Black Star

Gr 5 Up–Alexander’s “The Door of No Return” trilogy opened with the eponymous first volume, singularly, spectacularly read by Ghanaian British actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. A full cast further enhances this second installment, set in 1920s Jones Mill, VA, with Hoffman—gravelly voiced with resonating gravitas—as now-elderly Nana Kofi. His 12-year-old granddaughter Charley—spunkily, terrifically embodied by Pean—has the talent and tenacity to become the first female “PRO-fessional baseball player,” if only she wasn’t limited by the stiflingly racist reality of the Jim Crow South. Despite Mama’s protestations—wisely ciphered by Karen Chilton, who also commands additional women’s voices—Charley manages to play often with best friend “Cool Willie Green” (dynamic Bullock bursts with energy) and not-best friend Henry (Aaron Goodson accepts that second-class status). When Charley impulsively accepts the local (white) bully Cecil’s (fabulous Bullock again) challenge of a playoff game, no one could have predicted the shocking consequences that follow.