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Browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the NC Kids Digital Library digital collection.

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Please follow the rubric to get full credit for the discussion questions.

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Books are available at the Jones County Public Libraries & e-books are available at

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Browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the E-iNC Library digital collection.

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Printable version

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1. Why do you think the novel begins with Jerome’s death? How did the alternating time periods affect your reading of the story?

2. Why does Carlos bring a toy gun to school? Why might he feel like it is the best way to protect himself from bullies?  Why does Jerome take the toy gun even though it feels wrong?

3. At the court hearing, the defending lawyer accuses Officer Moore of “racial bias” (page 86).  What does he mean?  How can a person be biased without realizing it?

4. At the hearing, Officer Moore says, “I was in fear for my life” (page 131), and that is why he shot Jerome even though Jerome was running away.  Jerome wonders, “When truth’s a feeling, can it be both?  Both true and untrue?” (page 118).  Why is the truth so hard to determine in these situations? How did you feel when the  judge announced that Officer Moore would not be charged with a crime?

5. At the end of the book, Jerome realizes that he and the other ghost boys are able to communicate with certain people so they can “bear witness” to the ghost boys’ stories.  What does this mean?  How does bearing witness tie into the statement, “only the living can make the world better” (page 203)?

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Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.

Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions.

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Read Ghost Boys, answer all parts of the discussion questions using textual evidence and complete sentences, and submit to your answers to your School Media Specialist by the first week of school to earn an extra 100 credit in any class and free time.
Bonus: Summer Reading Challenge Celebration

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Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of Black Brother, Black Brother, Ghost Boys, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls Trilogy: Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. Her middle-grade books have won the Coretta Scott King Honor, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and more. She is also the Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Arizona State University, and has written many award-winning books for adults.

Jewell has written numerous children’s and adult books hoping to inspire social justice, equality, and environmental stewardship. She enjoys teaching, walking her Toy Aussie Sheepdogs, theater, dancing, and music. Born in Pittsburgh, she now lives in Seattle.

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https://youtu.be/DgIRRZque6M