Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

Look Both Ways begins and ends with a reference to a school bus flying from the sky. Throughout his novel, Reynolds seamlessly weaves in references to this motif. A school bus flying from the sky represents any pivotal moment that affects the individual and leads them down a path of change. For some, the school bus comes in the form of boogers; for others, the school bus is trauma. For each, this motif demonstrates the commonality of this human experience. Much of the novel revolves around Latimer Middle School. Initially, the reference to a school bus seems to apply to this setting. The school bus’s act of flying from the sky seems to connote the imaginative nature of middle schoolers who dwell in the transition between childhood and adulthood. It is not until the end of the novel that Reynolds unveils the origin of the motif. Canton Post details his mother’s accident after getting hit by a school bus that seemed to be flying from the sky. For him, the school bus represents his most terrifying moment and the subsequent anxiety that overwhelms him. In this last chapter, Reynolds lists the various and paradoxical meanings of the school bus, which vary according to the individual.