School Library Journal Review
Gr 4 Up-- Ten original stories, all with a foundation in African-American history or culture. Some are straight ghost stories, many of which are wonderfully spooky and all of which have well-woven narratives. There is a tale from slavery times; a story set among the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; and one from the 1940s segregated South, in which a black man's ghost brings revenge upon the white klansman who murdered him. Strong characterizations are superbly drawn in a few words. The atmosphere of each selection is skillfully developed and sustained to the very end. Pinkney's stark scratch-board 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 also will find it a goldmine. --Kay McPherson, Central Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
When I was growing up in the South, writes McKissack, we called the half hour just before nightfall the dark-thirty. Her nine stories and one poem, however, are far too good to be reserved for that special time when it is neither day nor night and when shapes and shadows play tricks on the mind. These short works-haunting in both senses of the word-explore aspects of the African American experience in the South, from slavery to the Underground Railroad and emancipation, from the era of Pullman cars to the desegregation of buses, from the terror of the Ku Klux Klan to '60s activism. Here, African Americans' historical lack of political power finds its counterbalance in a display of supernatural power: ghosts exact vengeance for lynchings; slaves use ancient magic to enforce their master's promise of emancipation. As carefully executed as McKissack's writings, Pinkney's black-and-white scratchboard illustrations enhance the book's atmosphere, at once clearly regional in setting and otherworldly in tone. Ages 8-12. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
A collection of original stories rooted in African-American history and the tradition of oral storytelling spans the period from slavery to the civil-rights era. Pinkney's scratchboard artwork adds the right amount of tension and apprehension to this collection that is great for reading aloud. Winner of the 1993 Coretta Scott King Award and a 1993 Newbery Honor book. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
McKissack invites readers to gather in the ``dark-thirty''- -the eerie half hour when dusk darkens to night--for ten shivery tales inspired by African-American folklore and history. The historical links are especially potent: in the ``The Legend of Pin Oak,'' a free mulatto and his family escape re-enslavement by leaping from a cliff; in ``We Organized''--written in free verse and based on an actual narrative--a cruel owner is forced by magic to free his slaves. An African-American lynched by the KKK, and another left by a white bus-driver to freeze to death, return to haunt their tormentors; when a dying Pullman porter hears ``The 11:59,'' he knows it's time to go. Each tale is told in a simple, lucid style, embellished by a few deftly inserted macabre details and by one of Pinkney's dramatic, swirling scratchboard illustrations. A fine collection that teaches as it entertains. (Fiction. 10-13)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-8. McKissack identifies these 10 tales as "original stories rooted in African American history and the oral storytelling tradition." She prefaces each with a short introduction explaining the historical incident or custom from which it grew--for example, slavery, belief in a psychic ability known as "the sight," or the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott that began in 1955. The most successful of the stories have the structure and style of traditional folktales as well as the shiver-up-the-back feeling of "real" ghost stories. In "Justice," an innocent black man lynched by the Klan comes back to haunt the man who engineered his death; the sad tale of "The Woman in the Snow" shows prejudice and cruelty overcome; and in the semi-autobiographical story "The Chicken Coop Monster," a young girl becomes secure in the knowledge that love casts out fear. An accessible collection on a popular topic, easy to booktalk to a wide range of readers. ~--Janice Del Negro
