65 pages • 2 hours read
Jason ReynoldsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“Yes, I’m a sore loser, if that’s what you wanna call it. To me, I just like to win. I only wanna win. Anything else is…false. Fake. But real.”
Patty reacts to coming in second place in her race. Her disappointment manifests as anger because she views it as her responsibility to win races. Her identity as a runner is wrapped up in wanting to honor her deceased father, her mother who can no longer run, and her younger sister, and so to lose feels as if she is letting down her family as well as herself.
“I would’ve smashed each and every one of them cups on the floor. And I would’ve smashed more of them two years later when my mother had two toes cut off her right foot. And six months after that, when she had that whole foot cut off. And six months after that–three years ago–when my mother had both her legs chopped off, which, I’m telling you, would’ve left the whole stupid cabinet empty. Broken mugs everywhere. Nothing left to drink from. But I didn’t. Instead, I just swallowed it all. And wished this was all some kind of invisible, pretend…something. But it wasn’t.”
Patty explains the anger she feels after her father’s passing and mother’s leg amputations. This passage also shows the origins of Patty swallowing her emotions rather than expressing or processing them.
“I was waiting for them to ask. Waiting for them to be normal. Or at least treat me normal.”
Because of the responsibilities she takes on at home, and because of the events of her past, Patty feels like she doesn’t fit in at her wealthy charter school. Patty tries to make small talk with her group project partners about their weekends, but she is disappointed when they do not reciprocate. To Patty, their insensitivity is just another sign that she doesn’t belong.
By Jason Reynolds
Ain't Burned All the Bright
Jason Reynolds
All American Boys
Brendan Kiely, Jason Reynolds
As Brave As You
Jason Reynolds
Eraser Tattoo
Jason Reynolds
For Every One
Jason Reynolds
Ghost
Jason Reynolds
Long Way Down
Jason Reynolds
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks
Jason Reynolds
Lu
Jason Reynolds
Miles Morales: Spider-Man
Jason Reynolds
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds
Stuntboy, in the Meantime
Jason Reynolds
Sunny
Jason Reynolds
The Boy in the Black Suit
Jason Reynolds
There Was a Party for Langston
Jason Reynolds
When I Was the Greatest
Jason Reynolds