Joyce Carol Thomas

A variation on the traditional Cinderella story set in a Southern swamp and with a Great Gospel Convention instead of a ball.

Three hungry witches set out to eat two orphaned children while their grandmother is away at the market.

A collection of poems, including "First Braids, " "Grandma's Way, " and "Mama's Glory, " in which an Afro-American girl celebrates herself, her family, and her heritage.

Abby, born in an Oklahoma cotton field in the wake of a tornado, learns the secrets of folk medicine from the healer Mother Barker as she grows up.