Award-winning author Patricia C. McKissack’s next story about one black family’s history—perfect for Black History Month!

Brothers Tank and Jimbo Turner love sneaking into Nashville’s Sulphur Dell Ballpark to watch the superstars of Negro League baseball. When Josh Gibson, the famous home-run hitter for the Homestead Grays, bunks at their house, the boys think they’re one step away from heaven. With warmth and humor, the fourth installment of Patricia C. McKissack’s family saga brings to life an era of all-black baseball for readers who may not know that Major League teams were once restricted only to white players....

Miami Jackson can't wait for school to end. But who ever thought five days could be so long? His teacher is leaving for Ghana, his archenemy, Destiny Tate, is on his case, and now Miami's keeping secrets from his best friend, String. Summer can't come soon enough! This Mile 5 Road to Reading book by Newbery Honor winner Patricia McKissack is a perfect first chapter book for young readers....

Why has their grandmother bothered keeping a menu from a restaurant that closed years ago, a restaurant that never served very good food in the first place? Three cousins listen to Gee’s own story, set in the early days of lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville, a time when a black child could sit up front in a city bus but still could not get a milk shake at a downtown restaurant. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Abby, young readers see what it was like to live through those days, and they’ll come to understand that, like a menu, freedom is about having choices. Each book in this series tells the story behind a different "scrap of time"; together they form a patchwork quilt of one black family’s past that stretches back for generations....

Harlem in its heyday—the 1920s—is the backdrop for the next Scraps of Time story. For Lilly Belle, "the capital of Black America" is about as far from her hometown of Smyrna, Tennessee, as a twelve-year-old can get—maybe not in miles but certainly in mind set. A summer program for gifted young writers opens a new world. Jazz music in the street lulls her to sleep, her classroom is in a mansion called "the Dark Tower," and the author Zora Neale Hurston is her teacher, helping Lilly Belle come to a deeper understanding of the power of words, especially her own. Once again Patricia C. McKissack builds an involving story around real events and famous figures....

In Spanish, Amistad means friendship. It was also the name of a slave ship. In 1838, the Amistad took hundreds of kidnapped Africans on a long journey across the Atlantic, but the brave captives would not give up their freedom, taking over the ship so they could sail back to their homeland. Patricia C. McKissack, Caldecott and Newbery Honor Winner as well as a three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, recounts an amazing chapter in American history for beginning readers....

A wily fox, notorious for stealing eggs, meets his match when he encounters a bold little girl in the woods who insists upon proof that he is a fox before she will be frightened....

This Newbery Honor- and Coretta Scott King Award-winning book is now available in Knopf Paperback, reformatted to digest size with the complete text and illustrations of the original edition. The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural is a collection of ten spine-tingling tales, all with a foundation in African-American culture and history, from the time of slavery through the civil rights era.

A Newbery Honor Book
A Coretta Scott King Award Winner
An ALA Notable Children's Book
A Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
An IRA Teachers' Choice
A Hungry Mind Review Children's Book of Distinction...

Side-splittingly funny, spine-chillingly spooky, this companion to a Newbery Honor-winning anthology is filled with bad characters who know exactly how to charm.
From the author's note, that takes us back to McKissack's own childhood when she would listen to stories told on her front porch...to the captivating introductions to each tale, in which the storyteller introduces himself and sets the stage for what follows...to the ten entertaining tales themselves here is a worthy successor to McKissack's THE DARK THIRTY. In The Best Lie Ever Told, meet Dooley Hunter, a trickster who spins an enormous whopper at the State Liar's contest. In Aunt Gran and the Outlaws, watch a little old lady slickster ousmart Frank and Jesse James. And in Cake Norris Lives On, come face to face with a man some folks believe may have died up to twenty-seven different times!...

For Lilly Belle, “the capital of Black America” is about as far from her hometown of Smyrna, Tennessee, as a twelve-year-old can get—maybe not in miles but certainly in mindset. Then a summer program for gifted young writers opens a whole new world for Lilly Belle. Jazz music in the street lulls her to sleep, her classroom is in a mansion, and the author Zora Neale Hurston is her teacher, helping her understand the power of words, especially her own. Once again, award-winning author Patricia C. McKissack builds an involving story around real events and famous figures....

Unlike his older brothers, thirteen-year-old Everett was "born in freedom," never knowing life as a slave. His most prized possession is the medal his father earned in the Civil War. Now, more than 125 years later, that treasure is kept in the Websters’ attic with other "scraps of time," ready to be discovered by another generation eager to know its family history. The second novel in Patricia C. McKissack’s family saga recounts a young Southern boy’s dream of heading west to a new life and the way in which his journey teaches him the deeper meaning of the medal his father won....

Why has their grandmother bothered keeping a menu from a restaurant that closed years ago, a restaurant that never served very good food in the first place? Three cousins listen to Gee’s own story, set in the early days of lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville, a time when a black child could sit up front in a city bus but still could not get a milkshake at a downtown restaurant. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Abby, young readers see what it was like to live through those days and they'll come to understand that, like a menu, freedom is about having choices. Each book in the series tells the story behind a different ‘scrap of time;’ together they form a patchwork quilt of one black family's past that stretches back for generations....

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.


From the Hardcover edition....

IT'S CHRISTMAS, AND NELLA is beside herself with excitement! She and her sisters have been given a real gift - a beautiful Baby Betty doll. But it's hard to share something you've waited your whole seven-year-old life for, and Nella grabs the doll for herself. It isn't long before she discovers that a doll can't do the fun things she and her sisters do together. So, as Christmas day fades, Nella shares it with her sisters. Set in the Depression era South, here's a heartwarming story that captures the essence of the holiday....

Illus. in full color."Mirandy is sure she'll win the cake walk if she can

catch Brother Wind for her partner, but he eludes all the tricks her friends

advise. This gets a high score for plot, pace, and characterization. Mirandy

sparkles with energy and determination. Multi-hued watercolors fill the pages

with patterned ferment. A treat to pass on to new generations."--(starred)

Bulletin, Center for Children's Books. Cassette running time: 20 min.




...

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom....

Illus. in black-and-white. With an extraordinary gift for suspense,

McKissack brings us ten original spine-tingling tales inspired by

African-American history and the mystery of that eerie half-hour before

nightfall--the dark thirty. "The atmosphere of each selection is skillfully

developed and sustained to the very end. Pinkney's stark scratchboard

illustrations evoke an eerie mood, which heightens the suspense of each tale.

This is a stellar collection for both public and school libraries looking for

absorbing books to hook young readers. Storytellers will also find it a

goldmine."--(starred) School Library Journal.




...