Previous
The Judge
Ms. Penny is the librarian at Sarah Moore’s well-resourced middle school. Though she initially tries to dissuade Sarah from researching the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till on the grounds that it would be too disturbing for a child Sarah’s age, she eventually decides that keeping Sarah ignorant isn’t right. She shows Sarah an image of Emmett Till’s brutalized corpse, furthering the growth of Sarah’s antiracist political consciousness.
Ms. Penny Quotes in Ghost Boys
The Ghost Boys quotes below are all either spoken by Ms. Penny or refer to Ms. Penny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Dead (p. 85–191) Quotes
“Maybe you shouldn’t know about it. At least for now. It’s terrible when grown men kill a child.”
“Like my dad?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Sarah has recently watched footage online of her father, Officer Moore, shooting Jerome to death. She has also learned that Emmett Till, the other ghost she can see, was likely murdered by white adults. At school, she asks the librarian, Ms. Penny, to help her research Emmett Till’s murder. When Sarah presses Ms. Penny on why her school hasn’t taught her much about the African-American Civil Rights Movement or anything about Emmett Till, Ms. Penny suggests that Sarah “shouldn’t know” what happened to Emmett Till “at least for now.” She is implying that the school is right to preserve Sarah’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta
Get the entire Ghost Boys LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Ms. Penny Character Timeline in Ghost Boys
The timeline below shows where the character Ms. Penny appears in Ghost Boys. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Dead (p. 85–191)
In the library, the librarian, who has a nametag reading Ms. Penny , asks Sarah whether she ought to be in class. When Sarah doesn’t answer, Ms....
(full context)
Jerome asks Sarah to ask about Emmett Till. When Sarah does, Ms. Penny says Sarah can learn about him later. Sarah asks why she can’t learn about him...
(full context)
When Ms. Penny starts apologizing, Jerome shouts that she was right: adults killing children is awful. Sarah, glancing...
(full context)
Sarah asks whether Ms. Penny is saying that Jerome’s death doesn’t matter as much. Ms. Penny says no—when the Civil...
(full context)
