As Brave as You, by Jason Reynolds
This book is called As Brave as You. The (awesome) book is by Jason Reynolds. I chose this book because from the moment I picked it out and read the first page, I saw that it had that hilarious and sarcastic aura to it, and I really like those types of books. This book is about Genie (age 11) and Ernie Harris (age 13 about to turn 14), who go to North Hill, Virginia, and they stay with their grandparents for a whole month.
North Hill is a small town in the middle of Virginia. At first, Genie and Ernie are like “Dude, what is this place? Nothing like home, man.” They hate North Hill. Ernie and Genie are from Brooklyn. They miss the shade coming from the tall buildings cooling down the streets. They miss the ice cream truck coming to the sidewalk every day. Something that they really hate in North Hill, is the sunlight. Imagine the sunlight coming from your bedroom window, except 30 times brighter. That’s how bright the sun is there. There are a lot of steep hills, woods and forests in North Hill.
When Ernie and Genie arrived in North Hill, they hung out with their grandparents the first few days and they thought it was boring because there were no other kids their age there. Their grandparents literally live on the ‘North Hill’ of North Hill. They live on the top of an actual hill. There are no other houses on top of the hill.
Over the next few days, they wandered around aimlessly not knowing what to do (except for Ernie, he mostly played with the dog, Samantha, for the majority of the first few days). One day, Genie was looking over the side of the cliff and saw a little tiny row of houses he had never seen before. In front of a red house, he saw a girl around Ernie’s age. They walked down the hill (Genie tumbled) and met the girl.
Her name is Tess. Tess lives down the hill from them. They became friends and Tess took them to the local tavern where they drank the North Hill “special”. It turns out to just be ginger beer. Ginger beer is kind of like ginger ale, I think. They chatted for a bit, went to her house, and after a while Ernie and Genie left. Their grandma was hollering their names from the top of the hill like a mad woman, so they ran back up. For the rest of the vacation, the three of them hung out, got into big pickles and made DIY items.
Finally, Ernie’s 14th birthday comes up. Grandpa Brooke (that’s his first name. Weird, right?) decides that he wants to teach his oldest grandson how to shoot! Grandpa Brooke decides to teach him how to shoot in the forest, so no bullets would do any harm to outsiders. Grandpa Brooke was a sniper in the Vietnam War! He taught some of the best shooters in North Hill how to shoot.
IF YOU DON’T WANT A KIND OF BIG SPOILER, SKIP THIS ENTIRE PIECE OF INFORMATION!!! I’M WARNING YOU!!!
It’s kind of surprising that Brooke is a blind man! Yep, blind, and he still knows how to shoot. Kind of crazy. Grandpa Brooke is also scared of going outside because the last time he was outside, he had just become blind (because of Glaucoma), and he was sitting on the front steps of his house. All of a sudden, a poisonous snake came out of nowhere and bit Brooke. He had to be rushed to the hospital, and ever since then, he was scared to go outside.
NOW YOU CAN READ YOUR HEART OUT!
Brooke, Ernie, Genie, and Crab (a shooter in North Hill who is a good friend of Brooke’s), all go to the woods to teach Ernie how to shoot. Genie isn’t old enough to learn how to shoot, so he just goes to watch Ernie.
Everyone Is oblivious to Ernie’s nervousness, except for Genie. That’s right, Ernie is nervous. The weird thing is, Ernie is never nervous about anything. Nothing at all. As soon as Ernie held the gun in his hands, he started to get really shaky and his hands trembled. Once he pulled the trigger the gun slipped backward from his hands, sending the bullet behind. It didn’t hit anyone, luckily. However, the gun slammed into Ernie’s mouth, knocking out two of his teeth. He had to go to the Emergency room and get braces. This is the kind of pickle they would get into.
About two weeks later, the brothers’ parents come back to get them, and Ernie and Genie can’t deny that they had a good time. Just as they were getting to like North Hill, they had to leave. Sad, right?
I would definitely recommend this book if you like sarcasm and wit. Also if you like some sort of tame adventure.
Again, this book is AWESOME! I would give it ????? out of ????? stars. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!
Did you ever wonder if aliens were real? Did you ever wonder if (or when!) aliens would invade Earth? Now you know. 
