Ghost (208 pages) by Jason Reynolds is an amazing book and one that I definitely recommend reading because it has amazing characters and a good story. In all fairness though the story is okay, just average. The characters though are just so good and well-rounded that it makes the story go from a 3 to a solid 4.5 for me. Ghost wants to play basketball and be the next LeBron James but he hasn't joined a team. A kid named Lu on the track field is running fast and everybody is complimenting him, so Ghost goes out of his way to race Lu to prove that he is faster. Lu and Ghost tie so the Coach of their team, Otis Bordy invites Ghost to join the team, and he accepts. Ghost gets into a fight at school so he gets sent home for the day. Coach picks Ghost up so his mom doesn’t find out that he got sent home. Coach punishes him and makes him run up until practice is about to begin to teach him a lesson. Ghost the next day cuts his shoes and makes them look weird. When he goes to school someone sees his shoes and starts laughing so he runs out of the school and goes to the shoe store, he then proceeds to steal a grey pair of shoes that he calls the “Silver Bullets' '. A few days later when they have the newbie dinner Ghost tells everyone that his father tried to kill him and his mom when he was young and that he has not seen his dad in quite a while now. When the team is getting their team uniforms Ghost gets confronted by Coach and he tells Ghost that he knows he is a thief and tells him that he won't get his uniform and that he cant run the track for the first event. Coach goes to tell Ghost’s mom about what he did but Ghost convinces him not to. Coach makes Ghost clean out his cab and afterwards makes Ghost apologize to the store owner and then Coach buys him his uniform and pays for the shoes that Ghost stole. On game day Ghost gets ready to run the 100m and then the story ends!

One of the most interesting characters in the novel is Castle Cranshaw, AKA Ghost. They are the main character and during the story, we get to see them learn and grow. In the beginning, he gets into fights, steals, and runs away from his school. By the end, he learned not to be a thief and how to turn his life around, thanks to Coach Brody. He makes friends that he thought he couldn't make on the track, like Lu and Sunny. And finally, whenever he gets caught you feel bad for him but you also want justice to be served to him.

Coach Brody is another favourite character of mine in Ghost. He competed in the Olympics when he was younger but doesn’t like people to know, causing a mystery. He cares for all of his track members and he shows it by taking all the newbies out to dinner. He also cares for Ghost a great ton because he wants to make sure that he does not turn down into a life of crime. In the end, he teaches Ghost a lesson and we learn why he does not want people to know about the Olympics. His father sold his trophy for drug money, and this relates to how Castle’s dad tried to kill him because of drugs.

In chapter 10, the final chapter of Ghost where he has now just got onto the track and is now about to start his first track race, we are left with a cliffhanger as we see that Brandon is on the opposing track team and wants to beat Ghost. As they get ready to start the race we are left with “And then…BOOM!” and then we do not see the end of the race! This story has so many good moments and it just proves that letting go of your anger and moving on from your past, but not forgetting it can help you better yourself and make yourself stronger. This is an important theme in the story because a lot of people's past define them and they don't try to move on, they just accept or they are and that they cant change, and that is not true because people can change who they are.

Finally, this is a 4.8/5 star book overall that I recommended! This story is absolutely wonderful and I love the characters. This book may be too immature for some and me included, I love serious books so having a smaller book that isn't part of a series you have to read to understand was nice. I thought I would not like it at first due to that reason but now I was able to intensely enjoy it for what it was made to be. Readers will also enjoy it because the story and small bit of comedy are good enough, The characters are amazing and feel real/ well fleshed out, and the semi-dark tones of the book makes it feel realistic enough. Nothing is a comedy all the time so Ghost shows it like that. Sometimes the book is funny but sometimes it is very serious.