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. 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. Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. Only the living can make the world better. Genres: Activism, African American, Bullying, RacismĪn instant New York Times bestseller An instant IndieBound bestseller The #1 Kids' Indie Next Pick A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes. In fact, as I was reading Ghost Boys last month, I found myself trying to recall a quote by an esteemed Black woman scholar only two words remained in my memory-“agonistic engagement”-so I searched my hard drive and up popped the first chapter of my dissertation, “’If Rigor Is Our Dream’: The Re-Membering of Violence by Black Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance.” Continue reading. Graduate school feels like a lifetime ago and yet the scholars I discovered during that time have shaped the way I view the world. I stepped away from academia several years ago and have no regrets, but your training doesn’t leave you and it’s been energizing to find current scholarship that aligns with my kid lit writer’s goals. Lately I’ve been reflecting on the debt I owe so many Black women scholars.

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes