Books with author Patricia C. McKissack

Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack's inspiring A PICTURE OF FREEDOM is now back in print with a gorgeous new cover!It's 1859 and Clotee, a twelve-year-old slave, has the most wonderful, terrible secret. She knows that if she shares it with the wrong person, she will face unimaginable consequences. What is her secret? While doing her job of fanning her master's son during his daily lessons, Clotee has taught herself to read and write. However, she soon learns that the tutor, Ely Harms, has a secret of his own.In a time when literacy is one of the most valuable skills to have, Clotee is determined to use her secret to save herself, and her family.

Marian Anderson, with the power of her magnificent voice, triumphed over the racial barriers of her time. In a career that spanned four decades, she lifted herself out of poverty to become a world-famous singer. In this wonderful, easy text, the McKissacks show how the light of Marian Anderson grew bright and transformed her into one of the most beloved people around the world.

Harlem in its heyday?the 1920s?is the backdrop for the next Scraps of Time story. For Lilly Belle, ?the capital of Black America? is about as far from her hometown of Smyrna, Tennessee, as a twelve-year-old can get?maybe not in miles but certainly in mind set. A summer program for gifted young writers opens a new world. Jazz music in the street lulls her to sleep, her classroom is in a mansion called ?the Dark Tower,? and the author Zora Neale Hurston is her teacher, helping Lilly Belle come to a deeper understanding of the power of words, especially her own. Once again Patricia C. McKissack builds an involving story around real events and famous figures.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.

Newbery Honor–winning author McKissack and Caldecott Medal–winning illustrator Pinkney have outdone themselves in this heart-warming picture book infused with humor and the true spirit of Christmas. Christmas always comes to Nella’s house, but Santa Claus brings gifts only once in a while. That’s because it’s the Depression and Nella’s family is poor. Even so, Nella’s hoping that this year she and her two sisters will get a beautiful Baby Betty doll. On Christmas morning, the girls are beside themselves with excitement! There is Baby Betty, in all her eyelash-fluttering magnificence. “Mine!” Nella shouts, and claims the doll for herself. But soon she discovers that Baby Betty isn’t nearly as much fun as her sisters. Would it be more fun to share this very best gift with them after all?

The stunning conclusion to the Clone Codes trilogyThere is a wicked system of operation inside the Topas Corporation, where clones are produced. Only authorized Topas officials are allowed inside. Only they, along with the clones themselves, know what happens within the walls of the world’s largest and most powerful cloning company. This final book of The Clone Codes plunges readers into this strange reality. At the same time, The World Federation of Nations has issued an urgent decree to the masses--find Houston Ye, a cyborg, and Leanna Deberry, a clone, both fugitives! There is a $1 million bounty on each of their heads if captured alive. Once again, the McKissacks blend a futuristic world with events from world history to create a gripping sci-fi adventure.