Dread NationJane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained

I look out my window

leaving her to be raised by her grandmother

the Civil Rights movement gained the powerful momentum it needed to sweep forward into its crucial decade

amidst his teacher's lectures on the historical benefits of slavery and the modern-day prison system

She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived

and more--because there are countless ways to be Black enough

as well as the many moments of joy

history-making inventions that started out as crazy ideas

Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison

In a society determined to keep her under lock and key

Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks--those that are honest about the past and those that are not--that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history

all students receive profound opportunities for personal