Look Both Ways Quotes

“Those that scar you are you.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“A school bus is many things.
A school bus is a substitute for a limousine. More class. A school bus is a classroom with a substitute teacher. A school bus is the students' version of a teachers' lounge. A school bus is the principal's desk. A school bus is the nurse's cot. A school bus is an office with all the phones ringing. A school bus is a command center. A school bus is a pillow fort that rolls. A school bus is a tank reshaped- hot dogs and baloney are the same meat. A school bus is a science lab- hot dogs and baloney are the same meat. A school bus is a safe zone. A school bus is a war zone. A school bus is a concert hall. A school bus is a food court. A school bus is a court of law, all judges, all jury. A school bus is a magic show full of disappearing acts. Saw someone in half. Pick a card, any card. Pass it on to the person next to you. He like you. She like you. K-i-s-s-i . . . s-s-i-p-p-i is only funny on a school bus. A school bus is a stage. A school bus is a stage play. A school bus is a spelling bee. A speaking bee. A get your hand out of my face bee. A your breath smell like sour turnips bee. A you don't even know what a turnip bee is. A maybe not, but I know what a turn up is and your breath smell all the way turnt up bee. A school bus is a bumblebee, buzzing around with a bunch of stingers on the inside of it. Windows for wings that flutter up and down like the windows inside Chinese restaurants and post offices in neighborhoods where school bus is a book of stamps. Passing mail through windows. Notes in the form of candy wrappers telling the street something sweet came by. Notes in the form of sneaky middle fingers. Notes in the form of fingers pointing at the world zooming by. A school bus is a paintbrush painting the world a blurry brushstroke. A school bus is also wet paint. Good for adding an extra coat, but it will dirty you if you lean against it, if you get too comfortable. A school bus is a reclining chair. In the kitchen. Nothing cool about it but makes perfect sense. A school bus is a dirty fridge. A school bus is cheese. A school bus is a ketchup packet with a tiny hole in it. Left on the seat. A plastic fork-knife-spoon. A paper tube around a straw. That straw will puncture the lid on things, make the world drink something with some fizz and fight. Something delightful and uncomfortable. Something that will stain. And cause gas. A school bus is a fast food joint with extra value and no food. Order taken. Take a number. Send a text to the person sitting next to you. There is so much trouble to get into. Have you ever thought about opening the back door? My mother not home till five thirty. I can't. I got dance practice at four. A school bus is a talent show. I got dance practice right now. On this bus. A school bus is a microphone. A beat machine. A recording booth. A school bus is a horn section. A rhythm section. An orchestra pit. A balcony to shot paper ball three-pointers from. A school bus is a basketball court. A football stadium. A soccer field. Sometimes a boxing ring. A school bus is a movie set. Actors, directors, producers, script. Scenes. Settings. Motivations. Action! Cut. Your fake tears look real. These are real tears. But I thought we were making a comedy. A school bus is a misunderstanding. A school bus is a masterpiece that everyone pretends to understand. A school bus is the mountain range behind Mona Lisa. The Sphinx's nose. An unknown wonder of the world. An unknown wonder to Canton Post, who heard bus riders talk about their journeys to and from school. But to Canton, a school bus is also a cannonball. A thing that almost destroyed him. Almost made him motherless.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Difference: Then I think about Ms Broome's assignment. What could I be? What do I wish I could become to change the world? I think about telling Benni I might want to be wet cement to fill the cracks in the sidewalk. Not to hide. But to stop someone else from tripping. Or maybe I'd be an umbrella to keep rain from someone's head. Keep someone dry in a storm. But I don't say none of that to Benni, because I don't think either of those things would change the world. So I tell her I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know how to change the world.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Canton kept thinking about all the things better than dogs. To him. Like ice cream. And skateboards. And maybe”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Stevie looked like he was two seconds from vomiting the bones out of his body, leaving him as nothing but a skin suit lying on the sidewalk. Pia could smell Stevie.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“coffee in the morning and popcorn at night. But she knew Marcus.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Houses that smelled like”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“The triangle knot had been pulled so tight that undoing it was like trying to unravel a rock.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Her parents’ coldness thawed by the one and only TJ, who would show up, crack some jokes, break some ice, and leave some empty potato chip bags next to Jasmine’s bed to add to the thirty he’d left in her locker. Friendship flags.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“The handshake: They grab hands, shake, shake, slide, finger grip, shake, shake. Then point to themselves, double fist bump, throw a peace sign beside each of their right ears, point to each other, slap their individual fingertips together, rub the air as if they were holding a ball—bigger than the one in Kenzi’s bag—then they thumb their chins and shake their heads at each other before ending it with a big hug.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“Got it. Here's the thing. Kenzi here got a big heart. But that big heart happens to be in a small body. Now, I don't know about you, but I would hate for that heart to be broken because that body was knocked around. That would be a tragesty."
"Travesty," Kenzi corrected him.
"Travesty," Simeon repeated. "And so because I love Kenzi, I protect him. I make sure he can maneuver down these busy hallways without worrying about anything. I'm basically his bodyguard.”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

“The way they were -- a braid of brilliance and bravado -- concerned everyone. (25)”
― Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks