Miles Morales Suspended

Miles Morales: Suspended (2023) is a young-adult novel written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Zeke Peña. The novel contains graphic elements with a few key illustrations blending prose and poetic forms to create a multidimensional approach to storytelling. The novel takes place over two days and features 16-year-old Miles, who is punished for attempting to fight the systemic racism in his elite academy. As he spends the day in suspension, he reflects on The Duality of Identity and begins the process of Reckoning with Family Legacy. Miles’s story exemplifies the importance of Combating the Undercurrents of Systemic Racism that still exist within the education system. At the same time, Miles’s own literary prowess creates a story that expresses the importance of using Language as a Tool for Empowerment.

This guide is based on the 2023 Simon & Schuster edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of racism.

Plot Summary

Sixteen-year-old Miles Morales, who is secretly Spiderman, attends Brooklyn Visions Academy, but he feels torn between his life in Brooklyn and the expectations of his elite school. One day, Miles gets in trouble for breaking his desk in history class when his teacher, Mr. Chamberlain, is openly racist and deliberately mischaracterizes the historical realities of enslavement in the United States by falsely claiming that enslaved Black people didn’t mind their circumstances. 

Later, Miles and his classmates Alicia and Brad break into an anti-discrimination chant in class, and as a result, Miles is given his first in-school suspension. Miles’s troubles are exacerbated by his recent discovery that his cousin Austin (the son of his deceased Uncle Aaron) is in prison; Miles worries about his own place in a family legacy tainted by criminal choices. The narrative reveals that as Spiderman, Miles recently defeated the villain Warden, whose activities included infecting unsuspecting people with racist attitudes. Now, however, Mr. Chamberlain’s actions show Miles that some people already hold racist views of their own accord.

Miles serves his in-school suspension in a classroom under the supervision of Coach Holt. While writing a poem titled “How It Works,” Miles compares the suspension room to a prison. He sits alongside Alicia and Brad, who also joined him in speaking out in class. Also present is Tobin, a quiet library worker whose suspension surprises Miles. For a calculus assignment, Miles writes the poem “Funny Math” and reflects on the patterns in his own life. He thinks about his uncle, Aaron who failed to escape a life of crime, comparing him to his own father, who managed to break away from that lifestyle. Miles also recalls a family trip to Washington, DC to see the Martin Luther King monument, where Miles’s father taught him that fighting darkness requires bringing light, not more darkness.

A fire drill interrupts Miles’s thoughts. Outside, Miles briefly talks to his best friend and roommate, Ganke. When a tree suddenly falls, Miles saves Mrs. Tripley, the librarian, and discovers that termites are responsible for the fallen tree. 

Back in suspension, Miles becomes increasingly aware of his “spider sense,” which alerts him to the presence of what he thinks is just an ant but later turns out to be a termite. Moments later, Miles sees a termite crawl onto Tobin. Despite sensing an inexplicable danger, Miles stays silent because he is already in trouble and does not want to worsen his situation. Miles works on his chemistry assignment, and the worksheet asks him to explain why brown bananas cause green ones to ripen and rot. This topic inspires him to turn the idea into a metaphor about the people in his life. He concludes that being a “brown banana” is not something to be ashamed of, and he questions whether anyone can be blamed for simply being how they are. 

During a short break, Alicia mentions that Tobin was caught stealing books from the library; Tobin claims that he was trying to save them. Suddenly, Tobin blows eraser dust all over Miles, temporarily blocking his vision.

At lunch, Miles reflects on how much of his life he hides from his mother. He exchanges short poems with Alicia and later writes “Harlem for Her,” expressing his admiration for her and revealing his hopes about uniting Harlem and Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Tobin’s behavior grows increasingly odd; Miles sees him speaking with Mr. Chamberlain and eating paper. He also sees insects moving in and out of Tobin’s face. Despite his growing unease, Miles still says nothing.

Miles’s English assignment requires him to read The Metamorphosis and reflect on a time when he woke up as someone new. He immediately thinks of his past experience of becoming Spiderman, but he also realizes that both his elite school and his growing feelings for Alicia have changed his outlook on life. 

When his phone vibrates on the coach’s desk, Miles secretly uses his spiderwebs to transfer it into his pocket; he thinks that Ganke might be sending him a message. The teacher changes her mind about the Metamorphosis assignment and has Miles works with Jamaica Kincaid’s story, Girl, instead. Miles must erase some of the story’s words to create a poem of his own. He creates one that reflects how he lives by others’ expectations. 

Suddenly as Tobin nervously taps his pencil, Miles’s desk collapses, spilling termites that only he can see. Miles escapes to the bathroom to read Ganke’s text, which states that Tobin was caught eating books. Miles now knows that Tobin is responsible for the incidents with the termites, although he is not sure how. In the room, he sees Tobin’s own erasure poem, which consists only of the words “ter might.”

Miles begins Mr. Chamberlain’s history assignment, which asks him how people can read and write their way to freedom. He writes a poem titled “A Reckoning,” rejecting the idea of being trapped in someone else’s web and directly challenging Mr. Chamberlain’s racist ideology. When Tobin hands Miles his paper, the words morph into the word “Savage” and then into “Spider.” This phenomenon reveals that Tobin knows Miles’s secret identity as Spiderman and sees him as less than human. 

In the bathroom, Tobin, who has been poisoned by the Warden’s influence, transforms into a termite monster and attacks Miles, claiming that Miles stands in the way of order. A fierce battle follows through the walls of the school, which ends when Miles uses his Venom Blast to defeat Tobin, then envelops him in a web to catch the termites and free him from the Warden’s power. Tobin’s form collapses into pieces.

Shaken, Miles returns to class; he is not sure whether the danger is truly over, but he is relieved to see that Tobin is seemingly unharmed. However, he is confused to find that Tobin and Mr. Chamberlain are still talking in private, and he wonders if the issue is really gone at all. 

The day ends on a hopeful note when Miles and Alicia discover that the entire library is infested with termites and has to be fumigated. Afterward, Alicia tells Miles that she supports his idea to run a book drive for incarcerated youths and gives him books to start it. When she gives him a kiss on his cheek, the long, painful day feels worthwhile.