An Instant New York Times Bestseller
A Publisher's Weekly Best Seller

Ghost Boys

7

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.

Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions.

Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

Read the author's thoughts on Ghost Boys being banned

Frequently Asked Questions about Ghost Boys

The book cover for Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes, which has a red cover with the title "Ghost Boys", traffic lights, and the top of a young African American boy's head with his eyes looking up towards the sky.

Our Lives Matter PSA

This is a PSA video by The Just Us Project that you can watch with your students after reading Ghost Boys.

a sticker of a red traffic light hanging by a street light

Honors & Accolades
for Ghost Boys

Trinity Schools Book Award

Winner, Grades 6-8

Winner, Nebraska Golden Sower Award (Grades 7-8)

Young Readers Choice Nominee (6-8 category)

MASL Readers Awards Final Nominee: Truman (Grades 6-8)

Young Hoosier Book Award

10 Middle Grade Books Teens Want You To Read Right Now

2020, Book Riot

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award

Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers

2019, YALSA

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

2019, CBC

E. B. White Read-Aloud Middle Reader Award

Golden Kite Hour

2019, SCBWI

Walter Award, Younger Readers Category

2019, WNDB

Sakura Medal Award Nominee

Brilliant Book Award Shortlist

One Book, One Philadelphia Middle Grade Selection

Charlotte Huck Honor Award for Outstanding Children’s Fiction

Longlist, CILIP Carnegie Medal

2019, CILIP

Texas Lone Star Reading List

Longlist, United Kingdom Literary Association Book Awards

Jane Addams Children’s Book Award

Texas Blue Bonnet List

Book Taco 2018-19 Recommended List

2018-2019, Book Taco

Read Across America Selection

2018-2019, NEA

Middle Grade Selection

#1 Kids’ Indie Next Pick

Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2018

The Best Children’s Books Of 2018, According To Librarians

The Nerdies: Middle Grade Fiction

NAIBA Book of the Year Winner

2018, NAIBA

Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist: Best Middle Grade & Children’s Books

2018, Goodreads

Best Children’s Books of the Year So Far: Ages 9 to 12

2018, Amazon

School Library Journal, starred review

“Deftly woven and poignantly told, this a story about society, biases both conscious and unconscious, and trying to right the wrongs of the world. Rhodes captures the all-too- real pain of racial injustice and provides an important window for readers who are just beginning to explore the ideas of privilege and implicit bias.”

Nikki Grimes, bestselling and award-winning author of Garvey’s Choice and One Last Word

Ghost Boys gently walks readers through the minefield of young black boys who have been killed due to racism, dating back to the murder of Emmett Till. By exploring the fear that is at the core of these murders, Jewell Parker Rhodes suggests ways the living can crack that fear and, eventually, end this epidemic of death.”

Booklist, starred review

“Rhodes beautifully weaves together the fictional and the historical… in this gripping and all-too-necessary novel about police brutality, injustice, and the power of bearing witness to the stories of those who are gone.”

School Library Connection, starred review

“This is an excellent novel that delves into the timely topic of racism and its effects on all individuals of all walks of life in the United States.”

Chicago Tribune

“Rhodes has achieved something remarkable here: a kid’s-eye-view of violence and racism that balances innocence and outrage, wrenching loss and hard-won hope.”

Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Rhodes writes in short, poetic chapters that offer graphic depictions of avoidable tragedies; her hope for a better world packs a powerful punch, delivering a call to action to speak out against prejudice and erase harmful misconceptions.”

Gary Schmidt, two-time Newbery Honor-Winning Author

“The voice of Ghost Boys is nothing less than prophetic: it rings out in its plot lines, in its characters, in its tones, in its images. And here is what that voice says: ‘Bear witness.’ Parker Rhodes undergirds the urgency of that call with the sweetness of grace-filled hope, so that, dear reader, you will come away from this tale, made larger–which, of course, is what truly great stories do.”