Book Review: Ghost

 

 

Ghost

by Jason Reynolds

"Best Fiction for YA"

Summary

Castle Cranshaw, also known as Ghost, is a seventh grade boy dealing with the haunting memory of the night his father came home, drunk, and began to fight with his mom. Typical for his family, but this time was different when his dad opened fire on them as they escaped the front door and ran to Mr. Charles' store down the road. Since that day, Mr. Charles has been a friend to Ghost and he has a special sense of respect for him.

Ghost knows how to run, and he remembers running from the sound of the bullet. Not class president, but not a juvenile delinquent, Ghost tends to get into altercations almost daily. When Ghost was out and about one day, he came upon a track meet, only two days in. Ghost mirrors another runner, Sunny, and begins to sprint next to him when Coach Brody blows the whistle. Coach Brody, the Defenders city track team coach, is described as short, bald man with a chipped tooth on a turtle-like face. When Coach sees Castle run, he knows he has to be on the team. After a bit of arguing, Castle agrees to let Coach drive him home so that Coach can ask Castle's mom himself.

Castle and his mother live in a poor neighborhood, Glass Manor, that everyone tends to stay away from. Castle sleeps on the living room floor with his mom next to him on the couch because the thought of returning to their old rooms hurts too much. His mom is working full time as a nurse while attending online classes for her degree.

Coach gets the okay from mom, and Castle is warned that no more altercations can occur under any circumstances, or he will be kicked off the team. Castle got into a fight that day at school because he was being picked on by a bully, Brandon Simmons. Castle got the rest of the day off instead of a longer suspension, and had Coach fake being his uncle to come get him.

After Castle realized his shoes weren't the greatest for running, he took a pair of scissors and cut his hightop shoes in half. He liked them at first, until he got picked on at school again for looking the way he did. Castle ran out of school, skipping social studies class, and meandered over to the store, Everything Sports. He found a pair of track shoes he liked, Tia helped him find the size he needed, then he came up with the plan to steal the shoes. He made it out the door safely and no one came after him.

Castle slowly gets to know the other newbies on the team, but doesn't really get the full idea until the initiation dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Sunny is a rich kid from the other side of the neighborhood. Sunny's mother died during child birth when Sunny was born. His mother loved running and had one goal: to win a marathon, and this is why Sunny's father worked him so hard as a kid because he wanted him to follow in his mom's footsteps. Lu was born albino and always wanted a brother to see what he would look like if he wasn't born that way. Unfortunately, Lu's mother can't have kids any more, and it is hinted at that his father is the dope dealer at the basketball court near Castle's neighborhood who supplies the junkies. Patty is the only girl and is adopted along with her little sister, Madison. Patty knows her mom and visits her often, but her mom had to give them up because she lost her legs to diabetes. You learn that each newbie has a reason to run for the team. Coach Otis Brody ran for the Olympics and received a gold medal.

When it was time for the Defenders to receive their uniforms, everyone got the electric blue uniform with gold letters, except for Ghost. When Coach went to Everything Sports to pick up the uniforms, a picture of Ghost was plastered on the front window and labeled "shoplifter". He gave Ghost that photo instead of a uniform. Ghost was required to sit on the bench for the entire practice and was later taken home by Coach.

When they got to Ghost's house, Coach and Castle realize they are more alike than they realize. Coach's father was a drug addict who broke Coach's tooth in a fight and later sold his gold medal for money to get high from. Coach's father died on the steps of their house, a few over from Castle's, years ago. When the two bonded, Castle realized Coach isn't trying to replace his dad, but to keep him safe and out of trouble like someone once did for Coach.

Coach took Castle back to the store to apologize and pay for the shoes. Castle was awarded with a uniform and the privilege to run on the first track meet of the year that Saturday. Surprisingly, both Lu and Ghost got to run the 100 meter dash, the star spectacle of the meet and the race that Usain Bolt ran.

During set up, Ghost realized his enemy, Brandon Simmons, was also a runner. Lu gives Ghost a pep talk and gets him hyped up for the race. The "gun" goes off and Ghost runs for his life again.

Book Trailer/Interviews

While there was nothing on his website, I did find a few other trailers of interest.
National Book Awards 2016 Read Aloud: here.
All words in the trailer: here.
Pictures assigned to the trailer: here.

Themes

Bullying, Abuse, Alcoholism, Violent and Nonviolent Bullying, Standing Up For Yourself, Mentors, and Family.

Similar Themed Books

Restart by Gordon Korman, Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and Kings of the Court by Alison Hughes.

Other Books by Jason Reynolds

In the Ghost series, there are three more books. For middle grades (grades five and up) there is one book and for young adults (grades seven and up) there are seven books.

Teaching Ideas

Talk about the difference between running for your life and running from you life. Introduce quotes from The Lion King movie where Rafiki talks to Simba. Each quote is about Simba and his memories of his father, Mufasa. How do these quotes connect to the story?

1. "He lives in you."

Why is Ghost not originally interested in running track?

What makes Ghost decide to run track?

Why did he steal the shoes? What were the consequences?

2. "The past can hurt. But the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it."

Ghost says that he has "a lot of scream inside", but what does that really mean?

3. "The question is: who are you?"

Why does Castle prefer his nickname instead of his actual name?

Which fits him best: Ghost or Castle?