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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.
Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and
socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how
children and families face the complexities of today's world, and how
one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his
own death.