This was different than what I’m used to reading. I like the way it was written by pages very different.

Thank you to Netgalley and Norton Young Readers for my e-arc. These are all my own opinions.

This is a heartbreaking and beautifully written story. I am a big fan of novels in verse, and Ogle is one of the best at the craft in my opinion. He is able to capture his character's voices so well, and really make you care for them in a short amount of time. This story had me crying on a plane because it deals with some heavy themes. Gun violence is something that far too many young people face in this country, but Ogle handles this topic with extreme care. Ogle writes with such a clear point of view, and with such accessible language. Nothing is sugarcoated or hidden behind flowery language, which makes you connect with the main characters even more. It is a raw, emotional look at the realities of poverty, violence, and racism in the United States. I would highly recommend this novel to people of all ages, but I would urge anyone to check trigger warnings before doing so.

This book was beautiful and heartbreaking and I loved reading every moment of it. The feelings were so real and raw and I felt every single emotion. This was done so well and I was openly weeping by the end of it! I can’t wait for more from this author, he has such a masterful storytelling style!

Another incredible read from Rex Ogle, this story follows Benny and his best friend Lawson through their final year of high school as they navigate loyalty, violence, poverty and drugs. It's incredibly raw and real in the way all of Ogle's novels are and contains beautiful prose.

Long ago in the 1990s, there were PSAs, after school specials, and very special episodes of your favorite sitcom. There are those of us geriatric millennials that still remember the trauma inducing moments in which we saw DJ Tanner confront Kimmy Gibbler about getting drunk and attempting to drive home or the Family Matters episode that saw Laura get robbed at gun point by a gang. Some of the most upsetting were the "Just Say No" era cartoons that had characters from Jem and Holograms becoming addicted to pills, hallucinating, and nearly falling off of their roof or "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue" showing Bus Bunny coming to the aid of Michael as he is lured in by an anthropomorphic marijuana cloud. All this to say Rex Ogle's When We Ride has a very strong 90s PSA/very special episode feel to it. That might sound like a bad thing, but in all honestly, given the audience that this book is intended for, I think it's kind of perfect.

Diego "Benny" Benevides is our narrator in Ogle's novel in verse. He and his neighbor/best friend/'brother' are desperate to escape the poverty and desolation of the town that they are currently residing in. Each boy approaches their escape differently. Benny works hard in school and does everything in his power to earn a college scholarship and graduate at the top of his class. He is constantly sharing the plots of the books he reads with Lawson as they ride around town in Benny's car. Lawson attempts to free himself from his circumstances through dealing drugs. Lawson's need for Benny's transportation around town pulls Benny deeper into Lawson's world as it spins further out of control and heads toward an inevitably violent end.

Both Benny and Lawson are well-developed, complex characters. Both grow up without a father in their lives and both have mothers that struggle to take care of them. Benny's mom is an alcoholic that struggles to remain sober, while Lawson's mom seems to have simply accepted her disease and relies on her son's ill-gotten money to pay for groceries, bills, and rent. Topics like addiction, privilege, and bias are touched upon throughout the text, but most of the story revolves around Benny's struggle between his loyalty to Lawson and his knowledge that he was complicit in Lawson's dealing.

Ogle builds tension throughout the text and keeps the reader guessing as to how things will eventually come to a head. Though it may be a shock to many, especially younger readers, those of us that grew up in the 80s and 90s might be able to guess where this story is going pretty early on. That said, it's still gripping and impactful and serves as a valuable reminder for a younger audience that actions have consequences and intentions mean nothing in the real world.

This was written in a poetry form that was very interesting. I like how the book revolved around taking rides to different places. D I e g o lived with a single mother who was an alcoholic and kept pushing her son to do better in life. His best friend l AWS o.N also came from a broken family but he dealt and drugs. He had a hard time in school. He always asked his friend to drive him around to different drug areas.His friend do not like to do this Sometimes it was really scary in this book.Because he would walk in oh my god. You try to help us find out.But it just did not work.So he broke up with Hm. I think the break up.
Was because he was pulled over by a police officer and this really scared him because he was drinking. You could see how 1 person is going for in. Life like the other person's sliding backwards.. The ending is not very pleasant, but it shows you.What can happen when things go crazy.

Ogle's novels in verse will appeal to the most reluctant of readers. While "poetry" might be a hard sell to some boys, a novel about what it means to be a "ride or die" is much easier to pitch. When We Ride shows us what it means to have few choices, a chosen family, and to be the hope of "getting out," when getting out is tougher than we know.

First and foremost as always thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. This was an incredibly good read! The story was beautifully written and the characters were flushed out really well! Loved this! Definitely worth the read!

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc. It was a great and quick read. Really enjoyed it and I would recommend reading it.

This book was just amazing. Lawson and Benny reminded me of Dallas Winston and Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders and coming from me, that’s a HIGH compliment. I felt so attached to both boys. I loved how the book showed the ups and downs of teenage friendship, especially between people going down different paths. I knew from the beginning that the ending was going to break my heart and even still, I was NOT PREPARED. I highly recommend this book for fans of complex friendships and novels in verse.
CW: alcoholism, drug use, gun violence, underage drinking, violence

Thank you to NetGalley and Norton Young Readers for the digital readers copy!

***ARC from NetGalley***
Benny and Lawson are more than friends, they are brothers.

This story centers on Diego Miguel Benevides, or Benny, as everyone refers to him. He is the only child of a single, alcoholic mother who works as a housekeeper and wants only the best for her son. He's a good kid, good grades, stays out of trouble. That cannot be said for his best friend Lawson,who has a disabled mother, no father, and no future. Lawson is the opposite of Benny. Lawson doesn't take school seriously, deals drugs to pay the rent.

The story is written in a form that reminds me of an epic poem. Short lines of prose, interspersed with tire tracks on the pages. Benny's prized possession is his car, Maria Carmen. She is the third character in this story.

The story takes place over the course of their senior year of high school and includes all of the stress, tension, and excitement of knowing they will soon be adults and everything is going to change. Or will it?

Beautifully written and sadly, resonates with the reality of high school kids with no options.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton Company for the eARC.

I love books in verse and When We Ride by Rex Ogle was no different. Benny was such an easy character to like. Lawson was an easy character to distrust. The story unfolded easily and in a way that offered hope and took it away over and over. I could have used a bit more at the end, but, still really enjoyed this.

This was my first by this author - but definitely will not be my last. What a powerful novel in verse! We follow Diego and his neighbor, best friend, brother Lawson. Diego is straight laced and on his way out of his hometown and off to college - if he can make it through senior year. Lawson, also a senior, has taken a completely different path - one that involves selling drugs to get by. Diego, known as Benny to Lawson, fights an internal battle between being there and helping Lawson out - how can he not when Lawson has no one to count on? - and keeping himself out of trouble and alive. Rex Ogle does a fantastic job of bringing these characters, and their struggles, to life on the page.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc and opportunity to read this one.

Just finished When We Ride. Mind blown. First, it’s a novel in verse for older, teen boys, featuring a Latino! Finally. Thank goodness. I keep encouraging our Latino students to grow up and write books. This is an easy read, and one that anyone can understand. Because of all its drug use and grappling with addiction, I’m just not sure how I want to use it in class. But, I will have it in my classroom library, 100%. I was totally enthralled, the words weave together so that you are there with Lawson and Benny in the dark streets. And I do mean dark, because this book is. It’s also real. Surprising. I’ll be thinking about it for awhile.

My starred review in School Library Journal:
Gr 9 Up
Diego “Benny” Benevides and his best friend, Lawson, have considered each other brothers ever since a bullying incident as elementary students. Now seniors in high school, both boys are struggling to help their single mothers by following vastly different paths. Benny’s alcoholic mom tells him “Don’t be like me. Be better.” He is very studious, working for low wages at a diner, striving to go to college and make her proud. She takes the bus to work so she can give her son “Maria Carmen,” her 1980 Cadillac DeVille, to help him meet those goals. Meanwhile, Lawson is not interested in school and makes his money selling weed. When he first asks Benny for rides, it seems more benign but selling spirals quickly into heavier drugs. Lawson cannot say no to his controlling and violent dealer, Trent. Benny’s gripping introspective conflict between his own future and loyalty to Lawson is palpable. The novel in verse format is perfect for this character-driven, issue-oriented storyline mash-up, as readers delve deep into the battle playing out in the protagonist’s mind. Ogle is exceptionally skillful at inviting readers into the emotional intensity of each decision Benny makes, with addiction and poverty laid raw using spare, carefully selected free verse. This pairs well with similarly themed verse novels where decision-making is paramount, like Jason Reynolds’s Long Way Down and Ellen Hopkins’s classic “Crank” series. VERDICT: A gritty and nuanced glimpse into the underbelly of poverty, addiction, and gun violence.
Reviewed by Lisa Krok , Mar 07, 2025

When We Ride by Rex Ogle is a young adult novel in verse that tells the story of best friends Diego and Lawson. Diego and Lawson are neighbors who found each other at a young age. They have very different futures but are deeply connected through the unfortunate circumstances of poverty, fatherlessness, and addiction. Diego is quiet, studious, and hard-working. He has plans to go to college and doesn't want anything to stand in his way. Lawson lives across the street from Diego and is a drug dealer with no real future ahead of him. Lawson relies on Diego for rides - to school but also on drug runs. Diego struggles to balance his sense of responsibility to his best friend, whom he considers a brother, and his future. Not only is Lawson putting Diego's college plans in jeopardy, but he's also putting his life in danger.

I was already a big Rex Ogle fan before reading this book, but now he's an auto-buy author for me. Although I didn't like the ending of this book, the other 99% was fantastic.

Huge thanks to Norton Young Readers and NetGalley for a review copy of When We Ride.

I'd like to start my review with a big thank you to the author, Rex Ogle, Norton Young Readers, and NetGalley for the privilege of being able to read an advance copy of When We Ride. I will share my review to Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble upon release. When We Ride is a read-in-a-sitting kind of novel, where you're pulled quickly into the lives of the characters and exposed to some of their deepest secrets, fears, and dreams. The novel is told in verse, with a very visual kind of creativity that feels like it fits very well with the story being told.

The complexities of friendship, loyalty, and the harsh realities of growing up in a challenging environment are told through the story of Diego “Benny” Benevides, a high school senior determined to escape his crumbling neighborhood through his own hard work and education. He has expectations of himself that go far beyond what he can find in his hometown, and his single mother supports his dreams, even giving him her car to help him stay on track. But like most teenagers, Benny's decision-making abilities are strained when it comes to resisting social pressures. Lawson, Benny's best friend, threatens to derail everything when he turns to dealing to bring in money. Benny balances his difficult life as a teenager with a busboy job, doing his best to get through school and support his family in some way. Through a confluence of external pressures, and particularly, because of Lawson's pleadings, Benny is pulled closer into the dangerous world of crime and is forced to reckon with his own future and who he wants to be; Lawson's wingman in violence or prison, or someone who is able to drag themselves out of the mud into the sunlight. When the pressures on Benny mount, he makes a decision that will change their friendship forever, and put both of their lives on a trajectory for an emotional ending.

Ogle’s use of verse is lovely, and allowed me as a reader to connect more deeply with Benny’s vulnerable internal struggles and the emotional weight of his choices without anything else obscuring that vision. In the beginning, the language used captures the repetitive grind of Benny’s life—balancing school, work, and the ever-present pull of Lawson’s chaos. As the novel continues, and his stress mounts, he tends to focus on sensory details that really remind us of how jarring it is for him to reconcile the self he wants to be with the self he is becoming. The novel doesn’t shy away from tough topics, including drug use, gang violence, and the consequences of enabling the bad behavior of those we love. But instead of moralizing and presenting Lawson or Benny as bad people with bad motivations, Ogle is able to give us nuanced characters caught in impossible situations, much like real life.

The relationship between Benny and Lawson is the heart of the story. Their friendship was forged in childhood and tested by the pressures of their tough environment, making their story feel authentic and heartbreaking. Lawson’s consistent descent into further criminal activity and Benny’s desperate attempts to pull him out of it highlight the tragic reality of how systemic poverty and the limited opportunities provided by the American system can trap even the most well-intentioned individuals. Throughout the story, we are constantly reminded of the ability to break free from the vicious cycle by Benny’s mother, who serves as a powerful counterpoint and embodies the strength and determination needed. The ending proves that despite every best effort by the individual, the system itself will still have its victims.

When We Ride is a book that will stay with me. t’s a story about the price of loyalty and friendship, the weight of responsibility, and the difficult choices that define us when we live in a world of external pressures we cannot control. This book is a must-read for fans of contemporary YA that tackles real-world issues with honesty. If you liked The Hate U Give, Long Way Down, The Poet X, or Ellen Hopkins' books, I think you'd enjoy this one! It's a quick read and packs a powerful punch. I'd recommend for anyone above age 14 or so, considering the tougher topics/drug use

Major Tropes & Themes:
- friendship/loyalty
- coming-of-age/identity
- poverty, systemic inequality, instability
- gang activity/drug dealing
- family
- resilience and hope

4/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy.

When We Ride by Rex Ogle presents a gripping and thought-provoking narrative centered around Diego Benevides, a teenager struggling to break free from the constraints of his troubled environment. Raised by his single mother, who encourages him to focus on school and escape their crumbling neighborhood, Diego's future hinges on his academic success. His mother even gives him her car to ensure he has the means to stay on track. However, despite his good intentions, Diego finds himself drawn into the dangerous world around him when his best friend, Lawson, asks for help. At first, Diego agrees to give Lawson rides without fully understanding the risks involved, believing it's harmless as long as he isn’t directly involved in dealing.

As the story progresses, the stakes heighten when Lawson's involvement in drug dealing escalates, leading to a powerful conflict between the two friends. Diego is forced to confront the reality of the dangerous choices Lawson is making and the way those choices begin to affect his own future. Ogle masterfully explores the tension between loyalty to a friend and the desire to protect one's future, with Diego caught in the middle. As Lawson’s actions spiral further into risk, Diego finds his life at stake, struggling to balance his dreams with the dangerous new reality they both inhabit.

When We Ride is a tense, emotional, and ultimately poignant exploration of friendship, loyalty, and the high cost of ambition. The novel captures the way our relationships and the environments we grow up in can shape, challenge, and sometimes derail our futures. Ogle’s portrayal of Diego’s internal struggle and his battle to hold onto his dreams in the face of increasing danger offers a powerful commentary on the pressures facing young people in difficult circumstances. This book is a gripping reminder of the precariousness of choices and the way even the best intentions can lead to unforeseen consequences.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This made me want to scream at every turn-in frustration, in excitement, and in heartbreak. I think we all have had that friend or family member that couldn’t get it together but we felt responsible for them, making Lawson a deeply relatable character. Benny had the whole world on his shoulders no matter which direction he went in and I couldn’t have been more frustrated for him.