ain't nobody that fast

For New Years, I read Ghost by Jason Reynolds. 

Middle grade readers will love this book!

Jason Reynolds: I wrote Ghost for all the young people who feel like they're suffocating, who feel like they're gasping for breath, exhausted from running for their lives, and sometimes FROM their lives. It's for both the traumatized and the triumphant. 

From GoodReads:

Ghost is a deeply moving book with several important messages for young readers. 
Castle Crenshaw goes by the name Ghost, because he's a wicked fast runner. The first time he ran -- truly ran -- he was running for his life: running ain't nothing I ever had to practice. It's just something I knew how to do.
Now that he's older, Ghost puts his natural talent to work by running track. But he's not just running toward the finish line, he's running away from his past and the anger he's got buried inside. 

"Trouble is, you can't run away from yourself." Coach snatched the towel from his shoulder, folded into a perfect square, and set it in the space between us. "Unfortunately," he said, "ain't nobody that fast." 

Ghost must come to terms with what he's running from and decide where he's running to: "you can't run away from who you are, but what you can do is run toward who you want to be." 

Jason Reynolds always manages to squeeze numerous topics into his books without making the narrative feel over crowded. Ghost touches on thievery, drug abuse, gun violence, bullying, honesty, family dynamics, friendship, and finding healthy ways to channel anger and hurt into positive action.

 Be sure to listen to TheYarn episode where Colby Sharp interviews Jason Reynolds. Be sure to listen all the way through to the last question..."what can people like me do?" (thank you, colby sharp, for asking the question).

I love Jason Reynolds, his books, and his ability to be a super cool nerd.