About the Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
The thrilling follow up to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Door of No Return stars Kofi's granddaughter, Charley, who's set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball but who soon has to contend with the tensions about to boil over in her segregated town.
You can't protect her from knowing. The truth is all we have. 12-year old Charley Cuffey is many things: a granddaughter, a best friend, and probably the best pitcher in all of Lee's Mill. Set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball, Charley doesn't need reminders from her best friend Cool Willie Green to know that she has lofty dreams for a Black girl in the American South.
Even so, Nana Kofi's thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. She knows he has so many more to tell, but according to her parents, she isn't old enough to know about certain things like what happened to Booker Preston that one night in Great Bridge and why she can never play on the brand-new real deal baseball field on the other side of town.
When Charley challenges a neighborhood bully to a game at the church picnic, she knows she can win, even with her ragtag team. But when the picnic spills over onto their ball field, she makes a fateful decision.
A child cannot protect herself if she does not know her history, and Charley's choice brings consequences she never could have imagined.
In this riveting follow up to The Door of No Return, set during the turbulent segregation era, and the beginning of The Great Migration, Kwame Alexander weaves a spellbinding story of struggle, determination, and the unflappable faith of an American family.
About the Author :
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times bestselling author of more than 35 books, including the Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor-winning picture book The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, the Coretta Scott king Illustrator Award-winning picture book American Story, the Newbery medal-winning novel, The Crossover, Becoming Muhammad Ali, co-authored with James Patterson, Booked, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, Rebound, Solo and Swing. A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. He invites you to visit him at kwamealexander.com on IG and Twitter @kwamealexander.
Review :
*"A riveting, not-to-be-missed...opener that will leave readers invested in what is to come."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"Alexander weaves a breathtaking tale that is ripe with the juxtaposing emotions that come with any coming-of-age story. Through Alexander's verse, readers are reminded of the beauty and unbounded richness that Ghana and her people have to offer...Alexander has written a masterpiece, one that powerfully and truthfully gives agency to the Black voices of the past. Profound and important reading."--Booklist, starred review
*"Books with enslaved main characters certainly exist in juvenile fiction, but the reality of the transatlantic slave trade hasn't been so adeptly captured for young readers to date...Told in Alexander's lyrical and masterly style, this gritty and compelling novel of Kofi's life should be included in all library collections that serve young readers."--School & Library Journal, starred review
"A memorable and moving second book."--The Horn Book
2025 Coretta Scott King Author Honor
2025 NCTE Notable Verse Novels
BookPage Best Middle Grade of 2024
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best of 2024
Chicago Public Library Best Books 2024
Kirkus Best of Middle Grade 2024
Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist
NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
A Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year
*"Powerful and realistic, this continuing saga offers heartbreaking portrayals of the African American experience."--Booklist, starred review
Praise for The Door of No Return:
A#1 Amazon Best Book of the Year
A#1 Indie Next List Pick
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2022 Pick
Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2022 Pick
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book Pick
Horn Book Best Book of 2022 Pick "Absolutely spellbinding: Kwame Alexander weaves together storytelling, poetry, music and history like no one else can. An unforgettable journey to be treasured and shared across generations."--Rick Riordan, NYT bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series
*"A powerful and thoroughly satisfying blend of sports, history, family saga, and self-discovery."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"An 11-year-old Ghanian boy must fight for his survival in this gut-wrenching historical novel in verse from Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander."--Shelf Awareness, starred review
*"Engrossing and utterly gripping....Black Star is an outstanding and thorough novel that radiates in every line of text the pride, strength, and determination of African Americans and their African ancestors."--Shelf Awareness, starred review
*"Every person who was enslaved came from a home with a rich history and unique culture. Their stories have been told in excellent books for young readers, including Sharon Draper's Copper Sun; Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renée Watson and Nikkolas Smith's The 1619 Project: Born on the Water; and Ashley Bryan's Freedom Over Me. But many more are needed, and there's no one better to add to this vital canon than Alexander."--Bookpage, starred review
*"Interweaving moments of joyful exuberance and heartbreaking sadness via sensate lines by turns sweet and stinging, Alexander's sweeping novel conjures a captivating, resonant world of African tradition, life, and ancestral wisdom."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
*"Readers continuing the series, as well as those starting with Black Star, will be gifted with a reading experience that is equal parts difficult and beautiful. All will be called to remember Nana Kofi's wisdom, that "when we water our words, they grow our minds."--Bookpage, starred review
*"The multigenerational nature of these stories makes them unique, the verse format is accessible, and the references to historical events of the time provides a wealth of opportunities for classroom use.... A first-rate historical verse novel with opportunities for classroom extension activities."--School & Library Journal, starred review
*"Themes of conflict within and between cultures, and of war and peace, hate and love, despair and hope are deeply embedded throughout this gripping tale."--Horn Book, starred review
*"This tragic realism culminates in a climactic enactment of "The People Could Fly" that will feel triumphant for readers who recognize and embrace the allusion and will offer an introduction to those unfamiliar with that work."--BCCB, starred review
"Alexander lures you in and endears you to Kofi and his world in a way that has you fully invested in time and place...His writing is at once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting, comforting and cutting. It hypnotizes and sobers, hypnotizes and sobers, in a rhythm as timeless as the talking drum that carries the tales of his people: Kum-PUM PUM! Kum-PUM PUM! I wish this book existed alongside Huckleberry Finn when I was in school. I am glad it exists now!"--Lupita Nyong'o, Actress and Author
"Alexander turns the nightmare of the past into an epic story for all times and all people. The Door of No Return is a breathtaking, heartbreaking triumph and an instant classic."--Lev Grossman, NYT bestselling author of The Magicians
"As I read The Door of No Return I kept thinking about how transformative it would have been to have had a book like this when I was young. This novel moves a devastating history beyond the realm of abstraction and fills our imaginations with characters who laugh, cry, love, learn, worry, and wonder. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Kwame Alexander has given us a gift."--Clint Smith, #1 NYT bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed
"The young narrators of Alexander's game-changing verse novels, starting with 2014's Newbery Medal-winning "The Crossover," use a variety of poetic forms and rhythms to express themselves. Charley specializes in lovely run-on sentences. Some tumble forth revealing her curiosity, worries and ambition. Others, such as this one regarding her mother's offer to teach her a new tune on the flute once she finishes her chores, amble along before reaching an apt conclusion, like a pitcher who takes her time, then winds up and throws a good slider."--Abby McGanney Nolan for The New York Times
