80 pages • 2 hours read
Kwame AlexanderBlack Star
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3, Introduction Summary: “The Story of Ebo”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, including racist violence.
Back in Africa, Nana Kofi had a cousin who teased and tormented him. His best friend, Ebo, challenged his cousin to a swimming race with Nana. Ebo believed in Nana’s skills and thought that he could finally put his cousin in his place and win Ama’s heart.
When Nana was practicing his swimming one night with Kwasi, he came back to the banks to find Kwasi gone. He didn’t know it yet, but he had entered a door of no return.
Chapter 3, Poem 1 Summary: “Questions”
Charley asks about the meaning of his story, such as if the door was real. Momma interrupts them to go to bed. Nana coughs, and Momma warns him to stop smoking from his pipe.
Chapter 3, Poem 2 Summary: “In This Dream”
Charley walks through a garden in her dream. The garden turns to a sea filled with yams. She must eat them all or else she’ll suffocate. Charley can’t breathe. She coughs and clutches for air.
Chapter 3, Poem 3 Summary: “The Next Morning”
After her asthma attack, Charley has to rest. Willie visits and shows off his new baseball bat, which Johnnie made for him from a maple tree. Charley admires it. When the big game is mentioned, Charley says that she has an idea forming.
She rushes inside and brings out her new glove from Gwen. Willie is in awe and praises the mitt. They talk about the professional leagues. He smells fresh-baked cookies from the house.
Chapter 3, Poem 4 Summary: “Something Good”
Willie runs inside and sits at the table before Momma can even say the word “cookie.”
Chapter 3, Poem 5 Summary: “Conversation”
As they eat cookies, they talk with Nana Kofi about the upcoming game with Cecil. Willie also asks why he calls Charley “Naa Esi”; it means “Queen Sunday,” and he calls her that because she was born on a Sunday. Willie wants an African name, too. They tease him that he needs to pass tests of counting in Twi, holding his head underwater in the river, and beating Nana in a game of Oware. Willie can’t do those things. He wishes Charley good luck with her idea about their team and leaves.
Chapter 3, Poem 6 Summary: “The Idea”
Charley’s oldest brother has triplets who are about 10 years old. Berry, Plum, and Juju all love her, so when she visits, she explains the game against Cecil. She asks them if they’d like to join her team.
Chapter 3, Poem 7 Summary: “Close”
While Charley and Nana play Oware, she tells him about her progress. The triplets have to ask their mom first, but hopefully, they can play ball.
Charley discloses her strange dreams. Nana believes that there are no bad dreams, only those we don’t understand yet. Charley questions this.
She asks to join him for his errands in Great Bridge, the white part of town. If Momma approves, she can come.
Chapter 3, Poem 8 Summary: “Pudding”
Nana calls Charley the nickname “Pudding” after his deceased wife, Annie (her grandmother). Nana and Annie were married for 39 years, and he misses her daily. Annie was part Cherokee and beautiful; she made the best pies and famous custard pudding, which earned her the nickname Pudding. Due to her confidence and big eyes, Charley reminds him of Annie.
Chapter 3, Poem 9 Summary: “Land Is the Only Thing”
Nana tells her that land is the only thing they aren’t making more of while they walk to Great Bridge together. They’re heading to pay Nana’s taxes. Nana bought their land with his pension from the government after fighting in the Civil War.
Chapter 3, Poem 10 Summary: “Errands”
Since he’s friendly, Nana talks to all the neighbors as they walk. At the general store, he talks to Henry’s father for a while and buys more tobacco for his pipe.
Chapter 3, Poem 11 Summary: “Conversation”
They discuss the park and its restrictions against Black people playing on it. Nana explains that they fought hard for their race’s freedom, so someday, Charley will play on the new ball field on the white side of town. Nana advises that some don’t accept their freedom, so they must continue fighting for equal rights.
Chapter 3, Poem 12 Summary: “City Clerk”
At the bank, the city clerk is dismissive of Nana. She takes his tax money but barely meets his eyes and doesn’t speak to him. Charley wants a lollipop from the woman’s dish, so Nana tells the clerk to have a lovely day and takes one.
Chapter 3, Poem 13 Summary: “The Frowning Man”
The bank manager, who consistently frowns, rushes after them. He blocks Nana’s path from the exit while Charley eats the lollipop.
Chapter 3, Poem 14 Summary: “Hassle”
The bank manager hassles Nana, scolding him for his son’s car and all the land he owns as a “colored man.” When the bank manager says that Nana’s “people” are too lazy to maintain the land, Nana remarks about all the buildings that Black people have made, the cotton they’ve picked, and other necessary economic tasks.
The manager huffs that Nana better keep paying his taxes on time or else he’ll be in trouble. Nana cuts him off, stating they have to get Charley home for her chores.
Chapter 3, Poem 15 Summary: “This Is Only My Second Time”
Today is Charley’s second time in Great Bridge because her parents state that it’s better to stay with their people on the safe side of the bridge. She considers the white people to be cold and rude.
Chapter 3, Poem 16 Summary: “Trouble”
Three white boys and their dog come around the corner. One of them runs into Nana and then falls. The boy yells at Nana to watch where he’s going. The others join in, harassing Nana about his disrespect. Their dog barks.
Nana grabs Charley’s hand and pulls her away. The white boys throw rocks at them, but they don’t get hit.
Chapter 3, Poem 17 Summary: “A Thousand Questions”
Charley asks about the white boys’ cruelty. Nana says that white folks have many rules that they expect Black people to follow, like averting their eyes or tipping their hats to them. They have the power, like the manager. Nana doesn’t want Charley to worry.
When she asks about a law of “reckless eyeballing,” Nana explains that a man named George MacDonald was hanged for this perceived crime. White people claim that he was looking at two young white girls, so they dragged George behind a horse, lynched him, and had a party around his corpse that hung from a tree.
Chapter 3, Poem 18 Summary: “This Far by Faith”
After Nana’s story about George, Charley has trouble breathing. Nana comforts her, and she finally catches her breath. They stroll hand in hand back home.
Chapter 3, Poem 19 Summary: “Before”
Before they reach the bridge, Nana takes them on a detour.
Chapter 3, Poem 20 Summary: “Hickory Park”
Nana shows Charley the new baseball field called Hickory Park. It’s beautiful, with well-maintained grass, a new diamond, bleachers, and more. Charley admires the setting.
When the police start heading their way, they hurry home. They aren’t allowed to set foot in a white-only place like this park.
Chapter 3, Poem 21 Summary: “Our Next Stop”
They stop at Uncle Rinney’s grocery store. Rinney sells food and ice cream, but he also hosts UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association) meetings. The activist Marcus Garvey started this organization.
Chapter 3, Poem 22 Summary: “The UNIA”
They attend a UNIA meeting, where men speak on soap boxes about topics like freedom and education. They inspire each other to stand up for Black rights and explain that Marcus Garvey’s boats will take many of them back to Africa soon.
Chapter 3, Poem 23 Summary: “When the Sermon Is Over”
After the UNIA sermon, Nana and his friends play cards. Charley is allowed to go explore Rinney’s store.
Chapter 3, Poem 24 Summary: “Sign Above the Door”
Rinney’s sign states they can sell any legal item, and if they don’t carry it, they can order the product in about two days.
Chapter 3, Poem 25 Summary: “Penny Party”
Uncle Rinney states that his cash register is too full of pennies, so he throws them in the air. Charley picks up as many as she can because she gets to keep them.
Chapter 3, Poem 26 Summary: “With My Twenty-One Cents”
With the 22 cents she made, Charley buys an ice cream cone, Tootsie rolls, and sunflower seeds to share with Willie. She will save her leftover pennies in her piggy bank to help Nana pay for his sailing trip to Africa.
Chapter 3, Poem 27 Summary: “On Our Walk Home”
Charley and Nana talk about her dreams of baseball, which he encourages. He wants her to imagine any possibility. They discuss his voyage back to Africa someday. When Charley asks how old he was when he left, he corrects her that he was taken.
Nana coughs into his handkerchief, and it turns red with blood.
Chapter 3 Analysis
Hickory Park symbolizes segregation, inequality, and the consequences of systemic oppression. As a pristine baseball field with the best grass, dirt, and equipment, it starkly contrasts the poorly maintained field for Black kids:
standing outside the fence
gazing
at the green grass
trimmed perfectly […] the whole park glowing with promise […] the police […] heading our way (156-57).
Like the rule forbidding Black people from crossing the bridge, Hickory Park embodies the systemic racism of the era, which believes that Black people are undeserving of quality spaces. Later, when Charley and her friends sneak into this park for a game, they challenge these unjust societal norms and display their Dreams and Determination. The setting also becomes a stage for surprise conflict, as Cecil quits and Charley and Willie face a heated argument and bet with the white boys. This symbolic field becomes the site of escalating tensions, first keeping races separated and then pinning them against each other, resulting in climactic terror later in the novel.
Alexander employs dialogue and formatting techniques to emphasize the characters’ voices and emotions. Notably, he omits quotation marks around dialogue, requiring careful interpretation of who is speaking: “All the good that we want takes hard work. / That’s right, Pudding” (150). This writing decision is ironic given Charley’s critical eye for grammar, as she often corrects others’ speech and writes dialogue with quotation marks. Additionally, Charley’s dialogue is distinct from others’ because it is not italicized. This contrast of italics or not distinguishes Charley’s dialogue, setting her apart as the protagonist. Other formatting techniques can be seen in poems like “Before” since it plays with line spacing and indentation. This poem creates visual rhythm and emotional resonance. The unconventional formatting and short stanzas slow the narrative pace down, emphasizing the weight of each line and heightening the emotional impact. The author consistently plays with punctuation and formatting to fit the characters’ voices and portray their emotive interiority.
This section’s rising action contains escalating racial tension and conflict. Charley and Nana endure racism that is both emotionally and physically harmful—such as the bank manager’s hostility and the white boys throwing rocks. When Nana reveals the truth about George’s lynching, Charley’s distress culminates in an asthma attack; this emphasizes the physical toll of systemic oppression. Charley’s reaction to George’s lynching with an asthma attack underscores the character’s physical state to portray her stress and negative feelings. These encounters further illustrate Courage Against Racial Injustice, as the Black characters refuse to be defeated by the racist society’s attempts to limit them. These scenes deepen the novel’s exploration of racial oppression while building toward its climactic violence.
The conflicts continue with the chapter’s cliffhanger ending, which heightens suspense. In the final poem, Nana’s handkerchief is soaked with red:
[H]e takes the white handkerchief
out of his jacket pocket,
coughs into it,
and it starts turning
red (166).
This plot twist transforms his cough into a sign of serious illness, signaling peril for Charley’s beloved mentor. The possibility of losing Nana adds emotional weight to the narrative, as he is a fixture who imparts Generational History and Self-Discovery Through Family Legacy to Charley. His ailment further highlights the broader themes of resilience since he must persevere through another obstacle. This escalating tension propels the story toward Nana’s pneumonia, which the novel will soon reveal.
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By Kwame Alexander
