Jason Reynolds is turning his talents to a new audience.
The acclaimed author of books for young readers will publish his first novel for adults in 2022, publisher Scribner said in a news release.
The novel, titled The Mouthless God and Jesus Number Two, follows “a boy named Mm who is born without a mouth and comes of age in a carnival town, where the power of storytelling can equally sustain or harm,” Scribner said.
Reynolds is one of the country’s best-known authors of books for children and young adults. Titles such as All American Boys, Ghost, and Long Way Down are mainstays of school reading lists, and he’s currently serving as the ambassador for young people’s literature for the Library of Congress.
His latest book, Stamped, co-written with Ibram X. Kendi, is a young readers’ version of Kendi’s bestselling Stamped From the Beginning.
“I’m honored to tell the story of this boy, Mm, who has lived in my imagination for years, and has also been in the back row of every school auditorium I’ve visited,” Reynolds said of his adult novel. “He feels like a friend, a family member, and I’m grateful to Scribner for helping me introduce him to the world.”
Scribner publisher Nan Graham said she was “thrilled” to be publishing Reynolds’ novel for adults.
“Jason Reynolds is one of the most extraordinary storytellers writing today, a magician of language and a force for good in the reading community,” Graham said.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
