Jason Reynolds on Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert hosted Jason Reynolds on The Late Show the other night. And let me tell you, his interview was only a few minutes long at most and it was awesome. If you’ve never had the chance to hear Jason Reynolds speak, definitely take a few minutes to listen to the interview.

Colbert asked Reynolds, “Do you write children’s books?” This may seem like a funny question to ask a children’s book author. But, as Colbert pointed out Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, never saw himself as a children’s book author. But this is what Reynolds had to say, “Me personally, I think this is a task of intention. This isn’t something I did and then they placed me here. This is something I continuously intentionally do every single day. Because who deserves our intention more than children?”

What I love about Reynolds is that he takes his job as a children’s author seriously. He wasn’t a reader growing up. In fact, it’s no secret that he didn’t read an entire novel until he was 17. But when he finally connected with literature it opened a whole new world for him. He’s now the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His focus is on bringing books that speak to kids into schools around the country. He writes books to show kids that their story matters. That they take up space in this world and that there are people who notice and care.

I had the privilege of hearing Reynolds speak at the ALA conference in 2019 as the opening keynote address. He wove a story through his childhood circling back around to the beginning in a way that only the best storytellers can do. The entire room was completely enthralled.

Along with talking about his work as an author, he also spoke on what it means to be a kid in today’s world, how he’s managed anxiety throughout his life, and his new book Stuntboy, in the Meantime. He also spoke on having multiple books on the most banned books list this year and what that means to the kids who need them.

Jason Reynolds’ an empowering force to have in the children’s literature world and it just so happens that kids absolutely love his work too!