Justin A. Reynolds

It's the End of the World and I'm In My Bathing Suit

A hilarious new middle-grade from Justin A. Reynoldsthat asks: What happens when five unsupervised kids face the apocalypseunder outrageously silly circumstances?Twelve-year-old Eddie Gordon Holloway has concocted his most geniusplan ever to avoid chores . . . especially the dreaded L-A-U-N-D-R-Y.If he can wears every item of clothing in his wardrobe,summer will be halfway over before he has to do laundry!On the day of the highly anticipated Beach Bash, Eddie ends upgrounded until he can get his clothes clean. While left home aloneto do his laundry, the power goes out mid-cycle. With his firstload of laundry soaking wet and the rest still filthy, Eddie setsout to explore the seemingly empty neighborhood in just his swimtrunks and flip-flops.As he meets up with other neighborhood kids to find out what happened,they realize that their families aren't coming back anytimesoon.And as night falls, the crew realizes they aren't justthe only people left in the neighborhood - they might be the onlypeople left . . . anywhere. Funny, voice-driven middle-grade storyFeatures an all-Black "ensemble cast" of characters,written by a Black American authorPerfect for fans of Escape The Rooms by Stephen andAnita Mangan, The Summer I Robbed a Bank by David O'Dohertyand The Day the Screens Went Blank by Danny Wallace Reviews"A doomsday scenario is rendered surprisingly funny here . . .and so readers are given freedom to enjoy [Eddie's] brilliant quips,his quirky friends, and this highly unusual day without dwellingon what comes after this trange, golden afternoon when kidsran the neighborhood." - BCCB"With Reynolds' signature witticisms and jump-off-the-page jokes....[thisis] equal parts friendship story, coming of age, andcomedic apocalypse, this will be a great red for reluctant readersand kids looking to take their summers into their own hands." -Booklist"Matter-of-fact scenes with Eddie taking his ADHD medicine andtalking through school and home pressures with Trey, their school'sall-star athlete, offer insightful representations of Black boysbonding." - Kirkus