The family is free to go, and they arrive home to find that Mam's condition has worsened. She grows violently ill in the car and has intense hallucinations. Fearing Michael's re-imprisonment, Leonie swallows the entire dosage of meth. While on their way back home, the family gets pulled over by a police car. Richie tells Jojo that he died when he escaped Parchman, but he is unsure about the circumstances of his death. Richie was imprisoned at Parchman with Pop many years ago. When they pick Michael up from Parchman, Jojo encounters a ghost named Richie. Afraid that the remedy will poison Kayla, Jojo forces his sister to vomit.

Leonie tries to make an herbal remedy to ease Kayla's nausea, but she cannot remember the details that her mother taught her. While in the car, Kayla grows sick with a stomach bug and fever. The experience of picking up the drugs traumatizes Jojo, and his anger towards his mother further intensifies. On the way to Parchman, Leonie and Misty decide to pick up meth from a supplier. The next day, Leonie takes Jojo, Kayla, and her fellow bartender, Misty, to pick up Michael. When Leonie tries to tell Michael's parents the exciting news, she is chased from their property because she is Black. On the evening of Jojo's birthday, the family receives news that Michael is being released from jail. In addition, Jojo's father, Michael, is imprisoned at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (known as 'Parchman'). Jojo is the primary caregiver for his three-year-old sister, Kayla.Īt the beginning of the novel, the audience learns that Jojo's grandmother, Mam, is dying of cancer.

Jojo harbors feelings of resentment towards his mother, and he refers to her only by her first name.

His death was covered up as a hunting accident, and no one was criminally charged.īecause of her addiction, Leonie is frequently away from home and characteristically negligent. Given was murdered years prior in a racist attack by the cousin of her boyfriend Michael. When she is on drugs, Leonie is able to communicate with Given, the ghost of her dead brother. He lives with his maternal grandparents, his mother, and his sister. Jojo is a 13-year-old biracial boy living in the fictional town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi.

Sing unburied