Ghost’s running coach asks him if he thinks fighting makes him tough. What do long sentences and short sentences do for your character’s voice?Įven in Ghost’s external dialogue, with people he barely knows, his voice stays true to who he is.
He draws you in and keeps you with him from the beginning to the end-the completely exposed and vulnerable honesty of the end.Īction: Pick a scene you’ve written and revise it, playing with sentence length. And you’re there with Ghost through the whole thing-you don’t get lost, you don’t get distracted. Look at that fourth sentence, will you? It goes on and on and on. I don’t know a whole lot about sunflowers, but I know the word sunflower is made up of two good words, and that man ain’t got two good words in him, or anything that any girl would like, because girls don’t like men who try to shoot them and their son. Right in the first chapter, Ghost tells us about his dad, who used to eat sunflower seeds and tell Ghost, “Sunflowers are all up in me, kid.”īut let me tell you, my dad was lying. Ghost’s narrative style is built on some of the most gorgeously crafted sentences that are so long they could qualify as run-on, if they didn’t use flawless grammar along with all the words. Ghost tells his story with the words and style of someone who is constantly exploring and explaining, who fully and openly shares with the reader his worldview, his beliefs, and-yes-his reasons behind those not-so-smart choices. Why did I like Ghost so much?īecause Reynolds nailed the voice. We look at what the author did to make us feel this way. So, here at MG Lunch Break, when we have a response like that, we step back and look at the why.
Despite the fact that some of the choices he makes and the actions he takes are not the smartest or the kindest, I knew Ghost was a kid I wanted to follow through the book.
And not only did I love him, I trusted him. Ghost was the reason I kept turning pages. Or that you could learn to run toward something, instead of away. Ghost is a boy who has always known how to run, but didn’t know that you could actually learn how to do it better and faster. I fell in love with Castle Cranshaw, or-as he has nicknamed himself-Ghost. Or, more accurately, I didn’t see the morning pass, because I was totally immersed in the book. I started Jason Reynolds’ Ghost on a weekend as I ate breakfast, and then I saw the morning pass as I kept reading and kept reading. Ghost by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016)
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