Come Join Semicolon for a magical event with author, Kwame Mbalia! This event is for middle age children so, bring the kiddos along for the whimsical ride!
This will be a book reading and signing events with copies of Jax Freeman And The Phantom Shriek available for purchase!
*This event will be located at our Mag Mile location - 400 N Michigan Ave, Chicago Illinois suit 100
About the book
What do you get when you combine Kwame Mbalia's incredible imagination and world-building talent with trains, history, and ghosts? A secret world where kids can wield magic by summoning the power of their ancestors. In other words, nothing less than middle-grade magic.
On his twelfth birthday, Jackson "Jax" Freeman arrives at Chicago's Union Station alone, carrying nothing but the baggage of a scandal back in Raleigh. He's been sent away from home to live with relatives he barely knows. But even worse are the strangers who accost him at the train station, including a food vendor who throws dust in his face and a conductor who tries to steal his skin.
At his new school, Jax is assigned to a special class for "summoners," even though he has no idea what those are . . . until he accidentally unleashes an angry spirit on school grounds. Soon Jax is embroiled in all kinds of trouble, from the disappearance of a new friend to full-out war between summoning families.
When Jax learns that he isn't the first Freeman to be blamed for a tragedy he didn't create, he resolves to clear his own name and that of his great-grandfather, who was a porter back in the 1920's. By following clues, Jax and his schoolmates unlock the secrets of a powerful Praise House, evade vengeful ghosts, and discover that Jax may just be the most talented summoner of all.
About the author
Kwame Mbalia, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Black Boy Joy and the Tristan Strong books, and the publisher of Freedom Fire, an imprint of Disney Hyperion is going on tour to promote his new series: Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek (on sale 10/1). Please let me know if you'd like to host him. We will assist with getting the word out by alerting the press. Kwame will also spread the news via his social networks and to local friends.
A different kind of magic school populated by a diverse group of students with unique talents, Jax freeman and the Phantom Shriek brings Black History to life in an entertaining and memorable way.
Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, a publisher, and a former pharmaceutical metrologist (in that order). He is the author of the bestselling Tristan Strong series, the first of which was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor. Kwame is the co-author of Last Gate of The Emperor with Prince Joel Makonnen, from Scholastic Books, and the editor of the #1 New York Times bestselling anthology Black Boy Joy, published by Delacorte Press.
And if you weren’t tired of listening to Kwame’s bio, there’s more, because Kwame is also a Publisher with his imprint Freedom Fire, a collaboration with Disney Books! His newest middle grade adventure, Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek, is a Freedom Fire title and launches October 2024. A Howard University graduate and a Midwesterner now in North Carolina, he survives on Dad jokes and Cheez-Its.