Virginia Hamilton

A family tries to unravel the secrets of their new home which was once a stop on the Underground Railroad in this Edgar Award–winning book from Virginia Hamilton. The house held secrets, Thomas knew, even before he first saw it looming gray and massive on its ledge of rock. It had a century-old legend—two fugitive slaves had been killed by bounty hunters after leaving its passageways, and Dies Drear himself, the abolitionist who had made the house into a station on the Underground Railroad, had been murdered there. The ghosts of the three were said to walk its rooms…

The House of Dies Drear

Leo Dillon

Diane Dillon

Retells African American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on in hope.

American Black Folktales

The People Could Fly

An illustrated collection of twenty-five myths from various parts of the world explaining the creation of the world.

Creation Stories from Around the World

In the Beginning

Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits on his gleaming, forty-foot steel pole, towering over his home on Sarah's Mountain. Stretched before him are rolling hills and shady valleys. But behind him lie the wounds of strip mining, including a mountain of rubble that may one day fall and bury his home. M.C. dreams of escape for himself and his family. And, one day, atop his pole, he thinks he sees it -- two strangers are making their way toward Sarah's Mountain. One has the ability to make M.C.'s mother famous. And the other has the kind of freedom that M.C. has never even considered.

M.C. Higgins, the Great

Sixteen stories that focus on the magical lore of African American women, as well as three autobiographical stories.

African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales

Her Stories

Why had he come to her, with his dark secrets from a long-ago past? What was the purpose of their strange, haunting journeys back into her own childhood? Was it to help Dab, her retarded older brother, wracked with mysterious pain who sometimes took more care and love than Tree had to give? Was it for her mother, Vy, who loved them the best she knew how, but wasn't home enough to ease the terrible longing? Whatever secrets his whispered message held, Tree knew she must follow. She must follow Brother Rush through the magic mirror, and find out the truth. About all of them.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush

Cousins

Justice and Her Brothers (Point Signature)

Two young siblings reinvent themselves and the world around them during a summer on their uncle’s farm in this lively middle grade novel. “We'll spend the whole summer on the farm with Uncle Ross. I ought to make up something special just because we’ve never ever gone alone like this!” Elizabeth gives herself and her younger brother, John, new names—Geeder and Toeboy—for their summer away from home and looks forward to months of making up new stories. The farm is special, with its pump house, pond, and especially the prize razorback hogs that belong to Nat Tayber and his daughter, Zeely. Zeely Tayber is tall and dignified, unlike anyone else in the small town. Geeder is fascinated. And when she finds a picture of a Watutsi queen who looks like she could be Zeely’s twin, Geeder knows she is in the presence of royalty. But could the truth be even more interesting than make-believe?

Zeely

In a gorgeous tale of an unexpected friendship, ten-year-old Dreenie feels both intrigued and frightened when she thinks about the girl nicknamed Bluish, whose leukemia is making her pale and causing her to use a wheelchair.

A Novel

Bluish

Junior Brown is a musical prodigy losing touch with reality and everyone around him—except for one important friend. Junior Brown is different than the other kids in his eighth-grade class. For one, he weighs three hundred pounds. He’s also a talented musician with a serious future as a professional pianist—if he survives middle school. With an overbearing mom, disappointed teachers, and fellow students who tease him mercilessly, Junior starts to slip away into his own mind. His last hope may be his only friend, Buddy Clark, a boy in his class without a home or family who has already learned some of life’s toughest lessons. Together, they find refuge and a creative outlet with the sympathetic janitor Mr. Pool, but when their secret cellar room is discovered, will the boys make it through the fallout?

The Planet of Junior Brown

A collection of stories, featuring sparrows, jays, buzzards, and bats, based on those African American tales originally written down by Martha Young on her father's plantation in Alabama after the Civil War.

The Adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and Their Friends

When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing

One long time ago, Pretty Pearl god child lived high on a mountaintop in Africa with all other gods. Curious about mankind and itching to show off her powers, she came down off the mountain with her brother, know-all best god John de Conquer, and sailed on a slave ship for America. There she saw the suffering of the black people, and felt their sorrow right behind her eyes . Pretty Pearl knew now was her time to act.Brother John gave her a magical necklace, a set of rules to follow, and a warning to be careful. "Them human bein's be awful tricky," he said."they has most winnin' ways." Drawing upon her fabulous storehouse of black legend, myth, and folklore, Virginia Hamilton has ventured into new ways of exploring the human spirit in this extrodinary fantasy filled with mysteries, beauty, and hope.

The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl

A biography of the slave who escaped to Boston in 1854, was arrested at the instigation of his owner, and whose trial caused a furor between abolitionists and those determined to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts.

The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave

Anthony Burns

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

In this retelling, using Gullah speech, of a familiar story the wily Brer Rabbit outwits Brer Fox who has set out to trap him.

Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl

An American Library Association Notable Book: In rural Ohio in 1938, twelve-year-old Willie Bea prepares for Halloween—and an alien invasion! Halloween is Willie Bea’s favorite holiday. Her relatives always visit, and everyone cooks, bakes, and tells stories. Best of all, the kids get to dress in costume and go trick-or-treating. But this Halloween is different. When Willie’s glamorous aunt Leah, who reads palms and wears sweet-smelling perfume, hears on the radio that aliens are coming to Earth, the entire family is petrified. Will the aliens come to their small Ohio town? What will they do when they arrive? Inspired by Orson Welles’s historic War of the Worlds radio broadcast, which terrified people across the country, Newbery and Coretta Scott King Award winner Virginia Hamilton tells a gripping, imaginative, and humorous story about a Depression-era family on their day of reckoning.

Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed

Retold Afro-American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on in hope.

Justice and the First Unit travel to Dustland once again. Can they destroy evil and save the future world? Knowing they have unfinished business in the future, Justice, the Watcher, Thomas, the magician, Levi, the sufferer, and Dorian, the healer, again combine to form their unit and time-travel to Dustland. The unit hopes to guide the beings of Dustland out of the dangerous, barren place in the hopes of finding a safer home. But neither the unit nor the inhabitants of Dustland are truly safe as long as the sinister Mal remains in power. Will the unit be able to overcome Mal once and for all? The Gathering is the third and final installment of Virginia Hamilton’s dystopian fantasy series, the Justice Trilogy, comprised of Justice and Her Brothers, Dustland, and The Gathering. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Virginia Hamilton including rare photos from the author’s estate.

The Gathering

A girl and her twin brothers discover their special powers in the first of a fantasy series by the Newbery Medal–winning author of M.C. Higgins, the Great. For Justice and her identical twin brothers Levi and Thomas, the summer begins like any other. But as the slow days pass, Justice begins to notice a strange energy between her brothers, beyond their normal twin connection. Thomas becomes increasingly bossy and irritable, while Levi seems weak and absentminded. And there are changes happening within Justice, as well. Soon she discovers that she possesses a mysterious, extraordinary ability. Will Justice and her brothers uncover the secret behind their newfound powers? Justice and Her Brothers is the first book in Virginia Hamilton’s compelling dystopian fantasy series, the Justice Trilogy, comprised of Justice and Her Brothers, Dustland, and The Gathering. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Virginia Hamilton including rare photos from the author’s estate.

Virginia Hamilton

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