Running for His Life and Not from It

"Running ain't nothing I ever had to practice. It's just something I knew how to do," explains Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw from Jason Reynolds's National Book Award finalist Ghost (2016) when he comes across a track practice on his meandering run home from school one afternoon. A seventh grader, Ghost also has "a lot of scream in him" that has resulted in many altercations at school that have put him on a path to delinquency.

This scream implanted itself into Ghost three years before on that terrifying night when he and his mother dashed barefoot out of their house and hid in the storage room of Mr. Charles's neighborhood convenient store. "That was the night I learned how to run," he adds. Except, so far, he's been running in circles.

That all changes, however, when Ghost crashes a track practice because he takes a dislike to one of the athletes's "cocky swagger." Ghost wants a showdown to prove that this cocky kid "wasn't all that" and that he, who "ain't never had a running lesson in [his] whole life, could keep up with him." And he does. Impressed, the coach invites Ghost to join his elite track team, The Defenders. Ghost does, but not without some conflict--all of which help him grow in his mindset, habits, and ultimately force him to stop running from his past.

Jason Reynolds captures the fears, longings, and eventual triumph of a traumatized and maturing young man coming to peace with his past as he begins to envision a more hopeful and purposeful future. Reynolds does a masterful job of creating nuanced and well-developed core of supporting characters. Three of them, the "newbies" on Ghost's team who also face their own personal challenges, will be featured in their own follow-up stories.

I was hooked from the first page because Ghost's voice rings so true and authentic: he speaks candidly and conversationally in a way that quickly brought to mind Bud Caldwell, a character whose story I read nearly twenty years ago but whose voice still resonates. In the last three paragraphs of this story, Reynolds displays his narrative prowess, creating as captivating an ending as the beginning.

Ghost is a wonderful story that highlights that people, especially traumatized people, need a supportive and generous community to help them achieve beyond their wildest expectations. This book is, therefore, highly recommended. I can't wait for the rest of the books in this series!

A CBR9 review.