Over a two-day visit, author Jason Reynolds spoke to an audience of 1,870 Arlington Heights students. Reynolds is known for writing young adult novels including All American Boys, As Brave As You, the Track series, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Long Way Down and For Every One.

During his appearances, Reynolds told stories about growing up in Washington D.C. that ranged from how he was inspired to write poetry after listening to Queen Latifah's 1993 rap album Black Reign to his struggles of getting into literature at an early age. Reynolds talked about his struggle to relate to characters in books like Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men. He ended up reading his first book, Black Boy by Richard Wright, when he was 18 years old, which inspired him to go back and read the books he missed while in middle school and high school. Read more...