Ghost by Jason Reynolds (208 pages) is the story of the seventh-grade year of Castle (Ghost) Crenshaw. In Castle’s voice, we walk alongside him throughout his everyday life and a series of odd yet very interesting events. In a town that is somehow big and yet seems small at the same time. Castle and his mom are constantly living in poverty, living in a neighborhood that is considered the “slums”. While in the meantime his father, a raging alcoholic, is serving 10 years in prison for attempted murder. When he tried out for the track team his life had just gotten flipped upside down. Castle’s short temper will constantly interfere with his everyday life and play a big role in his decisions. Castle has bad issues with his temper and throughout the book, it is displayed.  But this book isn’t just about a kid who happens to make it on the track team; it’s about how we should be treating everybody kindly and fairly no matter what background. 

One of the most interesting characters is Mr. Charles. Some readers may think that Mr. Charles was just a guy who owned a store, but as we learn more about him he turns out to be more than that. He is described by Castle as a white version of James Brown, and he is hard of hearing also. He is always yelling in his store and people are always yelling at him because he is practically deaf. He plays a big role in the story despite those issues; he shows how we should be kind to all and he is a responsible model in Castle’s life. 

Another interesting character is Coach Brody. He could be looked at like he is just a regular old track coach or others may say he was kind of a godfather to Castle. He is bold, responsible, understanding, and caring. He always finds some way to make someone laugh; yet, he also knew when it was time to be serious. Coach kind of played the role of a male figure in Castle’s life; he made sure that Castle got his work done and also made sure that Castle stayed out of trouble. Whether you think he is just a Coach or not, he played one of the biggest roles in Castle’s life.

Throughout the story, the readers of the book are given some insight into the heart of Coach Brody as revealed in the following from the book, “You can't run away from who you are, but what you can do is run toward who you want to be.”  This sentence sums up Castle’s journey as he matures into a nice young man.  Coach offers these words to Castle after his altercations at school. These words will encourage and inspire Castle, making him want to do better and stay out of trouble. Castle struggled with his emotions and protecting himself and ended up feeling guilty about the way he is and wanted to change himself. Then Coach said that because Coach aw that potential in Castle and knew he could be better than that. 

Finally, this book was a 4-star recommended book! Even though the fictional story doesn’t have a setting or time, it can be applied to our lives. We shouldn’t run from who we are but instead run and climb to our dreams and who we want to be. Readers will also enjoy it because it lets you climb into the shoes of Castle and understand what it’s like.