The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia C. McKissack

The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural Reviews

• 
  Quentin Wallace

  Wow did this one surprise me. It's a collection of short horror stories, mostly based on African American folktales and set in the deep south. This was published by Scholastic, so I was expecting stories aimed at children. While technically I guess they are, the stories are much darker and mature than you'd think.
  
  The subject matter is very dark, dealing with slavery, lynchings, civil rights violence and more. Sadly, even though it's a book of supernatural tales, the darkest parts of the stories are the true parts. That being said, these stories are very creepy. Just a great read for anyone who loves dark short stories.
  
  I'm not sure if I was influenced because I live in the deep south, or maybe because this was just better than I was expecting, or what. I just really enjoyed this one, and if you like eerie, southern gothic tales, you should check this out.
• 
  Darla

  These are quality stories, not just a collection of horror stories with the intent of scaring your pants off. Are their details that give you goosebumps? For sure. Yet, there are happy endings and positive outcomes after adversity mixed in with historical details and reminders of the insidious undertone of racism. I did not, for the most part, read these at the dark-thirty time of day. I did, however, take a few days to savor them and would recommend this collection to third grade and up. My favorite story was 'The Woman In the Snow.' How about you?
• 
  Josiah

  One really couldn't ask for much better suspenseful, deeply wrought stories of the eerie and the supernatural than those found in this harrowing collection.
  
  Patricia C. McKissack has struck the ideal chord in the creation of these subtly mysterious tales. She didn't take the edge off of the fright in deference to her young readers, instead allowing the full flavor of the experience to be absorbed, the individual stories speaking as powerfully as they have from the mouths of Southern raconteurs for decades, and in some cases, centuries.
  
  While the stories are relatively short, each one holds a dark, pulsating energy that captivates the reader in a state of sweet, breathless suspense as the narrative careens toward its frightening conclusion. The action leaps off the page and hides in the perceptions of the reader, making the entire experience of suspenseful fear rise forth from within oneself. I think it is this that truly gives the tales in The Dark-Thirty their ominous power.
  
  While this book is very different from most others that are recognized by the Newbery committee each year, I certainly can see how they would have awarded the Honor Medal to this collection of stories. In addition to the palpable sense of fear that it strikes, the book is perceptive in its telling and weaves within the scares some bright spots of human wisdom that provide a wonderful extra dimension of significance.
  
  This is an excellent example of Southern literature for young readers, and I would recommend it to anyone that asked me.
• 
  Lars Guthrie

  More than a foray into the supernatural, this book connects to much of the history of African Americans' long struggle for equality from slavery to the civil rights era. It's fitting that the last story, an autobiographical "monster" tale, is about McKissack's confronting her own fears as a child. This is the second book of McKissack's I've read recently (see "Tippy Lemmey" below) and I'm sold on her. She writes with humor and depth in a style that is completely accessible to her young audience.
• 
  Calista

  This is a collection of short stories of African American myths, legends and scary tales. There are creepy stories, hard stories, sad stories, scary stories and fantastic stories in here. Boo Mama is more of a Big foot story and that was very good. The Woman in the Snow is a ghost story and there are some hard truths to face in it and I liked the story a lot. 11:59 is about pullman railroad porters. The Gingi was a scary story - I mean creepy. That was good. And the Chicken-Coop Monster had some real truth in it. It you like ghost stories, these are some good ones. Good luck trying to sleep.
• 
  Bri

  *4.5 stars*
  Very cool collection of stories with African and Black Southern roots. I really enjoyed it!
• 
  Christina Pilkington

  4.5 stars
  
  A fantastic book of supernatural tales told from the perspective of African Americans from the past 50 years. Lots of creepy tales but a few heartbreaking ones, too. Each story began with a historical fact, placing it in a specific point in history. My kids were riveted to their chairs when I'd read these stories aloud. They always begged me to read just one more! A great book to read around Halloween time.
• 
  Tiffany

  A collection of short stories featuring southern Black history, urban legends, and scary tales, this book was an entertaining read. It’s geared toward middle grade readers, but also an interesting read for adults who have never read or heard some of the stories featured.
  
  I would recommend this book to fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
• 
  Renee

  A fantastic collection of short stories/essays.
  Although this is categorized as a children's novel I would beg to differ. I think that this is very much a novel that adults can and should enjoy. There are 10 short "horror" stories/essays that revolve around black people and black cultures. McKissak has a fantastic imagination. Some stories are supernatural, some are realistic, and some are plain wacky.
  I also really love the blurbs at the beginning of each story with historical or contextual background on the story we are about to read.
  
  The Legend of Pin Oak 5/5
  A sad slave story about selling family and the pursuit of freedom. The ending was just beautiful.
  
  We Organized 4/5
  A poem based on an actual slave narrative. Humorous and powerful.
  
  Justice 5/5
  A horror story about the Ku Klux Klan and the supernatural justice. Absolutely horrifying and incredibly sad.
  
  The 11:59 5/5
  My favourite story from the whole novel. It's about African American Porters and their close knit community during the golden age of train travel and the 11:59 train.
  
  The Sight 3.5/5
  An interesting supernatural story about a boy being born with the gift of sight.
  
  The Woman in the Snow 5/5
  A story about the first black bus driver in Montgomery and his ghostly visit from the woman in the snow.
  
  The Conjure Brother 4/5
  More of a didactic story about siblings and messing with the supernatural.
  
  Boo Mama 4/5
  The wackiest story out of the bunch about a mother and son and what happens when her son goes missing in the forest.
  
  The Gingi 5/5
  A story based on the Yoruba people of Nigeria who believe that bad spirits can't enter a house unless they're welcomed and what happens when they are.
• 
  Nancy

  This is an outstanding collection of ten supernatural/horror stories for older youth. Author Patricia C. McKissack sets the African-American tales in the deep south, and the evocative back and white pictures by Brian Pinkney add atmosphere to these Gothic type stories. What really adds weight to the dark and spooky stories is that they are based on real happenings during the slavery era, in addition to stories on civil rights brutality and modern day lynchings. An eye-opening compilation that I highly recommend.
• 
  Cynthia Egbert

  I think this one would be a grand way to teach some tough history lessons in an interesting way to kids. These stories pull no punches, there are lynchings and murder and blatant racism but the added supernatural elements give kids (and adults) an entertaining element that make them fun to read. These are dark stories and the true darkness lies, not in the supernatural elements, but in the acts of mankind. These would make for some great discussions.
• 
  Taylor

  I really enjoyed this book. It always blows my mind when someone can use a genre like horror to teach about culture and history to an audience of all ages. I adore the fact that the stories are chronological with black American history. I love that it shows how black Americans and Africans have connections, but are not all the same. I respect that it doesn't bash on other groups, but shows that individuals' decisions matter.
  
  It's no surprise that this was published in the 1990s. I miss books like this. This book shows the reality of black history, but also promotes nonviolence and taking the high road to further a good cause. It doesn't pull punches. I think this would be great for 6th-12th graders.
• 
  Beth Lind

  This was like listening to stories around the campfire. Loved some of the history and the creepiness.
• 
  Taneka

  This is a compilation of stories from the South. The stories range from supernatural to monsters. Stories from slavery to the Jim Crow South to an autobiographical account about the authors own experience. The stories are written in a story teller form and the author states that she heard of them during the time known as the dark-thirty, half an hour before nightfall.
  
  This was an enjoyable read. Having grown up in the rural south, I have heard of some of the stories and others in the book, I have heard in a different manner. For example, the story of “Justice” is about a white male, Hoop Granger that kills a wealthy white male, Holt Riley, because he compared him with another man that was a Negro. The story is about the attitude of the time and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. Hoop is upset with Alvin Tinsley, the Negro, for not taking the blame for the crime and with his Klan friends, they hang Tinsley. The stories from my childhood were similar, including a police chief murdering a mulatto male because he was being “uppity” and calling my grandfather, a mortician, to collect the body or a family being hung near a white cemetery and strange things happening to those that walk by the cemetery after a certain hour. This book kept my attention, because I wanted to know what spooky thing was being presented next.
  
  The stories are suspenseful and fast moving. They keep the reader’s attention, but drawing on events that do not take place in the normal realm. The stories are told in the manner of oral tradition. The stories would be ideal for a campfire or a spooky bedtime story. Children that love spooky stories may enjoy this book, but only the final story would be identifiable by all children. It is the story of a child overcoming fears and kids will be able to relate. Some of the stories are universal in teaching that death is inevitable and is not something to be feared. The author’s note in the beginning states the concept of the book and how she heard these stories when she was a little girl through oral tradition
  
  A very interesting piece of literature. I will be reading more of her books.
• 
  Laura

  I kept waiting to read a scary story. From what I had read on the front and back flaps, this book was supposed to give me goosebumps and chills, but I found most of the stories a little tame. It almost seemed as if they were all historical legends that just featured ghosts or other slightly spooky themes. There was one of two stories that were on the verge of being a little haunting, but I never felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end or anything. I read this book in one sitting, but I wasn't terribly interested in it. I might still recommend if you liked this genre and were interested in African American historical fiction.
  
  *Taken from my book reviews blog:
  http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2010...
• 
  Kirsten

  This Newbery Honor book is one of my old favorites; I ran across it while looking for spooky stories for a Halloween program at the library. McKissack draws on traditional slave narratives and African-American folklore to create original stories that are by turns creepy, though-provoking, and enthralling. Excellent stuff.
  
• 
  Jewell

  Authentic African American folklore tales told in a suspenseful manner.
• 
  The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo

  A children's introduction to spooky stories, with a tiny bit of civil rights history sprinkled here and there. Doesn't make for good reading over the age of 10 or 11.
• 
  Amy Layton

  Wow, what an absolutely incredible collection!  Contextualized within history and superstition, The Dark-Thirty is best read at dusk for maximum effect.  It's weird, spooky, and eerie.  There are ghosts, transformations, monsters.  Runaways, children, well-meaning parents.  But nobody is safe, not when it's dark-thirty.  
  
  These tales were so powerful, especially McKissack's biographical one.  Not only that, but the Gingi is just perfect for kids who loved Precious and the Boo Hag and need or want something a little more adult.  There's tales about when black men got the right to drive buses and trains, and tales about when slavery was still in effect.  Not only that, but paired up with Brian Pinkney's incredible artwork makes it all the better--his specific style of etching gives off a wispy, eerie vibe not dissimilar to fog on a dark night.  Just perfect for this collection.But all in all, each tale gives power to the protagonist--power to face their fears, power to keep moving forward.  
  
  Review cross-listed
  here!
• 
  Ryan

  I enjoyed the African-American oral tradition here and McKissack's use of traditional tales. The horror elements are light and age-appropriate for a set of children's stories. She writes of the horrors of the Klan and slavery and living in the South in general.
  
  My largest complaint is that I found several of the stories unengaging which is only worsened when they come directly before or after a story that is excellent. I know it's for children, but I'd love to see an updated adult version of these tales.
• 
  Jazalyn

  3.5 bumped up. I wasn't totally creeped out by this book, but it was interesting because of historical context. I was actually looking for African American traditional folktales, but this book offers original stories in the same style as folktales. I like that each story began with an intro and background on the topic. Some stories were set in olden times and some in more modern times. I think this book is meant for younger readers, but would recommend if looking for a quick read with interesting stories from different perspectives of some African American experiences.
• 
  Jesse

  2.5.
  
  Middle grade collection of spooky stories based around the Black experience. Started off strong, with stories that utilized themes of racism and Black culture in interesting ways, in the vein of something like Scary Stories or Twilight Zone, but toward the end I thought a lot of the stories were pretty generic horror folktales with African-American themes just kind of plopped in (or, in the case of the story "Gingi," completely made up out of whole cloth). Not bad, but disappointing.
• 
  Rachel

  Absolutely 5 star book, scary and spine tingling stories while at the same time sharing stories of African American culture and history. I found the stories really intriguing and engaging. Just all around great read.
• 
  Penny

  Some stories are quite good - folklore is a love of mine. But some are not as well done. The last one is semi-autobiographical and worth the read. All in all, quite enjoyable.
• 
  Bob

  Neat stories
  
  Enjoyable collection of stories with a mixture of folklore, horror, and social commentary. Every story offered something different and readable.
• 
  Catherine

  Really good for short stories.
• 
  Sandra Turton

  *2.5*
• 
  Homewood Library

  Using history as a backdrop to spooky, moody, scary atmospheric tales, Patricia McKissack (RIP) has made a masterwork of American story.
  
  Some AMAZING tales in here. The woman in the snow is one of my favorite takes on the vanishing hitchhiker tale.
  
  The stories are short enough that you will tear through them, but some might keep you up at night, checking behind your shoulder.
  
  But do yourself a favor and just get it.
  
  - Miss Kelly
• 
  Lydia

  This is an entertaining book with several short stories that deal with African American themes, but are very relevant to everyone. These scary stories are meant to be read during the last 30 minutes before daybreak, a time known as the "Dark Thirty".