Review: Rhodes, J. P. (2018). Ghost boys.
LSSL 5385: YALSA Quick Picks
Rhodes, J. P. (2018). Ghost boys. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
A 2019 YALSA “Quick Pick” for reluctant readers and current TLA Lone Star, Ghost Boys brings to middle grades an accessible story about racial tensions and institutional racism in our society. The protagonist, 12 year-old Jerome Rogers, is playing with a toy gun in a park within his inner-city Chicago neighborhood when he is shot dead by a white police officer called to the scene. In the wake of the tragedy, Jerome continues as a ghost, watching over his mourning grandmother, parents, younger sister Kim, and newfound friend Carlos, who had just moved from San Antonio. Jerome also observes how his community reacts, how his school’s dynamics change, and the proceedings of the preliminary hearing to determine whether Officer Moore will be tried for murder. Throughout all of his observations, he is befriended by the one living person who can see him, Sarah--Officer Moore’s daughter--as well as the ghost of Emmett Till. He soon realizes that besides Emmett, there are an endless number of “ghost boys” watching him, “an unnatural alliance--young, but dead.”
Jerome is initially angry and despondent over his own needless killing at such a young age, as he had not particularly enjoyed childhood, and had often looked forward to adulthood. However, with Emmett’s help, he begins to question why the ghost boys haven’t moved on, and eventually understand that it’s because of reasons beyond himself. Jerome’s family is strained under the tensions of their grief, and he is likewise unhappy to see Sarah’s family also troubled and breaking as she realizes that her father was not in the right. Although there are no easy answers regarding societal racism and prejudices, both Jerome and Sarah learn to forgive at a personal level, and she is launched into a lifetime of activism, while he also moves on with a mission of bringing awareness to these injustices, one person at a time.
This novel brings these same awarenesses to a middle grade audience. The story is only 203 pages, with short chapters, realistic dialogue, and high-interest, contemporary issues. Sarah, who is twelve like Jerome, even questions outright why she has been deemed not old enough to learn about the story of Emmett Till specifically, as well as other’s stories, like Tamir Rice, and also why she was previously unaware of the statistics regarding how many unarmed black men and boys die each year. This underscores Rhodes’ message that young people need to be told the truth and not kept in the dark if we want to see true change in society. Likewise, she includes Jerome pondering why inner city, low-socioeconomic schools don’t have nice libraries or librarians, and shows the librarian at Sarah’s school as being the one to guide her toward information her parents had withheld. Sarah comes to the same understanding as Jerome, that every life and every story matters, and that these stories being seen and heard is what will change the world.
Overall this novel highlights a number of issues of institutional racism and societal prejudices and inequalities, while focusing on violence against black men and boys. Rhodes includes the struggles of Officer Moore, his wife and daughter, to show how ignorant some people are to their own misled attitudes and assumptions, leading to poor if not tragic decisions. The arbitrary nature of these choices are reflected in the bullies at the middle school, who simply decide to like or not like others, and Jerome often compares himself and others against the attitudes and actions of these childhood oppressors. We also see characters’ discrimation against Carlos, who is both poor and Hispanic, though his culture is celebrated in the end when his family, along with the Rogers, honor Jerome on the Day of the Dead. When the ghost boys are described, the reader understands through their different appearances and clothing that prejudice and violence have existed for generations, through to current times. The novel raises the question of why some people are consciously or unconsciously afraid of others, and what can be done to change this; neither Sarah or Jerome is particularly settled in the end, and the purpose is clearly to leave the reader unsettled as well, thinking on these matters further, and hopefully wanting to further educate oneself as well as others.
Comments
Post a Comment