Ernie’s new friend Tess thankfully lets Genie use her computer so he can get some answers to his many questions, though some things he’ll have to figure out on his own. Without the Internet, Genie writes down a list of all his questions that he needs to Google when he gets a chance. I could so relate to eleven-year-old Genie and his worrying ways. Genie and his older brother Ernie get to know their grandparents and learn about rural life while their parents take a vacation alone to reconnect. Jason Reynolds’ middle-grade debut As Brave as You features two Brooklyn siblings and their summer in Virginia. Dumbfounded by Ernie's reluctance, Genie is left to wonder, are bravery and becoming a man only about proving something, or is it just as important to own up to what you won't do? Genie thinks that is AWESOME until he realizes Ernie has no interest in learning how to shoot. It's his 14th birthday, and Grandpop says to become a man you have to learn how to shoot a gun. Then Ernie lets him down in the bravery department. And when he finds the secret room that Grandpop is always disappearing into - a room so full of songbirds and plants that it's almost as if it's been pulled inside out - he begins to wonder if his grandfather is really so brave after all.

Genie thinks Grandpop must be the bravest guy he's ever known, but he starts to notice that his grandfather never leaves the house - as in NEVER.

How does he match his clothes? Know where to walk? Cook with a gas stove? Pour a glass of sweet tea without spilling it? Thunderstruck, and being a curious kid, Genie peppers Grandpop with questions about how he covers it so well (besides wearing way cool Ray-Bans). The first is that he and his big brother, Ernie, are leaving Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents all the way in Virginia - in the COUNTRY! The second surprise comes when Genie figures out that their grandfather is blind. When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires - literally - in this piercing middle grade novel by the winner of the Coretta Scott King - Johnson Steptoe Award.

Genres: Young Adult, Social Themes, Emotions & Feelings, Family, Multigenerational, Boys & MenĪlso by this author: The Boy in the Black Suit Published by Simon & Schuster Audio on May 3rd 2016

As brave as you are