Book Review 2025: Ghost Boys and The Lost Apothecary

In “Ghost Boys” by Jewell Parker Rhodes there are elements of the book that I liked and I disliked. I liked the writing style the author used because the book was direct; there was no purple, flowery language used within the book, no fancy metaphors and literary elements that can confuse the reader. From a teaching standpoint, there is strong ability to use this book in a classroom to show emotions from the main character Jermone. It details his afterlife after the accidental shooting that led to his death. His new best friend, Carlos gave him a real life look alike toy gun, and the police officer accidentally shot him because he thought Emmett was a harmful and dangerous person. It details Jermone’s family, and how they managed. It also has the character, Sarah who is the police officer’s daughter Jermone’s age. She tries to help Jermone navigate the ghost world, while she investigates whether her dad meant to  initially shoot Jermone.

 The book has an interesting set up where some of the chapters are when Jermone is alive and others when he is dead. The ending of the book gives an accurate description of how Jermone died, describing his pain and death from his point of view. There is also another character named Emmett Till who is from 1955 Chicago and was also unfairly shot due to racism. He was in Mississippi with his relatives, and he did not understand the segregation and hatred towards African Americans at the time. When Emmett is dead he is the leader of the ghost boys, a group of African American young men who have been killed due to social injustices throughout the ages. Both of these boys died in real life.   

What I liked in the book was the simple language and the direct words towards the characters actions and feelings. In many books the author uses language to obscure the reader or to elaborate on a point, when in the book "Ghost Boys" Rhodes does neither. This book would work well in an upper elementary classroom/ early middle school. 

Something that I felt like the book didn’t touch on was how Jermone learned to cope with being dead. There wasn’t much conversation about an actual afterlife once the book explained his death. Jermone watched over his family and friends, coping with his death. The book might have had a stronger ending if there was a chapter or two explaining where Jermone went or what he was doing with his afterlife once his friends and family stopped grieving. I think if I were teaching this book to a young class a positive ending as an afterthought would have been nice. 

The book brings awareness to social issues that are a tough topic, and the author does a great job showing how different character’s perspectives change after Jermone’s death. It’s interesting to see how social injustice has changed when you compare Jermone’s death and Emmett's death. It’s also sad that police brutality is an issue in America and still needs to be addressed more seriously in modern day. 

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

I enjoyed “The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner because it was a simple, quick read with a fast paced moving plot. The book has three different narrators Nella, Caroline, and Eliza. Nella is a middle aged woman who runs the apothecary that her mom used to own, with the setting as 1700's London. Eliza is also alive in the 1700’s London, but she is twelve years old. She accidentally meets Nella, who sparks her curiosity for magic, apothecary medicines, and poisons. Caroline is from modern day Ohio, and she is travelling to London on a personal tourist trip. She goes on a mudlarking adventure, and she finds one of the bottles from Nella’s shop from 200 years ago. Because she is curious and she holds a bachelors in History, Caroline seeks more answers throughout the story. She meets another historian who helps her answer the questions about the bottle, and she eventually finds where Nella’s shop was located due to maps, newspaper articles, and the bottle itself. She undercovers parts of the shop that also haven’t been found in 200 years to find Nella's stationary ledger with her clients, and the shelves where the herbal ingredients used to be held.

The story is focused around the three women, their emotions, and how they process different events. Such moments include Nella making a lethal potion, Caroline’s husband cheating, and Eliza trying to find her purpose in life and her occupation. The story does a great job of including historical information such as the map, street names, details about how London has changed from the 1700’s to present day. The book has a map of 1791 London, and it is important when reading to understand where each street is located. The chapter in which Caroline finds the physical location of the abandoned apothecary is the most interesting chapter, because the character is using the maps in comparison with the modern day streets. The book ends with Caroline applying to Oxford for a graduate degree in history, and both Nella and Eliza escaping the police (after being chased for lethal killing potions). I hope for a sequel of the book to see what happens to Caroline and her academic quest.

Because this book is an easier read, it doesn’t have as much character development as other books. The characters are fixed for the most part, with character development for Eliza and Caroline. The author includes self-reflection and thinking about actions and motives for all three main characters during the book. "The Lost Apothecary" also is pretty concise with its word choice, making for a smaller book compared to an author who chooses to elaborate on the plot. The plot itself is fast, but there aren't as many scenes as Harry Potter or inner character dialogue such as Twilight. Overall I really enjoy this book, if I had to use it in a classroom I’m not sure if it would be an interest to male students, but I think it would work well with high school female students. It’s definitely a book that is geared for young women out of college with the main focus being the female characters. I say that because it’s a quick read without as many pages as other books, and the book highlights characters who are creating their adult lives, fixing their adult lives, and understanding how to be a good mentor.