Reaps is a collection of ghost and supernatural tales... though several don’t need ghosts to be scary. Most feature a rarity in the genre of young-adult books... young black male protagonists resourceful, brave and intelligent, and many in settings other than the inner-city.

Examples of other settings where young black males encounter ghosts, deal with hauntings -- benign or malignant -- vanquish demons, and Satan Himself, are “Goat Boy” somewhere in America’s heartland, “Children Of Death," which takes place in Haiti, “The Train To Lost Lake,” in a forest in Maine, and “The Picture” set in a “nice little town.”

Stories which may or may not feature ghosts but are haunting nevertheless, include “Spontaneous Combustion,” a gothic-themed reminder that hate still haunts this world, as well as the “The Execution” which is hauntingly surreal. Homelessness can also be scary, especially to an 8-year-old-boy who may be dying of pneumonia in an abandoned funeral parlor.

Jess Mowry does not take the safe route, whether walking through a graveyard at night or an inner-city alley; and neither are his characters the safe and stereotypical heroes who look the parts and play the roles allowed by the mainstream guardians of what young people “should” read. Most are on the verge of manhood and without guides, either spiritual or real, who find they must become their own heroes, and seek their own light in a dark scary world.