Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Publication Date: Apr 17, 2018
List Price: $16.99
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
Classification: Fiction
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
ISBN13: 9780316262286
Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group
A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.
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 that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.
Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions.
Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.
More books like Ghost Boys may be found by selecting the categories below:
- Juvenile Fiction / Ghost Stories
- Juvenile Fiction / People & Places / United States / African American & Black
- Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Prejudice & Racism
- Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Violence
Tell us what do you think about Ghost Boys.