Ghost is a great book by Jason Reynolds (208 pages) and it all starts with Castle Cranshaw, the main character. Castle is a poor kid who gets picked on in school. He doesn't have a lot of friends and he gets bullied by a kid named Brandon Simmons. He lives with his mom and dad but changes very soon. His dad is an alcoholic and drinks way too often. One night he got crazy and mad and started shooting his gun at his mom and him. They made a run for it and got out in time. They ran to Mr. Charles's store, which is a convenience store owned by Mr.Charles. A trustworthy old man. Castle probably goes there every day for sunflower seeds. They are his favorite snacks. At school, he gets in a lot of trouble for fighting and causing altercations, and making scenes. His dad got locked up for quite some time for what he tried to pull the other night.

          Coach Brody is Castle's track coach and he is very nice. He encourages ghosts to do their best and stay out of trouble. He is loud and serious at times but at others, he is calm and funny. He understands what Castle is going through because he went through it himself. He lived in the same neighborhood as castle growing up and he had an alcoholic dad. He made it to the Olympics and got the gold when he came back his dad sold his medal for money at a pawn shop to buy more beer. His dad had gotten out of control and was so addicted that he would hit his son. Causing physical and emotional pain to Otis. Now Otis loves the kids on the team and wants to push every one of them to their limit and be the best. Hoping that they will be just as good as he was one day.

          Castle is a good kid at heart but struggles to stay out of trouble. He is constantly getting picked on in class for being poor. Kids say his clothes are crappy and that his shoes are raggedy. Brandon Simmons is the main man behind it all. But Castle eventually fights Brandon and gets in so much trouble that he almost gets kicked off the team. He sleeps in the living room with his mom because he feels safer there than he does in his room. He still gets flashbacks of when his dad shot at them. He loves running and it inspires him to be his best. 

“You can’t run from who you are, but you can run towards who you want to be.”

This sticks out to me because it's so true. You can't run from your problems but you can run towards a solution. Coach Brody said this to Castle and it helped him a lot. It reminded him that he can bury his head in the sand and hide his problems. He needs to face them, like stealing shoes instead of asking his coach. Because when he stole the shoes his coach caught him, which proves that you can only hide from something for so long.