Ghost Boys
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 has 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 toward 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.
Bio
Jewell Parker Rhodes is a professor in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts and an affiliate of the Department of English at Arizona State University.
Praise for this book
Rhodes captures the all-too-real pain of racial injustice and provides an important window for readers who are just beginning to explore the ideas of privilege and implicit bias.
Michele Shaw School Library Journal
This was one of my most anticipated 2018 books, and I was not disappointed. A must read.
Angie Thomas #1 New York Times bestselling author of "The Hate U Give"
Date published
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ISBN
978-0316262286 Genres
College or unit