1/2/2024 0 Comments Patina track series![]() ![]() Patina recognizes, and it celebrates.Ĭompassionate and wonderful. A newbie to the track team, Patina 'Patty' Jones must learn to rely on her family and teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons. Women who, far too often, go uncelebrated and unrecognized. Practical women who find themselves carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Track: Patina By Jason Reynolds 4.0 (1) Write a review Format Paperback Book 4.49 LIST PRICE: 5.99 YOU SAVE: 1. They are our mothers and our sisters our partners and our friends. Ultimately what makes this story so compelling is that we’ve all had a Patina (or multiple Patinas) in our lives. She runs for many reasonsto escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she’s been sent to since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom. (The novel’s main conflict has to do with Patina’s reluctance to share her responsibilities and accept help from other people… while at the same time training for a relay race, which is all about relying and trusting your fellow runners.) 12,049 ratings1,692 reviews Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash. It’s a symbolism that in Reynolds’ clever and poetic hands goes the distance. This is only the second entry in this series, but it’s clear that one of the central themes in the Track books is about recognizing and dealing with trauma, using the act of running as a metaphor (the act of which, as Reynolds has previously stated, is your body dealing with physical trauma). Leave everything, all the hurting stuff, the unregular stuff that seemed so regular to me, in the dust. A way to… I guess, sometimes even shut myself up. And so, like Castle Crenshaw before her, she uses running as an outlet and escape. It’s a weight that is slowly but surely suffocating our protagonist. Unable to suitably take care of her daughters, the girl’s mother arranges for them to move in with her doting brother-in-law and his wife, which eases the burden some, but Patina remains convinced that the load is hers to carry alone. So she assumes responsibilities of the household, making sure her mother is taken care of and especially looking after her baby sister, Maddy. After the sudden death of her father, and after her mother’s increasingly degenerating diabetes takes away her legs, Patina “Patty” Jones, all of twelve, feels it’s up to her to pick up the pieces of their upended life. A newbie to the track team, Patina must learn to rely on her teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons in this follow-up to. Reynolds’ dedication reads, “For those who’ve been passed the baton too young.” Patina is the story of a young Black girl forced to grow up entirely too soon. It’s a subdued tone that belies deeper, heavier themes, though. Patina, in comparison, is a much quieter story, dealing as it does with the many routines and responsibilities of its title character. Ghost is an explosive story, literally beginning and ending with shots going off. ![]() So it’s nothing but a shame that it took me so long to get to its follow-up, Patina, because I ended up loving and appreciating this story even more. I had read Ghost, the first entry in the Track series by personal fave Jason Reynolds a couple of years ago, and it more or less blew me away. ![]()
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