All American Boys

All American Boys is a young-adult novel published in 2015. This modern-day narrative tells the story of an incident of police brutality through the alternating voices of two high school students: Rashad, whose chapters are written by author Jason Reynolds, and Quinn, whose chapters are written by author Brendan Kiely. While Rashad and Quinn never actually meet in the novel, their lives intersect in a powerful way after a violent act of racism rocks their hometown of Springfield, Illinois.

The novel begins on Friday afternoon. Rashad Butler, an African-American highschool junior, changes out of his Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) attire. He’s ready to ditch the “stiff-ass uniform” (6) his father imposes on him and let loose for the night. Rashad and his friends, English Jones, Shannon Pushcart, and Carlos Greene, plan to attend their classmate Jill’s party, but everything changes when Rashad experiences police brutality at Jerry’s Corner Mart.

In Jerry’s, Rashad is picking out chips when he sets his duffel bag down to retrieve his cell phone. A female customer backs up and trips over Rashad, causing him to drop the chips. The store owner sees the open duffel and thinks Rashad is trying to steal the chips, while the police officer guarding the store thinks Rashad is attacking the woman.