**Book Review:** Ghost by Jason Reynolds.
I am not the target audience for this book, which is definitely geared toward 10-13-year-old boys, especially those who may be Black and come from lower economic backgrounds. I will say as a young adult Black woman, who never enjoyed sports fiction as a pre-teen, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
>!Castle Crenshaw is a middle-school aged boy who has gone through more trauma than most. 3 years prior he and his mother fled their home from his father who tried to shoot them, and who now is in prison. Castle often recounts the night he fled with his mother, specifically the feeling of running for his life. He remembers the look on the face of the store owner who hid them that night, like he was seeing a Ghost, a nickname Castle later gives himself.!<
>!Years later Castle is safe with just him and his mother, who works hard to provide for them while studying nursing. Castle has a tendency for getting into a bit of trouble at school, and often has to worry about getting picked on for wearing old or out of fashion clothing and being from a bad neighborhood.!<
>!One day Castle stumbles upon tryouts for a track team and challenges an arrogant kid to a race, and he smokes him. The coach hunts Castle down to join the team, to which Castle declines and says his mother probably would say no. The coach convinces Castle and his mother on one condition, the moment Castle slips up, in any way, he’s kicked off of the team. Castle’s mother agrees and just like that he’s on the team, the only problem, he gets in trouble the next day. !<
Ghost was a wonderful read and can teach young readers about the importance of community, honesty, and facing problems head on. I highly recommend it as a gift, especially for young Black boys who may rarely see characters they can relate to in books.
by True-Author-7904