Lu by Jason Reynolds
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The final book in the series, Lu follows the last of the newbies on the Defenders track team. He’s an albino and oh-so-slick. In the previous books, Lu made the decision to learn the hurdles and this novel picks up after his first somewhat humiliating experience at a meet where he wiped out and ended up disqualified. Hurdles are tough and not because they are high, they aren’t really. It’s because they look massive when you are sprinting up to them. More than any other high school level track event, the hurdles are a head game.

Lu is all about the head game. He psychs himself up every day and he talks a big game because this is a novel about growing up different. Albinism is incredibly uncommon and it comes with a lot of other complications. Lu’s whole life is one of being visibly different which means dealing with an awful lot of jokes from friends and bullies both. I can’t imagine what it’s like having your difference literally on display like that. What’s incredible is the people around Lu. All the side characters in Lu’s family and on the team are well developed and rounded. I was particularly impressed by the development in coach Otis.

This is an excellent finale to the Track Series.


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