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• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes was published in 2018 and is set in the USA. It tells the story of Jerome, a young, unarmed Black boy who is shot dead by a white police officer.

• The plot then unravels as Jerome tries to understand what happened to him and the impact on his family, friends and community.

• Rhodes was inspired by historical events when she wrote this book. Specifically, the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 and Tamir Rice in 2014. Both were young Black boys.

Did you know?

Rhodes hopes that Ghost Boys "prompts meaningful change for all youth". She wants to empower her readers to:

make the world better.

Watch the video below to learn about the plot, characters and themes in Ghost Boys.

Ghost Boys begins when Jerome, a 12-year-old Black boy, has just died after being shot in the back by a white police officer.

The chapters alternate between ‘Alive’ and ‘Dead’ as Jerome tries to process what has happened to him and why.

Alive

Jerome lived with his parents, sister and grandma in a deprived area of Chicago. He was being bullied at school and was frequently beaten up.

One day, Jerome was asked to look after a new student called Carlos. The bullies found them at lunchtime and started punching and kicking Carlos in his head and stomach. Jerome managed to distract them, then Carlos pulled out a toy gun. The bullies ran away, thinking it was a real gun.

Carlos thanked Jerome for helping him by lending him the toy gun. Jerome didn’t want to take it, but accepted it to please Carlos.

That evening, Jerome was playing outside with the toy gun. Someone made an anonymous call to the emergency services reporting a man in the park with a toy gun. The operator reported this to the police, but did not use the word “toy”.

Jerome saw a police car heading towards him and he turned to run away. Officer Moore shot Jerome twice in the back. He didn’t try to give Jerome first aid or call an ambulance.

Dead

As a ghost, Jerome is able to see the impact of his death on his family and friends. They can’t see him, although his grandma can sense his presence.

Jerome meets the ghost of a 14-year-old boy called Emmett Till. Emmett shows Jerome that he is one of many ghost boys who have been killed because of racism and prejudice. He learns that the ghost boys are there to communicate with the living to change the world for the better.

A judge decides that there is not enough evidence to charge Officer Moore with murder.

Sarah Moore is also able to see Jerome. She is angry and confused about why her father shot him. Eventually, she confronts her father, who has become depressed. He agrees to help her create a website to document the lives of other young Black boys who have been killed, so that they are never forgotten.

Jerome manages to communicate with Carlos and helps him to find the courage to admit that the toy gun was his.

On 1 November, Jerome and Carlos’ families celebrate the Day of the Dead and All Saint’s Day. They remember Jerome’s life. Jerome and Emmett watch over them and hope for a future where no one is persecuted for the colour of their skin.

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Jerome Rogers
Jerome is a 12-year-old Black American boy who lives in Chicago.

He is kind and loving, likes to play video games and dreams of being successful when he grows up. Jerome has a difficult time at school and gets bullied by some other children.

At the start of the novel, he is killed by a white police officer.

Kim
Kim is Jerome’s little sister. She is popular at school and loves reading. Jerome walks with her to school every day. After Jerome's death, she becomes good friends with Carlos.

Ma
Ma is Jerome’s mother. She is a receptionist and works hard to provide for her family. She worries about her children because the area they live in is not safe. She wants them to have a good education and go to college.

Pop
Pop is Jerome’s father. He is a sanitation worker and starts work at 4am every morning. He also worries about his children’s safety and checks on them every morning before work while they're sleeping.

Grandma
Grandma is Jerome’s grandmother. She worries the most about Jerome and Kim and has bad dreams. She believes in an afterlife and can sense Jerome’s presence, even after his death.

Carlos
Carlos is Jerome’s new school friend. He has just moved to Chicago from San Antonio, Texas, because his dad has a new job, which should mean more money for their family. He gives Jerome the toy gun to thank him for protecting him from the bullies.

Officer Moore
Officer Moore is the white police officer who shoots and kills Jerome. He has won awards for bravery and saving lives, but doesn’t help Jerome when he is dying.

Despite Jerome running away, Officer Moore swears under oath that he was "in fear for his life" when he shot Jerome. He becomes depressed after the court hearing, even though his case is not taken to trial for murder.

He agrees to help his daughter build a website so that the stories of other Black people who have been killed can be heard.

Sarah Moore
Sarah is Officer Moore’s daughter. She can see and hear Jerome after his death. She helps him communicate and share his story.

Sarah is confused and angry about her father’s actions. She sets up a website to ensure that the stories of all Black children who have been killed as a result of racism are heard.

Emmett Till
The character of Emmett Till is based on a real person.

Emmett was a 14-year-old Black American boy who was murdered by white men in Mississippi in 1955. Like Jerome, he had not committed a crime.

Emmett's murder brought attention to the racist violence and injustice in America and was a key moment in the American civil rights movement.

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Jewell Parker Rhodes' inspiration

Ghost Boys is a fictional text. However, many of the events draw parallels with historical events.

Rhodes says that the murder of Tamir Rice in Ohio in 2014 was one of the reasons she decided to write Ghost Boys. There are lots of similarities between the murder of Jerome and the murder of Tamir.

• Tamir was 12 years old when he was killed.

• He was carrying a toy gun.

• The white police officer who killed him has not been charged.

Rhodes also says that the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 had a huge impact on her.

• Trayvon was 17 years old when he was shot dead.

• He was unarmed.

• The Hispanic man who killed him said he acted in self-defence and was found not guilty of murder.

Tamir and Trayvon's murders were two of several high-profile cases which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement and organisation.

The American civil rights movement

To begin to understand the origins of racism in America, it’s important to know about the American civil rights movement.

• Following the American Civil War and the abolition of the slave trade, there were still many people who wanted to keep racist rules and systems. This was particularly the case in the southern states of the USA.

• Jim Crow laws denied Black people rights by enforcingsegregation and discrimination in southern states.

• The Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organisation, targeted Black, immigrant, Jewish and Catholic people in the 1920s.

• The 1954 Brown v Topeka case was an important turning point in the civil rights movement, as it showed that the Supreme Court was prepared to take action to end segregation in the USA.

Go to Bitesize KS3 History to learn more about the American civil rights movement and the fight for equality in the 1950s and 1960s.

Themes are the main ideas that appear repeatedly in a novel. Some of the important themes in Ghost Boys are:

• Racism
• Injustice
• Bearing witness

In Ghost Boys, Rhodes examines racism from different perspectives.

• Jerome’s story shows what life is like on the receiving end of racism, as a young Black boy in modern-day Chicago.

• Emmett Till’s story shows the reader what life was like as a young Black boy in Mississippi in 1955.

• Officer Moore’s story is about prejudice. At his trial, Officer Moore explains how he believed that he was "in fear for his life" when he shot and killed Jerome. The judge suggests that Moore was prejudiced against Jerome, possibly without knowing it, and calls this racial bias.

• Sarah’s story shows how younger generations must stand up and take action against racism.

The judge decides that there is not enough evidence to charge Officer Moore with excessive force, manslaughter or murder. He is put on paid leave during the hearing.

Jerome, like the other ghost boys, does not get justice for his death. Throughout the novel, Jerome repeats, "It’s not fair!"

At the end of the novel, when he has told his story, Jerome calls on the reader to fight for justice saying:

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.

'Bearing witness' means using one’s own personal story or experience to raise awareness of injustice or suffering.

In the afterword to Ghost Boys, Rhodes explains how bearing witness is crucial to African American communities and other ethnic groups who have suffered injustices.

She explains how putting a traumatic experience into words can help deal with pain and provide emotional healing. It can also empower those who hear the story to fight against injustice too.

Writers choose words and phrases carefully when they write. Readers can look closely at texts to think about how and why the writer made these choices.

Motifs

The motif of ghosts, shadows and invisibility is used throughout the novel to explore how Jerome sees himself and his identity.

• After his death, Jerome describes himself as "a bit of nothing". He realises how quickly and easily his life was ended. In fact, he has spent a lot of his life trying to avoid attention: "I skated by. Kept my head low."

• It is only when he meets Emmett Till that Jerome realises he now belongs to a community of ghost boys: "A shadow. Then, another. And another. Another and another. Hundreds, thousands of ghost boys standing, ever still."

• By the end of the novel, Jerome knows that he must tell his story and try to inspire the living to make the world better. He has a new identity with an important purpose. He ends his story with:

Peace out, Ghost Boy

Did you know?

In Ghost Boys, Carlos celebrates Día de los Muertos, The Day of The Dead. This is a Mexican festival to honour the lives of deceased family members. On this night, it is believed that spirits visit their living relatives to celebrate.

Structure refers to how written text is organised – the way the story is ordered and shaped.

Non-linear narrative

Ghost Boys uses a non-linear narrative structure. Non-linear means it is not written in the order of events as they happened. Instead, it alternates between sections titled ‘Dead’ and ‘Alive’.

Alive: These sections describe Jerome’s life and the events that lead to the fatal shooting.

Dead: These sections describe what happens after Jerome’s death.

In media res

Ghost Boys starts in media res, which means ‘in the middle of the action’.

The first paragraph describes Jerome as a ghost, looking down on his body. The reader doesn’t know what happened or why Jerome is able to come back as a ghost. All the reader knows is that Jerome has been shot and killed. This structure builds suspense as the reader wants to understand what happened and why.

Rhodes doesn’t reveal what actually happened until right at the end of the novel in the chapter ‘That Day’.

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