teen Advisory Board memberOriginally 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 young 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 inspirational gift for anyone who needs to me reminded of their own abilities—to dream.