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Powerful, thought-provoking, and heartfelt, this debut YA novel by author Autumn Allen is a gripping look at what it takes (and takes and takes) for two Black students to succeed in prestigious academic institutions in America.
In All You Have To Do, two Black young men attend prestigious schools nearly thirty years apart, and yet both navigate similar forms of insidious racism.
In April 1968, in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Kevin joins a protest that shuts down his Ivy League campus...
In September 1995, amidst controversy over the Million Man March, Gibran challenges the "See No Color" hypocrisy of his prestigious New England prep school...
As the two students, whose lives overlap in powerful ways, risk losing the opportunities their parents worked hard to provide, they move closer to discovering who they want to be instead of accepting as fact who society and family tell them they are.
"Via perceptive prose and immersive chapters that alternate between 1968 and 1995, Allen highlights two Black teens' parallel struggles for racial justice, 27 years apart...Through Gibran and Kevin's individual exploits of equality and accountability, fully fleshed-out characters, and skillfully cultivated narrative tension, Allen creates a layered debut that is timely and resonant." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Allen constructs a vivid narrative that balances both timelines seamlessly and pointedly highlights often overlooked history. The crisp, succinct prose and fully realized characters make this a shining example of how principled research in lock step with exceptional writing creates an unforgettable reading experience. An electric debut: a must-read for all." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"All You Have To Do is a tutorial in time. We don't simply travel through time here; we travel with time through the bending and breaking of power and tradition. Autumn Allen has created a book that counts its readers as its most important characters while examining how we fight for dignity in different, but very similar generations. Incredible art-making!" —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir, winner of the Andrew Carnegie medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
"All You Had To Do beautifully immerses the reader in the stories of two young Black student activists and their shared personal struggles that transcend decades. It is a stunning debut novel." —Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning, winner of the National Book Award
"Autumn Allen has offered a rare and refreshing glimpse into Black boyhood in elite schools on the precipice of two vital moments in American history. All You Have To Do is a profound and empathetic statement on the costs of striving for excellence against all odds. Allen is a writer to watch!" —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street, a National Book Award Finalist
This information about All You Have To Do was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Autumn Allen teaches literature and writing workshops for young people and edits picture books as a senior editor at Barefoot Books. She teaches children's literature at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and holds graduate degrees in education, children's literature and writing for children from Harvard and Simmons Universities. All You Have to Do is her debut novel. Autumn grew up in Boston and lives in Massachusetts with her family.
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