SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Our next story is about young love and discusses some mature themes. Jason Reynolds' new young adult novel opens in a bathroom where 17-year-old Neon Benton is nervous and fumbling while his girlfriend, Aria Wright, waits across the hall. His thoughts are racing. We ask the author to read from his book.
JASON REYNOLDS: (Reading) I hope there ain't no snooze button on this moment. But if there is, and if Aria hits it and holds off this rise and shine, that's OK, too. If she wants to do this at a different time or just kiss or whatever or do other stuff or whatever, I'm good with whatever she wants as long as I make it out of this bathroom alive.
SIMON: Jason Reynolds tells the story of that night and of the two-year relationship that precedes it in "Twenty-Four Seconds From Now...," the latest novel from The New York Times bestselling author, who also just won a MacArthur genius grant. Jason Reynolds joined us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.
REYNOLDS: Thank you so much for having me.
SIMON: Tell us about Neon and Aria. They're devoted to each other but might be going off in separate directions, right?
REYNOLDS: Absolutely. I think, you know, these are two high school seniors who have been together since their sophomore year and are experiencing their first dose of love - are stepping into a particular kind of intimacy. Also, they know that what's looming in the background is a potential split, as Aria will eventually go off to college.
SIMON: Why did you make Neon the narrator?
REYNOLDS: Boys, as the narrators of love stories, is so rare. The idea that boys have complex interior lives, specifically as it revolves around sex and the loss of virginity - I feel like that's something that's overlooked and is dismissed. And the assumption is that teenage boys are walking fallacies, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
REYNOLDS: But I do think that. I think that that's the way that we're assumed to be when the reality is that boys are whole people with lots of stuff going on and fears and insecurities and body image issues and egos and societal pressures and this, that and the third. And I wanted to kind of show that by packaging it in this particular young boy.
SIMON: Neon gets a whole range of advice, doesn't he?
REYNOLDS: He does. He gets advice from his older sister, who loves him and who is living her life to the fullest, to his parents, who have different versions of, you know, sage wisdom, from his friends, who are all over the place and stumbling and fumbling through it just like he is. But, of course, there's always, you know, friends who believe that they know better, though they've done less. And so he's getting that advice as well.
SIMON: Yeah. I love your description of the mother-and-son dates.
REYNOLDS: Yeah. You know, I was a kid who had mother-and-son dates. My mother and I are still very close, and I wanted to sort of portray that not every parent is afraid of the conversation, right? We talk about it that way, though, in our everyday lives, like, oh god, I just can't deal. Oh god, I just - I'll just tell him to protect himself. I'll just - you know, but that wasn't my story. My story was a mother-son date and a very funny, interesting, loving and tender conversation of my mother basically telling me that it was OK - right? - and here are some things that I should consider. And here are the things that I should be careful about. And to remind me that the girls across from me or the girl at that time across from me was a person, not a piece of furniture to be jumped around on.
SIMON: This may sound naive. And I say this as the father of two daughters. Should someone around Neon and Aria tell them to just say no?
REYNOLDS: (Laughter) Yeah. You know, I think that's what happens. I just don't think that's what happens.
(LAUGHTER)
REYNOLDS: I think, you know - listen, I think it is absolutely fine for a teenager to say, you know, I'm not quite ready; I'm not quite there. I also think that it's OK for a teenager to say that I am ready and I am there. And so my question then becomes for the adults in this - in the room is, well, what do we do to make sure that they're OK and that they're safe, that they're responsible, that they understand the emotional ramifications, let alone the physical ramifications of the most beautiful experience - right? - what could be the most beautiful and transformative experience?
SIMON: What do you hope one of your books might put in the minds of a reader? And I'm not going to limit it to young readers.
REYNOLDS: I appreciate that. I appreciate that. That life is a strange and beautiful thing. I hope to write stories that, for brief moments, we can say, you know, nothing is wrong with me. I may look different. I may come from a different place. I may speak a different version of a particular language, or I may speak a different language altogether, but the human experience, there's a throughline. There are many throughlines, and we should celebrate those throughlines. It doesn't matter if you're a Black kid from D.C. You could read this story and say, man, I know what it is to be in love. I know what it is to stand on the precipice of a transformative moment. I know how radical tenderness can be - right? - despite being, you know, a Mexican American in Los Angeles.
SIMON: That phrase - how radical tenderness can be.
REYNOLDS: Yeah. I do believe that tenderness is the most radical form of expression. And it's one that we overlook so often, especially when you're being - when you're growing up as a young boy. We like to lean on this idea that we have some sort of, like, I have a defense instinct. I have a protective instinct. You know, I am man. But the truth of the matter is the most powerful men that I've ever known are the ones who weren't afraid to embrace me, the ones who weren't afraid to show me their tears, right? The ones that - the ones who weren't afraid to love their children in tender ways. I think that is truly life-changing for them and for all around them.
SIMON: I was very struck when you wrote the acknowledgments - Black boys deserve love stories, too.
REYNOLDS: Yeah. 'Cause we do. We do. You know, not only do we deserve love stories, but we deserve to see ourselves as late bloomers. I think that, you know, Black boys are often adultified - right? - very quickly. You know, you're 10, 11, 12, and you're treated like you're 19, 20, 21, unfortunately. But the truth is that I don't have to be cool. I don't have to be tough. I can be shy and nervous. I can be awkward and, you know, all over the place. I deserve to see myself as a late bloomer. I deserve to see myself as a person before I become an avatar of everybody's expectations.
SIMON: Jason Reynolds, his new book for young readers, or everybody, really, "Twenty-Four Seconds From Now..." Thanks so much for being with us.
REYNOLDS: Thank you so much.
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