My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.: Our Story. Our Way.

by Jason Reynolds, Jason Griffin

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Two artists, two Jasons, both incredibly talented with the dream of moving to New York to pursue their dreams. This must-read autobiography, written by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin, will show readers that friendship often influences art and molds and shapes individuals. It’s a beautiful and compelling story of how these two supported each other while making their dreams happen! 

A stunning visual autobiography of two crazy-talented besties, bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds and painter Jason Griffin, who could never be who they are singularly if they weren’t who they were together.

Once upon a time in America, there were two Jasons. Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin. One a poet. One an artist. One Black. One white. Two voices. One journey in mind: to move to New York, the city of dreams, to make their own dreams come true. Willing to have a life not un-hard, so long as it wasn’t unhappy. Willing to let the city swallow them whole, so long as it gives them their chance. They had each other. “What if painting was a sin, and the poetry became taboo. And no one ever clapped for me again. My question is, would you?”

They clapped. Oh, they clapped. And aren’t we glad?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534478220
Publisher:	Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date:	06/28/2022
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	90,146
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Jason Griffin won a Caldecott Honor for his artwork in Ain’t Burned All the Bright, written by Jason Reynolds, and also illustrated Reynolds’s My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. He’s an artist and master collaborator, who has shown his art in major cities all over the world. His most recent projects include a commissioned mural for the children’s cancer wing at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, as well as a residency at the new contemporary art museum in Amsterdam, Het HEM. He currently creates in Queens, New York.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/09/2022

Two best friends and previous collaborators’ (Ain’t Burned All the Bright) diary-style accounting of their years spent living together in New York City is a moving, poetic, and visually rich homage to friendship, perseverance, and growth. “Regular guys. Survivors. Friends. Brothers”—acclaimed author Reynolds and renowned artist Griffin are all those things and more. Moving from Maryland to N.Y.C. in the early 2000s, the college roommates turned housemates work together to pursue their respective aspirations. Reynolds’s rhythmic poems speak to the duo’s adjustment to life in a new city (“a painful paradise for the unpretty”), the personal and professional sacrifices made to follow their dreams to survive by creating art (“My mom got sick.... I never should’ve left home”), and the challenges of expressing emotion and vulnerability (“Men don’t cry/or write poetry/or paint”). Griffin’s multimedia art adds a vibrant parallel perspective to Reynolds’s grounding poems. Visually, the text, formatted in myriad fonts, colors, and orientations, and the illustrations, which include ink sketches, vibrantly hued watercolors, and bold collages, astutely encompasses the duo’s varying struggles over the years. This compact, inspirational volume stands as a testament to the value of artistic expression and the power of friendship in self-discovery. Ages 12–up. Agents: (for Reynolds) Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties; (for Griffin) Lydia Wills, Paradigm. (June)

Publishers Weekly

An eye-opening portrait-of-the-artists archive filled with memories, ephemera, and optimism (and appended with a new afterword by Reynolds and Griffin).

12/1/2022 - Horn Book

Gr 9 Up—One Jason is a poet and the other an artist. One is black and one is white. Heavy on dreams and light on cash, the aspiring young men move to Brooklyn, eating cereal and fried tuna while writing and painting wherever and whenever they can. Dancing the line between novel-in-verse and poetry collection, this autobiographical collaboration riffs on staying true to oneself, cultivating creative genius, taking risks, friendship, and becoming adults. The verse and dynamic artwork are simultaneously playful and desperate, but always expressive and fresh. The two are so tightly intertwined that one feeds off the other, adding layers of meaning for readers to peel away. Though this book will undoubtedly find broad appeal, because the Jasons set out on this journey in their early 20s, it may speak most directly to older teens starting to grapple with some of the same issues. If not for visual appeal or immediacy of tone and theme, teens will love the speed at which this unique book can be read. One thing is for certain—they will clamor for Griffin and Reynolds's next collaboration.—Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT

School Library Journal

Author Reynolds and artist Griffin shine as they co-narrate this poetic memoir, which riffs on friendship, courage, self-expression, and coming of age. In the early 2000s, the roommates set off for Brooklyn to pursue their creative dreams. There, they struggled to balance family concerns and self-doubt with the desire to be recognized and make a difference. As the pair look back on their past, their voices weave in and out, coming together to emphasize pivotal words—“brothers,” “survivors,” “friends.” Most importantly, they note that “men pretend,” acknowledging how difficult it is for men to admit feeling vulnerable. Those familiar with the print book’s visuals may miss the multilayered artwork, but the intimacy and authenticity of the audiobook are remarkable on their own. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

Author Reynolds and artist Griffin shine as they co-narrate this poetic memoir, which riffs on friendship, courage, self-expression, and coming of age. In the early 2000s, the roommates set off for Brooklyn to pursue their creative dreams. There, they struggled to balance family concerns and self-doubt with the desire to be recognized and make a difference. As the pair look back on their past, their voices weave in and out, coming together to emphasize pivotal words—“brothers,” “survivors,” “friends.” Most importantly, they note that “men pretend,” acknowledging how difficult it is for men to admit feeling vulnerable. Those familiar with the print book’s visuals may miss the multilayered artwork, but the intimacy and authenticity of the audiobook are remarkable on their own. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

2022-03-16
An artful collaboration; a love story.

In the early aughts, acclaimed writer Reynolds and accomplished artist Griffin shared a first name, a college dorm room, and a plan to move to New York City to pursue their overlapping dreams. This mixed-media art project and collection of poems is the result of their striving and struggles and the strength of their friendship. A number of entries focus on differences, for example, between Griffin’s red hair and Reynolds’ black curls. By way of contrast and juxtaposition, this is a story of connection between visual art and poetry, between dreams and real life in Brooklyn, and between two young men who eschewed many cultural expectations regarding what two men can mean to one another and how they should express their emotions and creativity. Their history is illustrated in bold colors, and the printed words are complemented by hand-lettered text. While the unevenness of the textual and visual presentations can at times present more as an uneasy distraction than a cohesive narrative—like when Reynolds’ well-grounded anxieties about New York or the precarious health of his mother are set against Griffin’s art-world ambitions and passions—the creative effort forces readers to constantly give attention to form, process, and relationships of all sorts.

Two Jasons share their singular experiences with all those who value art. (Poetry. 12-15)

Kirkus Reviews