[4] After Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson on August 9, 2014, Reynolds and Kiely began writing All American Boys as a way to address police brutality and racial profiling.

Quinn, written by Brendan Kiely, is a white boy in the same grade and the same age as Rashad,[4] who is a family friend to the officer, and as such is a witness to the incident.

[1] According to professor Luke Rodesiler's suggested lesson plan concerning All American Boys, the novel provides educators with many opportunities to discuss current social and political issues including police violence, racism, athletes as activists, and protesting.

[5] High school teachers Jody Pollock and Tashema Spence-Davis provide a model to incorporate All American Boys into a curriculum to increase students’ understanding of socio-political issues.

"[19] The review went on: “the scenario that Reynolds and Kiely depict has become a recurrent feature of news reports, and a book that lets readers think it through outside of the roiling emotions of a real-life event is both welcome and necessary.

"[19] In her starred review in School Library Journal, Ashleigh Williams said that All American Boys is able to effectively illustrate the aftermath of police brutality through the conflicting emotions, which affect entire communities.

[20] The book was banned, challenged, and/or restricted "for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be 'too much of a sensitive matter right now.