I am a super-fan of Jason Reynolds and read pretty much every book he comes out with—whether it’s middle grade or young adult. So it was with great anticipation that I picked up his newest book, Patina, the second in a semi-series about kids who run on a special community track team.
This book was just like any of Reynolds’s other books: sweet, engaging, thought-provoking, and necessary.
Patina (Patty) is a girl who feels she has to take on the responsibility of caring for her family, since her mother lost her legs to diabetes (she doesn’t like that diabetes has the word “die” in it, either), and she runs to get away from all those responsibilities.
Here are three things I enjoyed most about this book:
The character. Patty was an engaging character who reminded me of myself when I was 11, because she took on a lot of responsibility and stepped into the holes with her little sister. She was also a fighter and I loved that about her; she had opinions and grew into herself and those opinions as the book progressed.
2. The track element. I loved reading about track and Patty’s experience on a relay team and especially loved that she had to simultaneously learn how to be part of a team on the track and in her home. She had to learn how to trust that other people would take care of things, and she had to rely on them, too, to do what she needed to do.
3. The frame. Every chapter was framed by a to-do list; this depeened Patty’s personality and also was further evidence of how she changed as she began to grow into herself.
One of my favorite to-do lists was the very first one, which showcases Patty’s view of life at the beginning of the book:
“To do: Everything (forgetting about the race and braiding my sister’s hair.)”
This was followed by the first line, which further showcased Patty’s personality:
“Ain’t no such thing as a false start. Because false means fake, and ain’t no fake starts in track. Either you start or you don’t. Either you run or you don’t. No in-between. Now, there can be a wrong start. That makes more sense to me. Means you just start at the wrong time. Just jump early and break out running with no one there running with you. No competition except for your own brain that swears there’s other people on your heels. But ain’t nobody there. Not for real. Ain’t no chaser. That’s what they really mean when they say false start. A real start at the wrong time.”
Patina was another solid book from Reynolds. I can’t wait for my boys to read it.
*The above is an affiliate link. I only recommend books that I personally enjoy. I actually don’t even talk about the books I don’t enjoy, because I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them. But if you’re ever curious whether I’ve read a book and whether I liked or disliked it, don’t hesitate to ask.
