Ghost Boys

Paperback, 240 pages

Published Sept. 10, 2019 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

ISBN:
978-0-316-26226-2
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5 stars (2 reviews)

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation unleashed on his family and community. This gripping story is about how children, families--and one boy--grow to understand American blackness.

4 editions

2022 #FReadom read 14/20

5 stars

In my 2022 #FReadom reading list of books removed or threatened in Texas libraries and schools, my 14th read was the deeply affecting Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. jewellparkerrhodes.com/children/books/ghost-boys/

While Ghost Boys is a very personal story about a police shooting of a young teen with a toy gun, Rhodes deftly avoids villianizing an individual - instead allowing the ghost boys to lift us readers to a different plane, to survey bigger, societal issues.