American heroes of exploration and flight

The Bluford Series is a collection of contemporary American young adult novels set in the fictional inner-city high school of Bluford High in Southern California. Bluford is named after Guion "Guy" Bluford, the first African-American astronaut. The series was created and published by Townsend Press and was co-distributed by Scholastic. As part of an effort to promote reading in underfunded school districts, Townsend Press originally made the Bluford Series available to schools for a dollar each. As of 2018, over 11 million copies of Bluford Series novels have been sold.