Description

---

Travel through time with National Book Award Finalist Kekla Magoon in a page-turning fantasy adventure about family secrets and finding the courage to plot your own life story.

Since Grandpa died, Dally’s days are dull and restricted. She’s eleven and a half years old, and her exacting single mother is already preparing her to take over the family business. Starved for adventure and release, Dally rescues a mysterious envelope from her mother’s clutches, an envelope Grandpa had earmarked for her. The map she finds inside leads straight to an ancient vault, a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time. As Dally “checks out” adventure after adventure—including an exhilarating outing with pirates—she begins to dive deep into her family’s hidden history. Soon she’s visiting every day to escape the demands of the present. But the library has secrets of its own, intentions that would shape her life as surely as her mother’s meticulous plans. What will Dally choose? Equal parts mystery and adventure—with a biracial child puzzling out her identity alongside the legacy of the past—this masterful middle-grade fantasy rivets with crackling prose, playful plot twists, and timeless themes. A satisfying choice for fans of Kindred and When You Reach Me.

About the Author

---

Kekla Magoon is the renowned author of numerous fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers, including X: A Novel, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz, Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, and The Season of Styx Malone. She has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, an NAACP Image Award, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and four Coretta Scott King Honors, among others. Kekla Magoon lives in Montpelier, Vermont, and teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Praise For…

---

Magoon (Chester Keene Cracks the Code) champions self-determination while examining race and gender constructs in this high-spirited, South Carolina–set fantasy. . . . Whimsical worldbuilding, swashbuckling action, and buoyant third-person narration complement Magoon’s vibrant character portraits and twisty, nuanced plot.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Multiple award-winner Magoon has crafted an engrossing story that skillfully combines a coming-of-age story with fantasy and historical fiction. Dally is an irresistible protagonist, full of curiosity and longing for the joy she experienced with her grandfather. The lively, well-written narrative contains many surprises, pulling readers into Dally’s life and the incredible choices she must make. A deeply satisfying, page-turning, genre-defying read.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The story is full of clever touches, including the librarian’s responsibility to clothe Dally appropriately for each time-travel destination. Her adventures aboard a nineteenth-century treasure-hunting pirate ship are particularly exciting. . . a memorable, original concept within an involving novel.
—Booklist

An engaging adventure, brimming with mysteries, chock-full of history, and full of twists you’ll never see coming. Once you step into The Secret Library, you’ll never want to leave.
—Christina Soontornvat, three-time Newbery Honoree