What makes a good parental figure? There is no clear path to being a good parent, but Jesmyn Ward’s, Sing, Unburied Sing, portrays a good parental figure in an unlikely form: a thirteen-year-old boy, Jojo. Jojo becomes the unofficial guardian for his younger sister, Kayla when they are all but abandoned by their parents, Micheal and Leonie. Micheal and Leonie, are neglectful, selfish, and abusive. At the beginning of the story, Leonie is shown to disappear for days on end without notice or explanation while Micheal is imprisoned for a drug-related offense. The day-to-day parenting is left to Leonie’s parents, Mam and Pop, who are shown to be kind, nurturing, and the antithesis of Leonie and Micheal. When Micheal calls saying he is being released early, Leonie takes Jojo and Kayla across the state of Mississippi to pick up Micheal. With Leonie opting to neglect both children during the trip it is left to Jojo to shield three-year-old Kayla from illness, hunger, meth addicts, cops, their parents, and ghosts. Learning from the example of his grandparents and the disastrous lives of his birth parents, Jojo strives to do what is right for Kayla’s well-being as well as his own. The story also shows the difficulties of growing up as an impoverished Black teenager in the deep south as money and racism play a big role in Jojo’s journey. By the end of the novel, thirteen-year-old Jojo is put through the wringer, not only having to guide Kayla through the horrors of life but also a ghost, from his grandfathers past, through the afterlife, all while trying to break through the impoverished cycle that many underprivileged African American youth find themselves in. Jojo is tired, beaten, and scared but keeps on going because that’s what it means to be a parent.