Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Jerome is 12 year-old-boy from the ghettos of Chicago.  The story starts when he is shot in the back by a white police officer.  The story follows Jerome over the next year as he wanders as a ghost around the city, unseen by everyone but Sarah, the daughter of the police officer that shot him.  At first he is angry but over time he sees how grief is affecting everyone who cared about him. With the help of other Ghost Boys, like Emmet Till, he gradually learns what he must do so that he, and those he left behind, can move on.

Wow, this is a super gritty book.  Rhodes doesn't sugar coat a single line of the difficult narrative.  She thankfully resists the temptation to vilify the white police who shoots Jerome, but instead shows that his family is in need of healing as much as Jerome's family.  Even though Rhodes doesn't flinch with her descriptions of the tragedy, I never felt overwhelmed.  She does an amazing job of telling things straight, but on a level that I think most 12-year-olds could emotionally process. Throughout the book the reader is hoping that Jerome and Sarah will be able to forgive, and in the end, they do.  Rhodes does get a little preachy during the courtroom scenes, and in the final chapter, but it is not in excess.  This is certainly on my potential Newbery list for this year (and probably, because of its graphic descriptions and politically charged topic,  on several banned books lists as well). (214 p. 2018)