Technolandy

Day 106a (of 2025/26) #BlackHistoryMonth Book Share – Ghost by Jason Reynolds

I’m a big fan of the work of Jason Reynolds. Known mostly (I think) for his work on the Miles Morales Spiderman stories, and a kid-ready version of Stamped with Ibram X Kendi (definitely on my ‘you gotta read both editions’ list: https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/day-184-of-189-stamped-the-remix-by-jasonreynolds83-based-on-dribram-stamped-from-the-beginning-so-i-had-to-read-that-too/

But Ghost was one of his first to get a lot of nofaritity with it hitting the New York Times Best Selling list and became the start of the Track series (for those of you who like to read more than one book – though note that each book follows a different protagonist…) 

Ghost is a great book to see how Jason Reynolds has evolved as an author. Ghost got a lot of attention at the end of the 20th century – and was one of the first books that transitioned with me from an education student working at Chapters Bookstore to a teacher librarian at two elementary schools. It was a ‘sports book’ in my mind at the start… but over the years of revisiting it brings back different levels of memories involving coaching and sports (for me at university rather than high school) as my perspective changed from reading it as a youth to reading it from the ‘adults around him’ mindset… 

Upon this most recent reread I (it’s been a minute), I can’t help but note how much life has changed since this was first published…

Love the reminder that ‘way back then’ things were different – loved the reminder with a reference to reading Lord of the Flies was more ‘readable’ (and remains a ‘crazy book’) though when I taught it a few years later (in a much later grade than this books grade 7…), the colloquial language really got in the way of the tension and nuances… unironically I now recommend the graphic novel when taking it up.

But back to ghost…

Fun to consider who dominate athletes are and how even that can help age a reading… and I keep expecting the characters to exchange contacts…

Jason is a fabulous story teller. I like feeling confident recommending his books to readers of all ages. 

From a kid who ran to a runner, Ghost feels like it still resonates with youth. Sometimes displaced. Sometimes seeking conn. Action and community (team) and sometimes in altercations.  

Jason concludes the book (which leaves you looking for the next in the series) with some great questions about the book – deeper than comprehension questions and helps model what some (many?) of us do when reading books.