Notable standalone works include Flossie & the Fox (1986), The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (1992), and Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?

In addition to her solo work, McKissack co-wrote many books with her husband, Fredrick, with whom she also co-won the Regina Medal in 1998.

She was inspired to be a writer by her mother, who liked to read her the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar,[4] and by her grandparents who told her many stories.

In Goin' Someplace Special, she recalled her favorite place to go as a child, which was the Nashville Public Library.

At the time of Fredrick's death, they were working together on at least one work—Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!

McKissack went on to write many more biographies, some with Fredrick and some by herself, about prominent African American figures, including Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Sojourner Truth.

[6] This was soon followed by Mirandy and Brother Wind (1988) and Nettie Jo's Friends (1989), all of which focused on Southern African American girls, and were written in an old style of African-American Vernacular English.

[6] The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (1992) is McKissack's work most widely held in WorldCat participating libraries.

[11] It is a book she wrote from childhood memories, describing the 30 minutes before dark on a summer night when her grandmother would tell spooky stories to her grandchildren.

They also were the authors of Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman, which also won the Coretta Scott King Award in 1993.

[16] After Fredrick's death the McKissacks jointly received the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.