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Ghost Boys Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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.
Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. 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. 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. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father's actions.
Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today's world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.
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"Ninth Ward was named a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book, a Notable Book for a Global Society, a CCBC Choices pick, a VOYA Top Shelf Fiction pick, an ALSC Notable Children's Book, an SLJ Best Book of the Year, an IndieBound Kids' Next List pick, a Parents' Choice Gold Award recipient, and an NYPL Top 100 Title for Reading & Sharing. Sugar was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, an IndieBound Kids' Next List pick, a Jane Addams Book Award winner, an IRA Top Chapter Books selection, and a CCBC Choices Pick.Bayou Magic was an LA Times summer reading selection and a Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books selection. Towers Falling was an Indiebound Kids' Next List selection, a Junior Library Guild selection, one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, a Seventeen Magazine Best Book of the Year, and a Notable Book for a Global Society."
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“In writing that’s spare and powerful, Rhodes takes us into…a kid’s-eye-view of violence and racism that balances innocence and outrage, wrenching loss and hard-won hope.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“In a stirring narration, Miles Harvey brings to life an American story that is chillingly familiar…Harvey captures this outsider perspective through the rhythm of his delivery, marked by short sentences and direct questions…Harvey exhibits an emotional range that further intensifies the story…In contrast, the author soberly narrates the afterword, inspiring listeners to bear witness to the truth underlying fiction. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile -
“Rhodes writes in short, poetic chapters that offer graphic depictions of avoidable tragedies; her hope for a better world packs a powerful punch, delivering a call to action to speak out against prejudice and erase harmful misconceptions.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Beautifully weaves together the fictional and the historical…in this gripping and all-too-necessary novel about police brutality, injustice, and the power of bearing witness to the stories of those who are gone.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Deftly woven and poignantly told, this a story about society, biases both conscious and unconscious, and trying to right the wrongs of the world. Verdict: Rhodes captures the all-too-real pain of racial injustice and provides an important window for readers who are just beginning to explore the ideas of privilege and implicit bias.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“Unblinkingly confronts challenging perspectives and the mutability of truth.”
— Shelf Awareness -
“A timely, challenging book that’s worthy of a read, further discussion, and action.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
This was one of my most anticipated 2018 books and I was not disappointed. A must read.
— Angie Thomas, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give -
* "Rhodes captures the all-too-real pain of racial injustice and provides an important window for readers who are just beginning to explore the ideas of privilege and implicit bias."—School Library Journal, starred review
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* "An excellent novel that delves into the timely topic of racism... with the question of whether or not we really have come far when dealing with race relations.
— School Library Connection, starred review -
In writing that's spare and powerful, Rhodes takes us into the hearts and minds of those who are left behind, and then out into a vast and luminous world where ghost boys wander among the living, pursuing their mysterious mission. Rhodes has achieved something remarkable here: a kid's-eye-view of violence and racism that balances innocence and outrage, wrenching loss and hard-won hope.
— Chicago Tribune -
A timely, challenging book that's worthy of a read, further discussion, and action.
— Kirkus Reviews -
[A] potent story that deserves to be read.
— VOYA -
Ghost Boys is powerful in prose, and so important at this time. I hope parents will read this book to their children.
— The Monitor -
Written beautifully...an important novel.
— WCMU Public Radio -
Unblinkingly confronts challenging perspectives and the mutability of truth.
— Shelf Awareness -
Additional praise and awards for Jewell Parker Rhodes' books:
Awards
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A School Library Journal Top Pick of Stellar New Tween Reads
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A Publishers Weekly Pick of Best Anti-Racism Books for Youth
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A SIBA Okra Pick of April's Best Reads with a Southern Flavor
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An Indie Next Kids' List Great Read
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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Winner of the 2018 Carla Cohen Free Speech Award
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Finalist for the 2018 Southern Book Prize
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Winner of the 2019 Walter Award in the Younger Readers Category
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Finalist for the 2019 Children’s & Teen Choice Book Award
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Winner of the 2019 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award for Middle Readers
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Winner of the Children’s and Teen Choice Book Award for 5th and 6th Grades
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A #1 BuzzFeed Books Pick of Great Books You May Not Know About
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About Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of six adult novels, two writing guides, and seven books for youth. She has won the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, and the Jane Addams Peace Association Book Award. She is the founding artistic director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the narrative studies professor and Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Carnegie-Mellon University
About the Narrators
Miles Harvey is a voice talent and an Earphones Award–winning narrator.
Miles Harvey is the author of the national and international bestseller The Island of Lost Maps and the recipient of a Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship. His book Painter in a Savage Land was named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year. He teaches at DePaul University.