Narrated by an African-American youth who copes along with his family amid the early months of COVID-19, the work is set to sparse, first-person poetic prose and stylistic illustrations, and is divided into three sections called "Breaths".

Published in January 2022 by Atheneum/Simon & Schuster's Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Ain't Burned All the Bright was well-acclaimed and became a Caldecott Honoree in 2023.

A male African-American youth (who serves as the narrator) and his family cope with the United States' societal crises during the early months of the COVID-19 era.

During that time, Griffin was sketching out imagery in Moleskine notebooks depicting the early months of COVID-19, and referred to the Reynolds work as "an 'oxygen mask' that was helping him break free and create when he felt blocked."

Reynolds and Griffin settled with the publisher's art director Michael McCartney on the jacket's final design: The cover used one of the book's illustrations, "a hand holding a vibrant, orange flame"; the title written several times over (at McCartney's request); and the author's and illustrator's names in lowercase with a taped-on effect.

[4] Writing for The Washington Post, Nate Powell said: "Through art and words, Ain't Burned All the Bright looks at how we measure time — the book's stretched-out [text] echoes the reality of waiting indefinitely for justice, for progress, for a fulfillment of hollow promises.

"[2] According to The Horn Book's Nicholl Denise Montgomery, the narrating youth "[tries] to grapple the confusion and fear of the double pandemic (COVID-19 and systemic racism) he is facing.

"[9] The School Library Journal gave it similar praise,[10] adding that "[it] is permeated with so much comfort and hope as it leaves readers with the solace that togetherness brings.

[12] Between November 2022 and early 2023, it appeared on various best-of-2022 lists in The Washington Post,[13] SLJ,[14] and The Horn Book,[15] while the Bulletin awarded it a 2022 Blue Ribbon in the Fiction category.