“Absolutely spellbinding: Kwame Alexander weaves together storytelling, poetry, music and history like no one else can. An unforgettable journey to be treasured and shared across generations.”—Rick Riordan, New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

“Kwame Alexander’s story, The Door of No Return, humanizes the experience of the people who knew the flavors of freedom long before they knew the sting of slavery. Alexander lures you in and endears you to Kofi and his world in a way that has you fully invested in time and place. Alexander seems to trust the heaviness of history to hold its own, and so he is able to tell a story with such a lightness of foot which only further emphasizes that weight of history that is undeniable and irrevocable. His writing is at once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting, comforting and cutting. It hypnotizes and sobers, hypnotizes and sobers, in a rhythm as timeless as the talking drum that carries the tales of his people: Kum-PUM PUM! Kum-PUM PUM! I wish this book existed alongside Huckleberry Finn when I was in school. I am glad it exists now!” —Lupita Nyong’o, Actress and Author

“Alexander turns the nightmare of the past into an epic story for all times and all people. The Door of No Return is a breathtaking, heartbreaking triumph and an instant classic.”—Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians