The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural

Ok, wow. These are not your average campfire horror stories that I personally find boring. They have real strong roots in the horrors that afflict those people affected by racism (white and black both). They are not so raw that they are unreadable, but they do remind us of history, and of the lessons we all need to learn from it.

I enjoyed so much of the writing, too much to try to share. But I do have to bring to you one quote. A proverb from Benin culture of West Africa, "Fear is the parent of monsters." Think about that when you're reading about, or being affected by, our current 'culture wars.

Read for Newbery club in Children's Books group June 2023.

A collection of spooky, supernatural stories from the oral traditions of African Americans in the South, retold for a middle grade audience. The stories are great, as folklore always is, but the writing is weak in spots: there are some bits of awkward phrasing, and some of the stories are placed in narratives that are unnecessary and clunky. But if you're into folklore, the tales themselves are worth enduring the faults here.

Excellent stories, the style reminds me a bit of the old Twilight Zone stories where ordinary people experience extraordinary occurrences. This book is an excellent way to introduce young readers to the horrors of the pre-Civil Rights era. The illustrations were a delightful addition to the scary stories.

The 1993 Newbery Honor book blends tales of the supernatural with the terror of racial prejudice. In a series of short stories, the author teaches history in a simple way that does not preach, but rather, brings home a message of the need for tolerance.

When I started reading this book for my Children's Literature course, I had the pleasant realization that I had already read it more than 20 years ago in elementary school.
This collection of stories embodies the spooky atmosphere underlying everyday activities that I remember from growing up in North Carolina, where almost everybody believes in ghosts and most folks have a family story about a haunting.

I like the short story format because it is easy to pick up and read throughout the day. Some stories, like the Legen of Pin Oak, had enough detail for me to feel as though I understood the purpose of the story. However, other stories like the 11:59 felt like details were omitted in order to keep with the short story format. It was very frustrating reading about some of the ways African Americans were treated and I felt some anger as I read about that treatment.

The Dark-Thirty by Patricia C.
For this novel Patricia C. McKissack put together series of storytelling that can usually be told around bonfires. This is not just any story telling its stories that are suspense and can possibly bring fear into a reader eyes. This book contains ten stories that shows racism, haunting, and vengeance that is appropriate to tell around camp fires. The author not only put series of stories in one book but, brought the setting back to the era of slavery. These stories are not written from the author’s ideas. These are chilling stories from the original stories rooted in African-American history. This novel also was awarded with the Coretta Scott King award in 1993.

These are collection of ghost stories that show more used to be told through storytelling. The title to start off with is “The Dark Thirty” meaning half hour before sunset. It is very interesting titles because that title is believe to be the time when ghost exist. This book tells ghost stories from slavery era. The unique thing about this book for example the story “We Organized” is written very well. The narrating of the story is read from a slave perspective. The way this story is written like an uneducated slave with slang and stuttering. However, it is a cool way to tell a story a readers mind can really picture a former slave voice. These stories are really something to read around Dark-Thirty.

Paris Edwards show less