Jason Reynolds turns to adult fiction with 'Father, Father,' a road novel about 2 brothers

NEW YORK (AP) — After more than a decade as one of the country's leading children's authors, Jason Reynolds has written a book for adults.

Scribner announced Wednesday that Reynolds' “Father, Father” will be published in June. Reynolds sets his novel around a cross-country road trip during which two brothers share contrasting feelings and memories about their father, who has recently died.

Reynolds said he sees “Father, Father” as “an intimate tale about journeying toward each other while also confronting the complicated truth that human beings can be both awful and graceful in the same life.”

“It’s what I’ve tried to show in my previous works for children — flawed adults who sometimes struggle to deploy the right kind of love, except now, they aren’t the secondary focus,” he added in a statement issued through his publisher. “In this story, the adults are front and center.”

Reynolds, 42, is known for such prize-winning novels as “All American Boys,” “Look Both Ways” and “Long Way Down.” In 2020, the Library of Congress named him National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a position he held through 2022.

“Father, Father” continues a long tradition of prominent children's authors writing for older audiences, from J.K. Rowling to Judy Blume to John Green, whose “Hollywood, Ending” came out this fall.