Book Description

for Twenty-Four Seconds from Now... by Jason Reynolds

From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Seventeen-year-old Neon (Black) is standing in the bathroom at his girlfriend, Aria’s, house, excited and nervous about their plans for the evening: to have sex for the first time. From this opening scene, the story spins back in time—first 24 seconds from that moment, then 24 days, 24 weeks, 24 months—all the way back to when he and Aria (Black) first met. All of the good and bad and awkward and affirming conversations that Nee has had with people in his life (mom, dad, older sister, friends) about sex and relationships play out. So, too, do details of his and Aria’s relationship. There’s clear trust and love and respect between them, and the decision to have sex is one they’ve come to mutually, even as their future is uncertain (Nee feels college is not for him; Aria already has scholarship offers). Throughout the story, as senior year winds down, Nee is working on a project for his class’s digital yearbook, asking classmates to sum up high school in three words—their answers (like the conversations Nee has had about sex) are insightful, funny, and surprising. Then the story returns to where it started, in that bathroom, and Nee opens the door. “We pull each other. Me and Aria. Meet in the middle. Of ourselves. As ourselves.”