Black Star [Door of No Return]
by Kwame Alexander
Intermediate, Middle School    Little, Brown    384 pp.
9/24    9780316442596    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780316442794    $9.99

Continuing the story of a Black family’s trials, from Ghana to the United States, Alexander (The Door of No Return, rev. 9/22) sets this installment in Jim Crow–era Virginia. Charlene “Charley” Cuffey is an avid follower of baseball’s Negro Leagues and aims to be the first female player in the sport. Her grandfather, the supportive Nana Kofi, listens to Charley’s triumphs on the diamond and tells her about the skill he showed as a swimmer in Ghana. He also teaches her Twi, his native language, and shares his favorite sayings and stories—some stories, anyway. Charley’s parents have decided she’s too young to hear about how Nana Kofi was captured and brought to America, or why “the wonderfuls” (as Nana Kofi ironically calls white people) seem so uneasy around them. When Charley and her best friend, “Cool” Willie Green, ­challenge the neighborhood bully to a baseball game, it only makes sense that they use the new field in town—but this decision could cost Charley and Willie more than they ever thought possible. Alexander has created a world that fully immerses readers in the time period and keeps them riveted by this family’s continuing story. Charley’s first-person verse narrative (with Nana Kofi’s recollections interspersed in prose poems) incorporates institutions and notable figures from the era, including Marcus Garvey and Mary McLeod Bethune. A memorable and moving second book in the trilogy.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.