Jewell Parker Rhodes

Black 12 year old Jerome is playing with a toy gun in his street when he is shot dead by a white cop. He becomes a ghost and sees his family grieving but he also notices many other ghost boys like himself wandering the streets because they have died unjustly. Jerome also makes friends with an unlikely ally, the daughter of the cop who can see him, and who believes her father was in the wrong. But it is the story of the oldest ghost boy Emmett Till, that shakes Jerome to the core...
Partly based on the true story of the lynching of Emmett Till and unjust shootings of black youths, this is a harrowing book for younger readers about a serious issue in the United States.… (lisätietoja)

Representation: Black main character
Trigger warnings: Grief and loss depiction, death of a child, gun violence, blood depiction

6/10, after reading this author's previous work last year about that one terrorist attack that happened around 20 years ago and not enjoying it I decided to give her one last shot with her new book but alas, it was no better than the last since I found some issues in this despite its promising premise so where do I begin. It starts off with a horrific event when the main character Jerome was shot and killed by a police officer because he thought his toy gun was real and then it takes a turn. Jerome is now a ghost looking over the world after his death and I've seen books like this before but at least this author knows how to make a ghost story actually original, anyways soon he meets another ghost named Emmett Till who is like him in a way. Not to mention that this book feels kind of fast paced but due to the fact that this is only around 200 pages I think it was a forced decision, not long after a character called Sarah meets Jerome and it looks like she plays a critical role in this since she after seeing Jerome die might stop more acts like this but I just can't connect to the characters. Towards the end there was a court case where the police officer got away with it which I didn't like and nothing much happens other than that.… (lisätietoja)

Representation: Black main character
Trigger warnings: Terrorism, building collapse, asthma, PTSD, plane crash

6/10, I was hoping that I would enjoy this interesting novel about 9/11 even though I've heard of it before but never experienced it in the first place but I was underwhelmed by this but at least it's there to raise awareness about it to people who never heard of this. It begins with the main character Deja living her life and going to middle school in New York and makes friends instantly which I found unrealistic, but anyways her teacher prompts her to see the One World Trade Centre out the window and then she told her that there were once two towers and I knew what was going to happen right from the beginning so I read on to see what happened next. Deja wasn't the best main character ever since she was snappy and sarcastic at first but eventually she developed herself and stopped being that way which I liked. The second half of the book goes by quickly as Deja discovers what America means to her, watches a video of the two towers and then goes to the memorial with her friends without anyone noticing and it turns out her father was actually there and thus developed PTSD and another medical condition however I didn't like the unrelenting American patriotism shoved in my face nor the fact that it glossed over the Pentagon attack and United 93. If you like middle grade realistic stories touching on serious topics pick this however there are better ones like Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai.… (lisätietoja)