Jason Reynolds’ When I Was The Greatest is an interesting book that takes on serious topics such as friendship, morality, loyalty, and family while still keeping a light-hearted tone throughout the story. The book depicts a group of three friends, Ali, Noodles, and Needles. The three sneak into a party and while there, Needles accidentally stabs someone and gets beaten up for it. Ali steps in, beats those guys up, and the three run home. Those same guys look for Ali, but his father resolves the issue, end of story. This story is told from Ali’s view, and Jason Reynolds utilizes that to leave out other characters’ thoughts. He includes a desire to know what and how those characters are thinking & feeling; especially if those characters have been hurt, it makes the reader empathize with all the characters. He drives the story in a way to make it relatable to the reader and make it sound real.

By reading the book from Ali’s perspective, the reader starts to feel for him, and in a way grows attached to his character. There’s a particular scene that depicts this very well. “Maybe I should just go check on Needles to make sure everything was cool, I thought. But I really didn’t want to see Noodles. At all. So, I kept on walking” (Reynolds, 184). The inclusion of this scene and others involving Ali wondering if his friends are alright makes the reader see the reasoning behind Ali’s decisions and his feeling towards his friends and family. But there are also other scenes that do the opposite and make the reader wonder how other characters are feeling.

With the book being in first-person and only knowing Ali’s thoughts and only seeing from his point of view, it makes the reader wonder what other characters are thinking and how they’re seeing situations differently from Ali. “But I was worried about Noodles, even though I tried not to be. But I knew, now he was all alone too. The two people who he always knew would put up with his crap had decided to bow out. I mean, it was his own fault, but still. And I wasn’t sure what kind of guy Noodles was when he was depressed and alone” (Reynolds, 193). This quote shows that although he’s mad at Noodles, Ali still cares for his friend and wants to know if he’s okay. And because it’s from Ali’s view and only his view, the reader can’t help but wonder how the story would be different if it was told through someone else’s view. However, by limiting the reader’s knowledge of other characters’ thoughts and feelings, it makes the reader crave for just that. And along the reading the book, the reader is able to relate with these characters, especially when it comes to Ali because although he’s the main character, he feels like a spectator and it’s shown time and time again in several situations.

Throughout reading the book, you realize that Ali is an outsider looking in. There are several instances where he feels like a third wheel watching and judging Noodles and Needles’ troubled relationship, not knowing what to do to help. “I stood there unable to give him any support I guess he expected me to give. But I appreciated him finally answering the question that I asked him earlier, and could even respect him for coming to grips with the fact that it’s not Needles’ fault he has a syndrome, and that they don’t have a father. I still couldn’t find nothing nice to say to Noodles to make him feel better, though. There was no hug in me- he had emptied me out. I couldn’t do nothing else to try to help him. So I turned around, and left” (Reynolds, 158). This scene with this dialogue perfectly sums up the atmosphere revolving the novel. This story is meant to depict real life issues and struggles that happen to real life people while breaking the tension with some jokes that keep the tone witty and light-hearted. All this is meant to bring out emotion from the reader.

With Ali’s view, Jason Reynolds is able to bring out the most empathy, relatability, and emotion out of the reader. He uses Ali’s view to make want to know more and to be engaged in the story. Along reading the book, the reader gets lots of questions. Why does Noodles act the way he does? Why is Noodles so arrogant? The list goes on. Throughout the book, the reader can grow attached to Ali’s character and is able to understand why he does the things he does and how he sees his actions as. When I Was The Greatest is a great story that finds a balance between a comedic and serious tone. It can be taken for a real story because it sounds exactly like one; the characters sound real and their flaws and their struggles make it feel relatable to anyone reading.