Ignore the 1990 date in the catalog—Jason Reynolds was barely out of elementary school then. This is the 2018 banger that closes out his Track series, and it’s a must-read.

If you have a kid who thinks they hate reading, give them this (or better yet, the audiobook). It’s fast, it’s funny, and it hits the 'Reading Rope' sweet spot: it builds massive language comprehension because the narrative structure and vocabulary are so rich, but the pacing is so quick they won't even notice they're working. It's a gold-standard example of how to write for modern kids without talking down to them.