Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Heavy look at black kids killed due to bigotry.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Twelve-year-old Jerome, the pride of a poor, hardworking black family in Chicago, is bullied at school. His new friend Carlos scares the bullies away with a toy gun and then gives the toy to Jerome, who's soon out in the street playing with his new toy --- which he knows very well his parents wouldn't allow, but he loves the newfound sense of power. Someone calls in a police report of a gun-brandishing man in the street, and Jerome gets shot dead by a white police officer. As his family and the officer's family fall apart in grief and guilt, Jerome finds himself among centuries' worth of GHOST BOYS, including Emmett Till (lynched in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14), who tell their stories of racist violence. And he forms an uneasy friendship with Sarah, the daughter of the man who shot him, as she's the only living person who can see him.
Is It Any Good?
Jewell Parker Rhodes and her newly killed 12-year-old narrator tell the ripped-from-the-headlines story of another black kid with a toy gun shot dead by a white cop. It's a harrowing, heavy, and sometimes heavy-handed tale with no winners. As the story unfolds and the Ghost Boys gather, we learn a lot about atrocities against other black kids, including Emmett Till, whose murder plays a role in the story. The book presents a lot of serious issues, a lot of complexity, a note of hope, but no quick solutions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the racial prejudice shown in Ghost Boys. Where does it comes from? Where does it lead? And how can we get past it? How do other stories you know on this theme deal with the issue?
What do you think of having the story's narrator be a dead person who meets other kids in the afterlife and can be seen by one living kid? Why do you think the author made those choices?
Do you think it is a school's responsibility to keep kids physically safe? If kids are not safe at school due to bullies, what should they and their parents do?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Contemporary Fiction
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , History , School ( Middle School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : April 17, 2018
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 9 - 12
- Number of pages : 214
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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