The Reading Culture

We all inherit scripts about who we’re supposed to be. For boys, they often center on toughness, aggression, and hiding their emotions. Jason Reynolds has spent his life questioning those scripts, carving out space for tenderness and love, honoring friendships that offered freedom, and exploring what masculinity might mean beyond the narrow definitions passed down to us.

We all want to feel in control, mold our lives and experiences, and shape the world into something we can hold. But control is slippery; one moment, it can steady us, the next, it slips away.

Unfairness is a pervasive theme in a lot of fantasy fiction. With battles between good and evil dominating title after title, these tales appear to have a tight grasp on fairness and justice. But for Victoria Aveyard, the world of fantasy has always fallen short on these promises. Even in some of her favorite works, the light may ultimately overcome the darkness, but not every character is given a fair chance to shine.

Some of the most unsettling monsters don’t come from nightmares or ghost stories. They walk among us in daylight, smiling widely and blending in. They can be shaped by our environments, our circumstances, or people’s choices—and in stories, as in life, they challenge us to look closer and see the human before the horror.