Ghost

Ghost is the first of four books in Jason Reynolds’s Track series. Each novel follows a different member of the Defenders track team and examines different themes through specific track and field events like sprints, relays, throwing, and hurdles. Ghost introduces the team through Castle’s perspective, and each of the series’ protagonists plays a role in the story. In Chapter 8, they each share a secret about themselves, which becomes the root of each sequel in the series. Ghost also establishes threads that are present in the other books, such as teamwork, the struggle to fit in, and healing childhood trauma. Each novel is narrated from a first-person perspective, though Sunny is an epistolary novel, told in a series of diary entries spanning one week. This creates a sense of intimacy with each character while emphasizing how being a teenager can feel alienating, even when one is part of a team.

The second book, Patina, was published in 2017 and was Reynolds’s first book written from a young woman’s point of view. The protagonist, Patina “Patty” Jones, shares traits with Castle; she struggles to fit in at her mostly white private school, and she lives in a nontraditional home environment.