At the dinner, Castle learns that each of them has a troubled past and secrets. He then steals a pair of expensive running shoes from a sporting goods store.Ĭoach takes the new runners out to a Chinese restaurant, a yearly tradition. That night, he cuts the tops off of them, which only leads to worse teasing at school the next day. At practice that afternoon, one of the runners mocks Castle’s high-top shoes. His mother agrees, provided that Castle stays out of trouble.Ĭastle gets in a fight with a school bully named Brandon the next day, but Coach picks him up and agrees not to tell his mother. Coach Brody invites Castle to join the team and then sets to convincing his mother to let him. After he watches for a while, he challenges one of their fastest sprinters to a race and holds his own. One day after school, Castle sees a track team practicing. Castle’s anger and lack of self-control are largely due to the trauma of being attacked by his father and then losing him after he is sentenced to 10 years in prison.Ĭastle’s time at school is an ongoing series of bad grades and fights with other students. They escaped and hid in the storeroom of Mr. When Castle was a child, his drunken father shot at him and his mother with a pistol.

As the novel opens, he is angry and directionless.

When he joins the Defenders track team, he learns that he does not have to let his past define him.Ĭastle lives in a poor neighborhood called Glass Manor. Ghost tells the story of Castle Cranshaw, a troubled youth who is trying to cope with a traumatic childhood.

Ghost by jason