Summary

Although there are no chapters in this book, it has been divided into sections of approximately 20-30 pages. The book begins with the dedication: “For You. For Me.” In “A Note,” author Jason Reynolds begins by explaining that, when he first started writing this book, he was unsure if it was a letter or a poem. Now, looking back on the finished work, he realizes that it was “basically just the undoing of...me--a twenty-something clinging tight to the nugget of thin air I referred to as my dream.”

In the process of writing, he realized that other dreamers like him also felt frustrated and tired, especially when facing criticism from a group of people he calls “‘the responsibles’” (Location 10). He also remembers meeting a number of teenagers who “couldn’t get past how foolish it is to be foolish” and...