Night of the Abiku

Winston has lived most of his life in silence—he has a stutter, and after one too many embarrassing moments at school, he's decided it's safer to keep quiet.

One day, his eighth grade class sets off for a field trip, only to become stranded at an old southern plantation when a strange storm hits. There, Winston comes face to face with something terrifying within its walls. It's another Black boy, except this one moves through the world as a spirit. He is an abiku—a child wronged centuries ago by the owners of the house.

As Winston and the Abiku forge an unlikely alliance, the dark history of the plantation unravels— to save his classmates, and the Abiku, from an eternity of being trapped in the past, Winston will be forced to face his deepest insecurity head on. Will he find the courage to speak up, and make sure history is not forgotten?

Coretta Scott King John Steptoe award winner Craig Kofi Farmer's latest middle grade novel is a thought-provoking and page-turning tale of a lost boy, a wayward ghost, and the grim legacy of possession in America.