All American Boys Essay

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Written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely All American Boys is a story told from an adult perspective. The book deals with controversial events and social issues over police brutality. All American Boys has two perspectives, one is about a boy name Rashad and the other is about a boy named Quinn. Rashad is a black boy who lives with his mom, dad and his brother. The other perspective comes from a boy named Quinn. Quinn is white and lives in a single parent household with his younger brother, his father died in Afghanistan. After reading the first page, I was intrigued. Rashad goes to a gas station to get chips before he goes to a party. Rashad accidentally trips over a lady and falls which triggers the store owner to call the police because he suspected that Rashad was stealing the chips. Because of that, the police officer came to the store and started to beat him. The lady who Rashad tripped over began to beg the officer to stop, but the officer insisted that he was protecting her. I was definitely scared to read …show more content…

There are two questions that are the ongoing theme of this book. One of them is “Are you a part of the problem even though you're not fighting?” which Quinn can really relate to. The other question is who is the all american boy. Throughout the book I asked myself “What makes the All American Boy?” because you hear all american and you think a house, two people, kids, and a dog. Which is the idea that we’ve put in our head to be the all american person. Rashad could be the “ideal” all american boy because he has two parents, he’s smart, and he’s headed on the straight path. But yet he’s still the victim of the crime and he’s not considered an all american boy because he’s black. Or is the all american boy Quinn who doesn't care much in school and lives in a single parent household. It’s conflicting to see what makes the all american boy which is why I think the book has the