Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
ByPublisher Description
From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander.
Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live.
Armed with his grandfather’s brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him.
National Book Award Finalist * Kirkus Best Books of 2017 * Horn Book Best Books of 2017 * Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2017 * School Library Journal Best Books of 2017 * NAACP Image Awards Youth/Teens Winner * Chicago Public Library Best Books * Boston Globe Best Books of 2017
"This slim novel strikes a strong chord."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This complex tale of family and forgiveness has heart.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
"Strong characterizations and vivid musical scenes add layers to this warm family story.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An appealing, realistic story with frequent elegant turns of phrase." —The Horn Book (starred review)
"Garcia-Williams skillfully finds melody in words.” —Booklist (starred review)
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities84 Reviews
abby
Created 20 days agoDelaney Minteer
Created 2 months agoSinclair Bowman
Created 3 months ago
“Only mild spoilers. This books did something important for me. It was the first book I both started and finished since leaving law school, which stole the joy of reading from me. It was quick and likable and what I needed to show myself I still love to read.
That being said, I’m someone that loves visuals and world building. This books had none. It was entirely driven by the relationships in the book. The relationships between Clayton (the MC) and his mother, his mother and her father, Clayton and his grandfather, and Clayton and his mother to Clayton’s father. Everything Clayton did was about his love for his grandfather and the grief he felt in his passing. Not my favorite story to read, but I can get over it when done well. However, the character development was so shallow it would not hold up to a book centered around relationships.
I also wish some of the scenery was built up better. There’s a subway tunnel the author could have gotten into better, the house where he lived, the school he attended and I can’t picture them at all.
The story was very cute and I enjoyed it somewhat, but it didn’t really do anything well. Then it ended in a rush not even touching on how Clayton works through his grief. He’s just suddenly better, understanding of his mother, and he gets his grandfather’s guitar back. It just didn’t work.
(Also, didn’t know where to put this, I hated the depiction and use of the homeless children that were then just unceremoniously left in a cell never to be heard from again)”Theresa Witham
Created 6 months agowordsandcyphers
Created 6 months agoAbout Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. She is also the author of the NAACP Image Award–winning and National Book Award finalist Clayton Byrd Goes Underground; A Sitting in St. James, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times Book Award winner; Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; Blue Tights; and four ALA Best Books for Young Adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here; Every Time a Rainbow Dies, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book; and Fast Talk on a Slow Track. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.
Other books by Rita Williams-Garcia
Frank Morrison
Frank Morrison is the award-winning illustrator of many books for young readers, including Jazzy Miz Mozetta by Brenda C. Roberts, winner of the Coretta Scott King—John Steptoe Award for New Talent; Katheryn Russell-Brown's Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book; and Gene Barretta's Muhammad Ali. Before becoming a children's book illustrator and fine artist, Morrison toured the globe as a break-dancer. He lives in Georgia with his family. You can visit him online at morrisongraphics.com.
Other books by Frank Morrison
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