TEHRAN (IBNA) -- Juvenile fiction ‘Ghost Boys’ (2018) by American writer and academic Jewell ‎Parker Rhodes, a heartbreaking and powerful novel about a black boy killed by a police ‎officer has been published in Persian.‎
Drawing connections through history, the book has been translated into Persian by Behnaz Peeri. Paydayesh Publishing has released ‘Ghost Boys’ in 136 pages.
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 toward 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.
Jewell Parker Rhodes is a professor of creative writing and American literature at Arizona State University. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.