Showing results by author "Ronald L. Smith" in All Categories

Thirteen-year-old T'Challa can't wait to go back to America to visit his friends Sheila and Zeke, who are staying with Sheila's grandmother in Beaumont, a small Alabama town, over their summer break. He's thrilled to be on vacation away from his duties as the Prince of Wakanda for a few weeks, and he's taking full advantage of his access to the amazing food and the South's rich history.

Life is comfortable for 12-year-old T'Challa in his home of Wakanda, an isolated, technologically advanced African nation. When he's not learning how to rule a kingdom from his father - the reigning Black Panther - or testing out the latest tech, he's off breaking rules with his best friend, M'Baku. But as conflict brews near Wakanda, T'Challa's father makes a startling announcement: he's sending T'Challa and M'Baku to school in America.

When T'Challa gets special permission to have his friends from America, Sheila and Zeke, come to Wakanda, he can't wait to show them his home for a change. But their tour is brought to a halt when one of T'Challa's peers, Tafari, summons dark forces in order to return Wakanda to the "old ways" before Vibranium was discovered. Tafari manages to banish the King and Queen along with all the tribal elders to an alternate dimension in exchange for the Originator's release, leaving Wakanda vulnerable and unprotected.

Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a family with a rich tradition of practicing folk magic: hoodoo, as most people call it. But even though his name is Hoodoo, he can't seem to cast a simple spell. When a mysterious man called the Stranger comes to town, Hoodoo starts dreaming of the dead rising from their graves. Even worse, he soon learns the Stranger is looking for a boy named Hoodoo. The entire town is at risk from the Stranger's black magic, and only Hoodoo can defeat him.

When twelve-year-old Rory applies for a job at a spooky old mansion in his gloomy seaside town, he finds the owner, Lord Foxglove, odd and unpleasant. But he and his mom need the money, so he takes the job anyway. Rory soon finds out that his new boss is not just strange, he’s not even human—and he’s trying to steal the townspeople’s shadows.

In the land of Alkebulan, twelve-year-old Asha is an orphan, raised by Madame S, the proprietor of a traveling carnival. When Madame S is attacked by ghoulish creatures, she manages to tell Asha before she dies, “Seek the Underground Kingdom, where the black flowers bloom.”

Thirteen-year-old Jessamine Grace and her mother make a living as sham spiritualists - until they discover that Jess is a mesmerist and that she really can talk to the dead. Soon she is plunged into the dark world of Victorian London's supernatural underbelly and learns that the city is under attack by ghouls, monsters, and spirit summoners. Can Jess fight these powerful forces? And will the group of strange children with mysterious powers she befriends be able to help?

Thirteen-year-old Ike Pressure is used to moving around and starting over. He's an Army brat—and no, that's not an insult, he'll be the first to tell you. He's proud of his mom, who's a U.S. Army Specialist, and he's used to being the new kid at school. But when Eesha Webb and her family arrive in Mercury, Nevada, the location of the latest base the Pressures call home, everything changes. The Webbs are old family friends, and the grown-ups all expect Ike and Eesha to be instant besties, just like when they were little.