Ghost by Jason Reynolds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished the most spectacular middle-grade fiction, GHOST by Jason Reynolds, nominated as a National Book Award finalist. It is a book about running, but running as in the metaphor of "running away from." GHOST, whose real name is Castle Crenshaw, ends up on the track team, since the coach spots an extraordinary talent in the young boy who faces challenges in school and in life. With his Dad in jail, he harbors a frightening secret, which manifests itself in unbridled anger. His coach recognizes Ghost's rage, but also something else-desire-to shed his secrets, to belong, to be freed up from the "baggage" which haunts him. Told in gritty, authentic diction, GHOST promises to cut to the chase with a voice at once sparking and always wholly real!


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