SuitabookThe Boy in the Black Suit
Jason Reynolds
- Reading
- Read at a pace that allows pauses after funeral scenes or difficult disclosures. You might agree beforehand that the reader can stop and talk, while keeping the ending open for discussion because its details remain unclear.
- Themes
- Living with bereavement: Matt loses his mother and uses his funeral-home work while trying to manage grief; another young person he meets has also experienced profound loss. The story presents grief as complex and not necessarily resolved quickly, with different ways of coping and the possibility of hope.
- Support and relationships: Matt’s friends treat him differently after his loss, while a new connection and other relationships may help him find joy. Communication and nurturing relationships are presented as constructive possibilities, while characters remain imperfect and learn from mistakes.
- Death and harmful behaviour: The book includes a briefly witnessed murder, other deaths, a past fight, heavy drinking by adults and adults smoking. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Consider checking in before or during reading if bereavement is especially close to home. The book includes a parent’s death, funerals, a brief witnessed shooting, other deaths, drinking, kissing and a homophobic slur.