Picking Up the Ghost“African magic and folklore color this unusual coming-of-age story” as a teenage boy faces a haunting journey after hearing of his estranged father’s death (Publishers Weekly). It isn’t easy living in the dying city of St. Jude, Mississippi. But when a letter informs fourteen-year-old Cinque Williams of the passing of the father he never met, he suddenly comes face to face with the struggles he’s always avoided: his incomplete past and uncertain future. That’s when the strange hand reaches down through his dreams to snatch away his heart. A curse meant for his father condemns Cinque to a slow death even as it opens his eyes to the strange otherworld around him. With help from the ghost Willy T, an enigmatic White Woman named Iku, an African Loa, and a devious shape-shifter, Cinque gathers the tools to confront the ghost of his dead father. But he will learn that sometimes too much knowledge can be dangerous—and the people he trusts most are those poised to betray him. |
Contents
Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication 1 Its a Big World | |
To Be With Your Pops | |
Visited | |
Past the Clay | |
Uncrushed and Undisturbed | |
A Horrible Gray Light | |
Smelled Like Flowers | |
In that House | |
Meet | |
Smileless | |
Didnt Want to Know | |
Powerless | |
In the Cold Dark | |
Friend of Yours | |
The Mechanism | |
Someplace with Less Distractions | |
Do Something Stupid | |
Took a Long Look | |
To Keep Hold | |
Back Down the Hill | |
If I Aint | |
Hitting the Dirt | |
Too Cold to Hurt | |
Something Right | |
Common terms and phrases
African ain’t arms backpack better Black Jesus Black Wire Hand bottle boy’s Brother Phelps can’t Catcher chest Chicago Cinque asked Cinque felt Cinque looked Cinque pulled Cinque thought Cinque’s clay boy Cloudy couldn’t Cuttlefish dark Darren door Dru Trip Egungun Eshu Wara eyes face father feel fingers Fool fox-faced Fib front George Washington ghost gonna gotta grabbed Grandma ground he’s heart Hyenas Imani Jaspers Jude Juju Kelly Lee Knight legs magic man’s MC Groove EEE meatworks Michael Bentley mouth nameless boy never nodded Olamide outta Pastor Akotun picture pops pushed Puzzleman qliphoth Robbie screwdriver Shapeshifter shook his head side Sin Catcher smell smiled someone somethin spirit stared stepped stopped talking tell there’s things told took tried turned voice waited walked wanna wasn’t what’s Whatcha who’s Willy window Yeah you’re