Lu and Aaron get into a shoving match, and Coach punishes them with extra laps.Ĭoach teaches Lu a counting method to surmount the hurdles. At practice, his co-captain, Aaron, teases Lu about the amount of sunscreen he needs to wear because of his albinism. He comes face to face again with his former childhood bully, Kelvin Jefferson, during a delivery for his mother’s fruit sculpture business.

Lu thinks about his own struggles with insecurity, and how he tries to instill confidence through his appearance.

Goose tells Lu that he sees potential in Lu and gives Lu the responsibility of choosing his baby sister’s name. Goose explains that he now works every day in his job as a rehab recruiter to make up for the harm he caused. This led to the Wolf’s drug addiction as well as the death of Coach’s father. Not sure how else to gain social status, Goose started dealing drugs. His track teammates, led by Coach, teased him so much about his stutter that Goose eventually quit the track team. When Goose was young, he had a debilitating stutter. Goose admits that he has a connection with the Wolf and his substance use disorder.

The former member is called the Wolf, and he has become addicted to drugs. Lu tells Goose about seeing a former track member with Coach earlier that day. His mother explains that his little sister will look up to Lu no matter what. When his parents reveal the baby is a girl, Lu fails to hide his disappointment. Despite Coach’s encouragement, each time Lu reaches the hurdle, his mind gets the better of him and he stops short.īefore his parents get home from their appointment, Lu admits to himself that he wants the baby to be a boy, because he wants to know what he would look like if he did not have albinism. After an embarrassing fall during the last meet, Lu is determined to be successful in jumping the hurdles. Lu opts to go to practice, where Coach helps Lu perfect the 110-meter hurdle. His parents, Christina and Gordon aka Goose, ask him whether he wants to go to their upcoming appointment to find out the baby’s sex or go to track practice. So, when Lu learns that he is going to be a big brother, he feels like lightning has struck his family twice. Lu Richardson was born with albinism, and his mother was not supposed to be able to have children at all. This study guide refers to the Atheneum Books for Young Readers edition. This book for young adults follows Lu Richardson as he learns to have integrity, jump hurdles without fear of messing up, and be the big brother he wants to be.

Ghost by jason reynolds chapter 1