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.

For more than a thousand years, from A.D. 500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.

Acclaimed authors Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack have collaborated with their son, John, to deliver a novel that is as suspenseful as it is searing. "The Clone Codes" is the first installment of a sci-fi trilogy that blends a futuristic society with events in world history.

Through moving prose and beautiful watercolors, a Coretta Scott King Award and Caldecott Medal–winning author-illustrator duo collaborate to tell the poignant tale of a spirited young girl who comes face to face with segregation in her southern town. There’s a place in this 1950s southern town where all are welcome, no matter what their skin color…and ’Tricia Ann knows exactly how to get there. To her, it’s someplace special and she’s bursting to go by herself. But when she catches the bus heading downtown, unlike the white passengers, she must sit in the back behind the Jim Crow sign and wonder why life’s so unfair. Still, for each hurtful sign seen and painful comment heard, there’s a friend around the corner reminding ’Tricia Ann that she’s not alone. And her grandmother’s words—“You are somebody, a human being—no better, no worse than anybody else in this world”—echo in her head, lifting her spirits and pushing her forward.

MIAMI’S CLASS HAS a brand-new teacher, no-nonsense Miss Amerita Spraggins. She’s a real tough lady. She insists on assigned seats. She hands out detentions like coupons. She even refuses to call kids by their nicknames. Miami can’t take a whole year with crazy Miss Spraggins. He has to get out of her class!

Stepping Stone Books.

In the next Clone Codes installment, Houston, a cyborg, tells his story. Houston must fight to overcome the rules of his strange universe, where the government uses laws to torment its citizens, especially cyborgs.

In a triumphant celebration of the human spirit, here are 12 favorites from the Old Testament. Each breathtaking illustration adds exquisite clarity. Full-color illustrations.

A chronicle of the first Black-controlled union, made up of Pullman porters, who after years of unfair labor practices staged a battle against a corporate giant resulting in a "David and Goliath" ending.

Describes the customs, recipes, poems, and songs used to celebrate Christmas in the big plantation houses and in the slave quarters just before the Civil War.