I picked up Ghost, by Jason Reynolds, in doing research for Creative Writing Club. I’m working on the fiction unit, and looking for a mentor text to have my kids read. In doing this research and preparation, I read the book. This is the first wholly young adult book I’ve read in a while, and I really liked it. Ghost is Castle Crenshaw’s nickname. Castle eats sunflower seeds all the time, a habit he picked up from his dad, who was abusive towards him and his mom. They ran away from his dad, hiding in the back room of a convenience store, and Castle has been running ever since. His dad is in prison now, and Castle is struggling, understandably, to cope.
One day, Castle is hanging out by the track near his house, and he races another kid who is on the track team. The coach notices how fast he is, and recruits Castle for the Defenders track team. As he joins the team and begins training with them, he becomes a better runner and builds a strong relationship with his coach.
In reading this book, I realized that I’ve read very few books that focus on sports, and I’ve never read a YA book that is centered on any kind of athletics. I liked it for that – it was interesting and unique, with a likable main character. I’m still working out the particular details of how I will include it in the Creative Writing Club curriculum. There are parts of it that I think my kids could learn a lot from, with how Reynolds fleshes out Castle’s character and shows the person he is.