Like her sister, 10 year-old Three lets me know when she reads a book she likes and wants to recommend, but she shares fewer books – although the number may increase as she sees me reading her picks. One of her recent and rare recommendations was Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Three found the book through our library’s audiobook app, where we get titles to listen to for free. If you haven’t tried this, it’s a great option if your library has it. Ours uses the app Overdrive, and you do everything at home through your device by logging in with your library card number. We regularly connect a bluetooth speaker to a device and the kids fall asleep listening to audiobooks almost every night (I always wonder if they go back to see how the books end or if they just catch snatches).

While the Littles fall asleep to the stories quickly, if I don’t watch out, Three will stay up late into the night listening. I wanted to read the print version of this book, so I checked it out of the library.

Ghost Boys is a heartbreaking story of a 12-year-old Black boy who is shot by a white police officer in Chicago. While the story is fictional, many of the events in it are chillingly familiar, and the book mentions a number of real Black boys and young men who died in similar circumstances.

The book remains age-appropriate for its intended middle grade audience, but doesn’t shy away from difficult issues like race, discrimination, and social inequities. It also introduces the reader to death and different ways people deal with grief and begin the healing process, even in the absence of justice.

The book ends with a series of discussion questions, and the author’s bio mentions she has also written books for adults. I’m curious what her adult lit is like, and I may read more of her work. I appreciate Rhodes’ ability to distill the tough content in the book in a digestible way.

This is a good book for middle school age kids and adults alike. It invites the reader to sit with the discomfort of the racial injustice that still exists in our country. Reading it with your kids will give you an opportunity to explore these ideas with them. Then, continue with a dialog that has hopefully already begun about how we can honor those who have died unjustly and find ways to move our society toward another way.