Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body (2011)

Chapter 24, “A Leap Forward,” revolves around Martin’s progress in his new office job at the communication center, and how this job accelerates his confidence in himself. Even so, as Martin writes, “it took time for people to trust me professionally, and I enjoy the fact that they do now” (104). By the end of the chapter, Professor Alant meets with Martin and his parents, officially extending a formal offer for a paid position, with the condition that he must find a way to move himself around the office with an electric wheelchair. In Chapter 25, “Standing in the Sea,” Martin recalls a pivotal moment in his life, when his father took him right up to the waterline on a family vacation to the beach. Throughout his life, his father Rodney has been a constant source of stability and emotional fortitude. In this moment on the beach, Martin remembers being scared of how dangerous the ocean was, but fully confident in his father’s ability to keep him safe. As Martin writes, “as I felt my father’s arms holding me upright and his strength keeping me steady […] I knew his love was strong enough to protect me from an ocean” (111).