Ghost Boys

tw: police brutality, racism, bullying, physical abuse

don't be shy sweetie just call it racism

this book discusses a lot of issues with how we handle and discuss police brutality, but doesn't quite get there, and i get that. i get that it's a middle grade, and the wide range of heavy topics brought up are difficult to broach, but i feel like this book almost got there on several occasions but didn't quite get to home base before being tagged out. emmett till as a ghost was a powerful story device that wasn't used as much as i had wanted, and the plot with the cop and his family just wasn't quite it (i got white savior complex vibes at the end from sarah but i may just be too cynical there). things wrapped up a little too neatly and easily with the school bullies. i'm sorry, but i can't find sympathy for cops who murder innocent people, nor the bullies who might become those same cops one day, and you can't make me.

i loved carlos' plot and integration into the story. seeing him and jerome's grandmother healing together really worked, especially with the two different cultures seeing death in a similar way.