Review for "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds

And it felt good to feel like one of the teammates. Like I was there--really, really there--as me, but without as much scream inside.


Rating: 5 stars


I was SO pleasantly surprised by this one! Going into it, I only knew it was a contemporary and it was about track. I don't usually love contemporaries, and I don't usually love books about sports. But this one worked for me. There was just the right amount of light-heartedness and meaningful passion. For the most part, the story is just really fun.



We get to know Ghost, who is just a middle schooler trying things out and trying to forget his past. One day, Ghost stumbles upon a private track team practice and the park. After challenging the fastest sprinter on the team and giving him a RUN for his money, Ghost is recruited for a sport that he never even considered joining. Now Ghost is faced with a million new possibilities: a sport to love, a team to connect with, and a reason to stay out of trouble. But Ghost will also face situations that challenge his integrity and his heart.


Because for something to make you feel tough, you gotta be a little scared of it at first. Then you gotta beat it.

Ghost is an amazing character. He is relatable and has really come to understand the world around him, but he's not too mature for his age. His fascination with world records is spot on for a seventh grader, and it honestly made me a little nostalgic. That theme throughout the book, including the chapter titles, the constant references to world records, and Mr. Charles's encouragement that one day Ghost will be "one of the greatests", really worked for me. Ghost is a very compelling yet believable middle school age character. This might stem for the way that Ghost is told in the first person POV, which I feel like A) isn't done very often; middle grade perspectives are more often third person POV and B) is hard to get right, because authors either make them too focused and mature or annoyingly young. This was not the case with this one; Ghost was spot-on as a meaningful middle grade protagonist.

The character contrasts are another great part of this book. Ghost is contrasted with Coach, and Lu is contrasted with Brandon, etc... Overall, it kind of shows a "what could've been" angle to each character. Ghost and Brandon could've been friends if they'd been on a team together, or Lu and Ghost could've hated each other if they hadn't.

Don't ever let someone call your life, your dreams, little.

I really don't have anything negative to say about the book. The book probably would've been "just fine" had it not been for the emotional punch to the gut you get in the last couple chapters. Everything that's been building up from the first chapter, with what we know about Ghost's past, plus all he goes through to be accepted on the team, just really packs a punch in Chapter 9. I loved the parts where I smiled, the parts where I cried, and as I said, I was really pleasantly surprised with this one.

I am currently on the wait list for the next three books in the series, which to my knowledge focus on the other three team newbies: Patty, Sunny, and Lu. It's a unique idea to make the different books from different perspectives, and I'm really excited for them.