Ghost (Track book 1)

By: Jason Reynolds

Scott County Library hardcover 181 pages

Published: 2016

Genre: YA realistic fiction

My oh my! It's been too long since I read a book by Mr. Reynolds. He is an amazing author! I had gotten a free paperback copy of Patina last summer, but I knew it was book two in a series and I don't like to read books out of order. So I finally just requested this from the library so I could move on with the book sitting on my shelf!

Because this is written for middle school readers, has short chapters and can be considered a "quick read," it's easy to forget the power in his stories.

Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw vividly recalls the night his father pulled a gun on him and his mother. Since then, it has just been the two of them - mom works hard to keep them housed and fed. Ghost has more anger in him than he can deal with and always regrets causing his mom disappointment when the anger comes out.

I loved this book. I even cried!

Page 9: "But I always had this feeling that if I could just get on, I'd be the next LeBron. But I never wanted to be the next . . . whoever the most famous runner is. I never even thought about it."

This made me smile, but also think about how our culture creates heroes out of certain types of people. Nobody knows the name of the firefighter who has saved the most lives . . . but we all know who Kanye West is. (Ghost does go on to figure out that Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive.)

Page 31: "Then I was asleep for ten hours. I'm grumpy when I don't get at least eight. Some people would say I'm grumpy even when I do, but they don't know nothing . . . "

This also made me smile. Sleep is so valuable! I don't often get 8-10 hours of it, but I definitely suffer when I don't get enough.

Page 65: "I could feel the altercation-ness creeping up in my chest like a new kind of lightning. The black was turning red again, and I really wasn't trying to be a repeat offender of the bully beat-down."

Reading this helps me think about students who always seem to be in trouble . . . perhaps they're trying really hard to control their feelings and actions. Perhaps they're dealing with something that would tip me over the edge. How do we teach kids the best way to process deep feelings rather than resorting to violence? (I also like the inventiveness of words like "altercation-ness" - since Ghost has been warned to avoid any more altercations.)

Page 95: ". . . and cases of Worcestershire sauce (war-sess-ter-shyer . . . worst-tester-shier . . . gotta be a world record holder for hardest word) and moved them to the stockroom."

Ghost loves reading the Guinness Book of World Records, so that theme comes up a lot. I completely agree on how hard it is to properly say that word! I call it "W sauce" and Louie laughs at me.

Page 149: ". . . I'd planned on telling her that Coach got them for me, and then hope and pray that she never thanked him. When I think about it now, that was the stupidest idea ever."

I was thankful that Coach figured out what Ghost had done. I was so glad Ghost had not been able to compound the problem with more lying and hiding. The confession in the athletic store was hard, but so very necessary for him as a character. I did love that he was actually trying to protect his mom and not compound her stress - either in terms of financial or parenting. He did some wrong things for understandable reasons.

Page 179: "Sunny cheering, an orange slice in his mouth, the peel like a bright mouthpiece."

That brought back images from childhood! How fun to wear an orange peel as an artificial smile.

The book ended without us knowing the outcome of the race! I don't know if I like that or not. Did Ghost win? Lu? One of the other runners? It's a pretty brilliant way to close the story. This would be a wonderful book club book. I'm ready to read book two!