The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural

The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural

Patricia C. McKissack

1992 * p. 166 * YA Supernatural

The Dark-Thirty is a collection of stories, tales, legends that come from the South from as early as 1868 up to modern day. A lot of them deal with slavery, racism, persecution, etc as all of the subjects, heros and heroines are African American.

None of them are extremely scary, but more eerie, mystical, and creepy. For example, there is a tale about a woman who begged a bus ride from a white driver on a snowy, chilling night. She needed to get her infant to the hospital, but because she had no money, the driver refused to let her on. She and the baby died in the storm, and began to haunt the streets and bus every year on the night she died.

The author recommends that the tales be told around the campfire at twilight when the spirits come out.

-Reading level: grade 7 & up

-Referenes to the Ku Klux Klan, drinking, a hanging. But nothing detailed or gruesome. I would reccommend it for all YA ages.

-Fast read

-Ideal coupled with the history of slavery, Civil Rights, racism, etc.

I personally would have loved the book more if it was a tad bit more suspenseful.