Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits on his gleaming, forty-foot steel pole, towering over his home on Sarah's Mountain. Stretched before him are rolling hills and shady valleys. But behind him lie the wounds of strip mining, including a mountain of rubble that may one day fall and bury his home.
M.C. dreams of escape for himself and his family. And, one day, atop his pole, he thinks he sees it -- two strangers are making their way toward Sarah's Mountain. One has the ability to make M.C.'s mother famous. And the other has the kind of freedom that M.C. has never even considered. 

In the tradition of Hamilton's The People Could Fly and In the Beginning, a dramatic new collection of 25 compelling tales from the female African American storytelling tradition. Each story focuses on the role of women--both real and fantastic--and their particular strengths, joys and sorrows. Full-color illustrations.

The origin of the universe, and all that is in it, has always been cause for wonder. For thousands of years, people have made up stories in an attempt to explain the beginning of humankind, the earth, and the cosmos.

Beautifully told by Virginia Hamilton and splendidly illustrated by Barry Moser, "In The Beginning" is a collection of twenty-five creation myth stories that will engage and fascinate readers while introducing them to cultures around the world. Researched extensively by both author and illustrator, each story includes one or more illustrations - all stunning complements to the text. And each story is followed by author comments that tell about its origin.

The stories in this book reflect the wonderful range of the human imagination. In an Eskimo myth, for example, the first man pushes his way out of a pea pod. In a story from the Kono people of Guinea, death starts the world. A dramatic myth from China tells that the universe was originally in the shape of a hen's egg - and from this burst the first being.

To read the diverse beliefs of people around the world, both ancient and contemporary, broadens our understanding of others and strengthens our own spirituality. Intriguing, often humorous, and always fascinating, "In The Begining" is a memorable book for readers of all ages.

Junior Brown, an overprotected three-hundred pound musical prodigy who's prone to having fantasies, and Buddy Clark, a loner who lives by his wits because he has no family whatsoever, have been on the hook from their eighth-grade classroom all semester.

Most of the time they have been in the school building -- in a secret cellar room behind a false wall, where Mr. Pool, the janitor, has made a model of the solar system. They have been pressing their luck for months...and then they are caught. As society -- in the form of a zealous assistant principal -- closes in on them, Junior's fantasies become more desperate, and Buddy draws on all his resources to ensure his friend's well-being.

"The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom. All are beautifully readable. With the added attraction of 40 wonderfully expressive paintings by the Dillons, this collection should be snapped up."--(starred) School Library Journal.  

Pioneer rancher W. H. Hamilton met the challenges of wolves, mosquitoes, and sticky, sometimes impassable soil, called "gumbo" in Harding and Butte counties in the 1880s and 1890s. A trailblazer in the transition from the open range to the small ranch, he loved the cowboy life and the wild country between his Belle Fourche River homestead and his Cave Hills ranch. In a new introduction, historian Thomas D. Isern familiarizes modern readers with the range-cattle industry and northwestern South Dakota landscape.