Jason Reynolds, Ghost (Run #1), Knights of, August 2023, 206 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781999642525
Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has plenty of reasons to run, and he’s very good at it. He started running the night his father threatened him and his mother. Now, he could give any of the track team members a run for their money, but he doesn’t have the money for a uniform, or proper shoes, and he’s far more interested in getting good at basketball – at least basketball might give him a shot at a college scholarship. The track coach, however, sees a lot of potential in Ghost.
Ghost finds himself slowly fitting into a team and friends for the first time, discovering pride in his talent for running and working hard to get better. Now, he’s running towards something. He just needs to not screw it all up by making a stupid mistake.
The details of the track team and the training is going to appeal to the sports fans, and Ghost’s narrative voice is engaging and entertaining, with a sense of humour that hovers between self-deprecating and swagger. I was reminded of Miles Morales from Into the Spiderverse.
Domestic violence sits in the background of Ghost’s story, playing a significant part offstage, without overwhelming the narrative. His father is in prison after threatening to shoot Ghost and his mother, and that is the trigger that Ghost remembers as being moment when he first started to run.
The focus of the story, though, is Ghost in the here and now, dealing with feeling out of place because of his poverty, and the shift from making mistakes through reactive anger to making positive choices that leave Ghost feeling stronger and happier. The coach’s gruff, and sometimes tough, support is an adult mentorship that Ghost has needed badly in his life, and it’s interesting to see how that plays out in the course of the story.
The other element that plays strongly in this book is Ghost’s beginning friendships with the other three new track team members, and we get to see more of them as the other books in the series focus on each of the stories hinted at in the background of Ghost’s tale. If readers have been hooked by Ghost’s story, then they’re going to enjoy seeing more of him, Patina, Sunny and Lu.
This is one for readers from 11 to 14 with an interest in sports and running, who want a solid story, so put on your running shoes, and grab Ghost today.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
