#4 - Twenty-four Seconds from Now... by Jason Reynolds

   Just The Basics

    Published: October 8, 2024

    Genre: Realistic Fiction, Romance 

    Pages: 239

    Acknowledgements: 2025 Coretta Scott King (CSK) Author Award

        "But this ain't no movie. This is real life. And the beginning of a special regular story where two people meet and help each other make something beautiful, at the risk of making a mess".

    "Twenty-four Seconds" is a teenaged romance story told in reverse, the story of Neon and his long-term girlfriend Aria starting twenty-four seconds before they lose their virginity together. Jason Reynolds constructs their story, starting in an intense moment of doubt as Neon debates whether or not he is ready for this moment with Aria. Then, tracing their romance back to its starting point two years earlier on the day of Neon's grandfather's funeral. This story focuses on the couples family and friends, as the people in Neon and Aria's life shape and nurture their romance, on the edge of graduating high school and going to college. While some stories about romance between Black characters might focus on stereotype or hardship, "Twenty-four Seconds" focuses on what Reynolds calls a "regular love story", where the struggles of adulthood and budding sexuality are more than enough to push the narrative forward. The families in this novel are whole, with each mother and father sharing words of wisdom with their kids, both supporting them as well as cautioning them on the risks of sex. Surrounded by a unique cast of friends of varying sexualities, Neon and Aria are shown as kids before all else, both learning themselves that they are people over sex objects, even as they learn what romance in adulthood looks like. This novel is a close look at the characters first intimate moment and lovingly enshrines Neon and Aria's coupling by showing the context and familial situation that lead these two teenagers to be young adults first, giving their trepidations and nervousness a deep emotional impact. 

    Why "Twenty-four Seconds"?

    "Twenty-four Seconds" is the 2025 winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Young Adult Literature, and as I perused the list of winners, this title stood out to me. The topic of first sexual encounters seemed important for adolescents audiences, and is something I have not seen explored in YA literature without being wrapped in trauma of some sort. I was reading "Unboxing of a Black Girl: at the time and was acutely aware of the adultification and over sexualization Black youth face, and wanted to try a novel that took another angle. I was surprised how wholesome Reynolds story was, and even more tickled in the Pulp-Fiction-style reverse narrative structure (a perfect fit for protagonist Neon who has aspirations to attend films school after high school). This novel was simple, but still compelling in its approach to telling a first-time love story between two Black teenagers. The cast of characters in this relatively short story are all likable right away, the novel centering all types of relationships-- and all types of love-- thematically at the center. 

     Teaching Considerations

     Obviously, this book is about sex, and might be an awkward read-aloud with the wrong group of students. This novel would be best suited for individual reading, as the topics addressed are personal, and even awkward on purpose, to help young readers understand the complications of dealing with first loves, first sexual experiences, and talking about sex with one's family. That being said, "Twenty-four Seconds" would be a great novel for high schoolers in diverse school communities. This book shows that being Black doesn't have to look one way, all Black characters mold-breaking in their individuality and interests. This book would be a nice fit in a unit about sexuality, but also units focusing on coming-of-age novels, Neon and Aria experiencing a right of passage not often addressed in units of this kind. 

`      Possible (less awkward) Sections to Read Aloud  

1.  Chapter 4 (Pages 77-83)

• "I still don't know if Dodie knows anything about sex. If he's ever even had it. But he loves to talk about it, and he especially loves to sing about it. Scream about it" (pg. 83). 

1. Chapter 7 (Pages 205-214)

• "Yeah, well, one of these days your daddy's probably gon' tell you some stupid shit about sowing your oats. His daddy taught him that, and his daddy before that."

    Overall Thoughts

        I have never read anything like "Twenty-four Seconds", both because I am not the type to read romances, but also because this is the type of book I would have shied away from as a kid. Talking about sex is hard for kids, and especially hard in a classroom setting. This novel was filled with so much optimism, optimism aimed directly at what it means to be a Black teen in a world that sexualizes and adultifies these kids in so many ways. I think while some students might shy away from a romance novel, especially with one with this structure and theme, however those who are brave enough to explore this novel will find a story full of true, humanizing, love. Its clear that Reynolds wanted to write a novel to go against other White-centered teen romances, packaging the tropes of the genre in a way that lets Black boys in particular allow themselves to be nervous-- not letting themselves grow up too fast. This novel is as interesting in its structure as it is loving and pure. 

    Future Explorations

    This novel makes me want to explore the genre of YA romance more. While love stories have a connotation of being pulpy or overly smutty, this novel proved to me that romance can be a powerful genre to communicate a message. This novel made me think a lot about how media shaped how kids (especially Black kids) are exposed to sex in media. This novel takes such time to humanize both Neon and Aria, both kids never being pressured into sex, all deciding when it was the right time for their love to move to a physical place. In the future, I want to read more YA romance and see if more of these works can reach the bar set by "Twenty-four Seconds", in terms of both the treatment of sex in these works, as well as the overall treatment of the characters who are involved.