You Were Correct, @LBility aka Ghost, I Should Have Read @JasonReynolds83 After I Bought It For You

Newsflash, Ma! I have someone else for you to crush on! I think I left you a copy of Long Way Down earlier this summer, but if I didn't I will send it your way. I know, you are already crushing hard on Matt de la Peña (who you missed in Syracuse because no one would drive you to his reading) and you had opportunity to meet the Rooster, Kwame Alexander (and love his books, tooi.

But now I want you to read Ghost by Jason Reynolds. 

See, Lossine's nickname is Ghost, so when the book first came out I bought it for him and he devoured it in a night and then took it back to Syracuse with him. He loved it, but I didn't read it. This year, however, with knowledge that Jason Reynold's is coming to Saugatuck Story Fest I made the executive decision to put as many of his books that I could into the courses I teach at Fairfield University and the programs I run throughout Connecticut. In previous years we've worked with All American Boys, When I Was the Greatest, Miles Morales: Spiderman, and this summer I handed out As Brave As You to teachers and kids attending Connecticut Writing Project summer programs.

Still, I hadn't read Ghost, and even though I knew it was on PBS's 2018 Great American Read and that I bought it during our sports writing labs this summer, I still didn't find time to pick it up. So yesterday, after I drank a cup of coffee and went for a 6-mile run, couldn't wait to read Ghost and the story Castle Crenshaw: his relation to a potential team, his alarming childhood, the bullying school, and the devilish tendency to take from a store what doesn't belong to us. I sat out back and finished it, totally admiring Coach and wanting to shake his hand for what he does for the young people he works with. 

SO VERY THANKFUL FOR THIS TEXT - not only for its voice, its humor, its believability for middle school thinkers and what they go through, but how it is a perfect text for discussing teamwork and the philosophy of Ubuntu, which is central to this week's Educational Philosophy class (so glad I assigned it - knowing that if I assigned it, I would finally get to it). In anticipation of Hoops Africa: Ubuntu Matters, the kick off sports literacy night at Fairfield University in partnership with the Saugatuck Story Fest, I chose the book because I wanted to make a connection between belonging on a team, to be part of a community, and to model instruction that would appeal to young people in Bridgeport that my students work with through a service-learning course. 

I hit the lottery. Ghost was wonderful and there are numerous ways this book will be alive to our 7th and 8th grade readers, as well as for their teachers and my undergraduates. 

Lossine, this one's for you. I met you when you were a 15 years-old (or was it younger) and now you are 24 and a working man. At the time, you relocated from Liberia with a passion for soccer (and even for playing lacrosse), and you claimed to hate reading, but I always fed you books, including this one when you were working for me a few years back (or maybe it was when you came to visit last fall and we did professional development together out in schools). Either way, I should have stopped everything and read the book as you suggested. Shoot, we might even write a book ourselves one day to explain our story of literacy, sports, being forever 15, and family.

Yes, Kwame introduced me to Jason Reynolds a few NCTEs ago and somewhere in my files there's a picture to document that. Now, however, he'll be a keynote for the Saugatuck Story Fest. In so many ways, I'm feeling blessed. Ah, but Ghost is his blessing for all of his readers. Now I need to read Patina, Sunny and Lu. I mesmerized by the power of this fantastic book, and can't wait to use it more in professional development and with the kids I'm lucky to work with.. 

And don't even get me started on Long Way Down and all the life-changing work we've been able to do with teachers and kids through #UNLOAD: Guns in the Hands of Artists this summer. 

I am, because this writing guy has contributed so much to this world. My instruction is made more powerful because of the books written by Jason Reynolds.

Um, it's October already. Phew! That happened fast.