Description Share Post Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel Jewell Parker Rhodes, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey (Hachette) What a heartbreaking and powerful story concerning a black boy killed by a white police officer. This graphic novel realisation only adds to the power and immediacy of the award-winning title by Jewell Parker Rhodes. This is a must for older readers. Twelve-year-old Jerome doesn’t get into trouble. After all, he goes to school, does his homework and keeps an eye out for his little sister Kim. However, one day, while out with his best friend Costas, Jerome is shot by a police officer. It seems, the officer mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. The story ingeniously depicts Jerome both as alive and as a ghost. Jerome watches his family trying to cope with his death. Gradually, he also begins to become aware of others like him, other ghost boys. Each of these was once a black boy killed unlawfully by police and white people. He becomes especially close to Emmett Till, whose death in 1955 was one of the catalysts for the civil rights movement. Dead or alive, Jerome realises he has a story and something in common with Emmett and all the other ghost boys. This is a hugely poignant and gripping story about how children and families face the complexities of race and racism in today’s world. This adaptation by the author and graphic novel illustrator Setor Fiadzigbey is beautifully rendered: powerful, moving and ripped straight from the headlines.
