A gripping, richly imaginedfantasy set in an alternate ancient African worldin which a Black girl finds her power and saves her people fromevil, bythe Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning author ofBlack Panther: The Young Prince.

In the land ofAlkebulan, twelve-year-old Asha is an orphan, raised byMadame S, the proprietor of a traveling carnival.WhenMadame S is attacked by ghoulish creatures, she manages to tell Asha before she dies, Seek the Underground Kingdom, where theblack flowersbloom.

Asha doesnt understand the mysterious words, but they launch her onto a page-turning quest to protect her people and stop an ancient evil. Along the way, she uncovers shocking secrets about the family she never knewand begins to find her place in the world as she discovers her own untapped powers.

Ronald L. Smithis the Coretta Scott King/John SteptoeNewTalent Awardwinning author of several novels for young readers, includingHoodoo,The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away,Gloom Town,Project Mercury,and theBlack Panther: The Young Prince series.He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. To learn more, visit strangeblackflowers.com.

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publish Date: January 31, 2023
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• Type: Hardback
• EAN/UPC: 9781328841629
• Dimensions:8.3 in H | 5.5 in W | 0.7 lb Wt
• BISAC Categories: Kids