RONAN - Young adult author and Library of Congress ambassador Jason Reynolds visited Ronan Middle School Wednesday as a stop on his ‘GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story’ tour.
Reynolds is the author of All American Boys, Long Way Down, and Marvel’s Miles Morales Spiderman.
Speaking to the student body, Reynolds said students would read and write more if the stories reflected their own experiences.
“Your story is the most important story that will ever exist,” Reynolds said. “No one ever tells us that. Everybody tells us we gotta read these books, but really, I’m always interested in what book already exists inside of you.”
Ronan Middle School was chosen from more than 200 programs for a stop on the tour. Reynolds signed more than 900 copies of his latest book, giving each to a student in attendance.
Reynolds told the students that people their age need to learn how to express themselves in order to be creative, not violent.
“We live our lives every day running away from who we actually are,” Reynolds said. “Imagine if our teachers, or this platform, or school system were like, ‘look, your story is an important enough story even if you just tell it to yourself’.”
