The
Coretta Scott King Awards are presented
annually by the American Library Association to honor African-American authors and
illustrators who create outstanding books for children and young adults. Initially, the
award was established in 1969 to recognize authors and then was expanded to include a
separate award for illustrators in 1979. These awards are given to commemorate the life
and work of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to honor
Mrs. Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 to January 30, 2006) for her continuing efforts in working for peace and civil rights
issues.
Directly below you will find a list of all of Coretta Scott King's Author and Illustrator Awards 1970 to Present -- an excellent start on your quest for the best in African-American literature for children.
2011 (click to see the other 2011 award winning books)
One
Crazy Summer
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by Rita
Williams-Garcia
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Amistad; 1 edition (January 26, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060760885
ISBN-13: 978-0060760885
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile,
abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even
though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland,
California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will
have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the
missing pieces of the past.
When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to
do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter
her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets
who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine,
Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black
Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.
Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one
crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the
mother who abandoned them�an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author
of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.
2010 (click to see the other 2010 award winning books)
Bad
News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal
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by Vaunda
Micheaux Nelson (Author), R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Library Binding: 40 pages
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (November 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0822567644
ISBN-13: 978-0822567646
Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
Sitting tall in the saddle, with a wide-brimmed black hat and twin Colt pistols
on his belt, Bass Reeves seemed bigger than life. As a U.S. Marshal - and former
slave who escaped to freedom in the Indian Territories - Bass was cunning and
fearless.
When a lawbreaker heard Bass Reeves had his warrant, he knew it was the end of
the trail, because Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this
in spite of whites who didn't like the notion of a black lawman.
For three decades, Bass was the most feared and respected lawman in the
territories. He made more than 3,000 arrests, and though he was a crach shot and
a quick draw, he only killed fourteen men in the line of duty. Bad News for
Outlaws reveals the story of a remarkable African American hero of the Old West.
2009 (click to see the other 2009 award winning books)
We Are
the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
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written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (January 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786808322
ISBN-13: 978-0786808328
Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11.1 x 0.4 inches
The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes
and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international
sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and
off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political
history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But
most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung
heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low
pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world:
play ball. Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson
tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the
1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the
majors in 1947. The voice is so authentic, you will feel as if you are
sitting on dusty bleachers listening intently to the memories of a man
who has known the great ballplayers of that time and shared their
experiences. But what makes this book so outstanding are the dozens of
full-page and double-page oil paintings--breathtaking in their
perspectives, rich in emotion, and created with understanding and
affection for these lost heroes of our national game.
We Are the Ship is a tour de force for baseball lovers of all ages.
2008 (click to see the other 2008 award winning books)
Elijah of
Buxton
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780439023443
ISBN: 0439023440
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: August 06, 2007
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in
Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from
Detroit. He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable
impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave
steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family
out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to
America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the
unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled a life from which
he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.
2007 (click to see the other 2007 award winning books)
Copper Sun
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by
Sharon
M. Draper
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 306 pages
Publisher: Atheneum (January 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689821816
When pale strangers enter fifteen-year-old Amari's village, her entire tribe welcomes them; for in her remote part of Africa, visitors are always a cause for celebration. But these strangers are not here to celebrate. They are here to capture the strongest, healthiest villagers and to murder the rest. They are slave traders. And in the time it takes a gun to fire, Amari's life as she's known it is destroyed, along with her family and village.
Beaten, branded, and dragged onto a slave ship, Amari is forced to witness horrors worse than any nightmare and endure humiliations she had never thought possible -- including being sold to a plantation owner in the Carolinas who gives her to his sixteen-year-old son, Clay, as his birthday present.
Now, survival and escape are all Amari dreams about. As she struggles to hold on to her memories in the face of backbreaking plantation work and daily degradation at the hands of Clay, she finds friendship in unexpected places. Polly, an outspoken indentured white girl, proves not to be as hateful as she'd first seemed upon Amari's arrival, and the plantation owner's wife, despite her trappings of luxury and demons of her own, is kind to Amari. But these small comforts can't relieve Amari's feelings of hopelessness and despair, and when an opportunity to escape presents itself, Amari and Polly decide to work together to find the thing they both want most...freedom.
Grand and sweeping in scope, detailed and penetrating in its look at
the complicated interrelationships of those who live together on a
plantation, Copper Sun is an unflinching and unforgettable look at the
African slave trade and slavery in America.
2006 (click to see the other 2006 award winning books)
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue
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Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Jump At The Sun;
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423104099
In Day of Tears, Julius Lester exposes the devastating reality of the slave experience. The novel begins with the largest slave auction in American history (later known as The Weeping Time). During the auction, members of slave families are sold to different masters and must face the fact that they will never see each other again. Lester takes you into the minds of the slaves and masters as he follows a girl�s journey from slavery to a life of freedom. adults read my YA books and never know that [they were] marketed for YA. I just write, and the books find the readers they�re supposed to have.
2005 (click to see the other 2005 award winning books)
Remember: The Journey to School Integration
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ISBN: 061839740X
Format: Hardcover, 78pp
Pub. Date: May 2004
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Age Range: 9 to 12
"On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. This pivotal decision ushered in an emotional and trying period in our nation's history, the effects of which still linger." Recalling this tumultuous time, Toni Morrison has collected archival photographs that depict the events surrounding school integration. These unforgettable images serve as the inspiration for Professor Morrison's text - a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the students who lived during the era of change in separate-but-equal schooling. Remember offers a unique pictorial and narrative journey that introduces children to a watershed period in American history and its relevance today.
2004 (click to see the other 2004 award winning books)
The
First Part Last
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ISBN: 0689849222
Format: Hardcover, 131pp
Pub. Date: June 2003
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Age Range: Young Adult
"Author Angela Johnson follows up her Coretta Scott King Award�winning novel,
Heaven,
with this absorbing prequel about a single teen struggling to accept his new
paternal role."
�The Barnes & Noble Review
Bobby is a typical urban New York City teenager -- impulsive, eager, restless. For his sixteenth birthday he cuts school with his two best buddies, grabs a couple of slices at his favorite pizza joint, catches a flick at a nearby multiplex, and gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever: He's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and fun times with friends are replaced by visits to Nia's pediatrician and countless social workers who all say that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption. Then tragedy strikes Nia, and Bobby finds himself in the role of single, teenage father. Because his child -- their child -- is all that remains of his lost love.
With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson tells the story of a young man's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it. The result is a gripping portrayal of a single teenage parenthood from the point of view of a young on the threshold of becoming a man.
2003 (click to see the other 2003 award winning books)
Bronx Masquerade
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by Nikki Grimes
ISBN: 0803725698
Format: Hardcover, 176pp
Pub. Date: January 2002
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers
When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class, some of his classmates clamor to read their poems aloud too. Soon they're having weekly poetry sessions and, one by one, the eighteen students are opening up and taking on the risky challenge of self-revelation. There's Lupe Alvarin, desperate to have a baby so she will feel loved. Raynard Patterson, hiding a secret behind his silence. Porscha Johnson, needing an outlet for her anger after her mother OD's. Through the poetry they share and narratives in which they reveal their most intimate thoughts about themselves and one another, their words and lives show what lies beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade.
2002 (click to see the other 2002 award winning books)
The Land
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by Mildred D. Taylor
In a tale written for young adults, Mildred D. Taylor combines her personal
family history with that of a country divided by racism, prejudice, and slavery.
The events in The Land unfold through the eyes of Paul Logan, the son of a
onetime slave and the white man who owned her. Paul's father treats him fairly
and with kindness most of the time, frequently allowing him the same privileges
he gives his legitimate sons. But as Paul grows older, certain harsh realities
make him realize that he will never be considered a true equal to his white
brothers -- or any white man, for that matter -- even if his skin is so light
that he might be able to "pass."
Because of his ancestry, Paul feels that he is caught between two worlds,
destined to be shunned by black folk as well as whites. The only person he can
relate to at all is Mitchell, a black boy who used to torment Paul but who has
now become a trusted friend. When the two run away together to escape their past
and find their fortune -- which for Paul means realizing his dream of one day
owning his own piece of land -- they encounter a world filled with heartbreaking
betrayal, backbreaking labor, and rampant prejudice. As they come to trust only
each other, their friendship grows ever stronger, until it seems that nothing --
not even a shared affection for the same woman -- can break the bond between
them. But for two black men struggling to make something of themselves in a
white-run world, life holds some tragic surprises in store.
In an author's note, Taylor explains that the character of Paul is based on one
of her own descendants. The hardships he encounters in his struggle to become a
landowner offer up a bittersweet lesson on the rewards of hard work and the
destructive power of racism, providing Taylor's readers with an unforgettable
look at the best, and worst, of humanity.
―Beth Amos (Barnes & Noble Editor)
2001 (click to see the other 2001 award winning books)
Miracle's
Boys
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by Jacqueline Woodson
ISBN: 0399231137
Format: Hardcover, 192pp
Pub. Date: March 2000
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Jacqueline Woodson snagged the 2001 Coretta Scott King Author Award for
Miracle's Boys, a moving tale of one family's struggle to make a better life for
themselves despite overwhelming odds and terrible tragedy. Woodson is no
stranger to award-winning fiction. Among the many awards she has received for
her novels are two prior Coretta Scott King Honors.
The story of Miracle's Boys is told by 12-year-old Lafayette Bailey, the
youngest of three brothers living in New York City. They are orphans, living
under the care of the oldest brother, Ty'ree, 22, a whiz kid who was forced to
give up on his dream of attending MIT so he could work full time and keep his
family together. The boys' diabetic mother, Milagro (Miracle), died of insulin
shock two years ago, and their father died before Lafayette was born, succumbing
to hypothermia after his heroic rescue of a woman and a dog from a frozen lake.
The middle brother, Charlie, 15, has been away at the Rahway Home for Boys for
the past two years, serving a sentence for armed robbery. But now that Charlie's
back home, it's all too clear to Lafayette that things will never be the same.
Charlie isn't the same tenderhearted and caring boy he used to be. Newcharlie,
as Lafayette now calls him, is changed: bitter, angry, and mean. It's bad enough
that the boys are struggling to survive against crushing poverty, oppressive
grief, and the ever-present threat of gang violence. Newcharlie's penchant for
finding trouble may prove to be a fatal chink in their already rusted armor,
leading to a breakup that would send Lafayette and Charlie off to foster homes.
In addition, each of the boys is toting a ton of emotional baggage: a collection
of guilty secrets, private demons, and mind-numbing fears. Their journey out of
the darkness is a step-by-step process toward an uncertain future, and the only
thing helping them along is their hope, their dreams, and their love for one
another -- "brother to brother to brother."
Woodson's talent for peeling away emotional layers and exposing the raw,
unadulterated truth is both riveting and refreshing. Young readers should
delight in the moving but funny voice of Lafayette as he deals with his grief,
anger, and sense of alienation. And the story's gritty prose and complex
characters provide a level of clarity and commonality that should speak well to
readers from age nine on up.
―Beth Amos (Barnes & Noble Editor)
2000 (click to see the other 2000 award winning books)
Bud, Not Buddy,
Christopher Paul Curtis
Date Published: August 1998
Recommend Age Range: 9 to 12
Winner of the 2000 Newbery Medal, and the 2000 Coretta Scott King Award.
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
Bud, Not Buddy is full of laugh-out-loud humor and wonderful characters, hitting the high notes of jazz and sounding the deeper tones of the Great Depression.
1999 (click
to see the other 1999 award winning books)
Title: Heaven,
Angela Johnson
Date Published: August 1998
Winner of the 1999 Coretta Scott King Author Award. Marley has lived in heaven with her parents and her brother for 12 years since the accident. She can't imagine her life any other way, but she may have to. Does Marley have the perfect life, or is her life the perfect lie?
1998
1998
1998
Forged
by Fire , Sharon Draper
After he was almost killed in an apartment fire while his mother went to buy
drugs, Gerald was raised by his aunt. Then one day, six years later, his mother returns
with her new husband and Angel, Gerald's little sister. As the children grow up, it
becomes more and more apparent that Angel needs Gerald's protection from her father's
abuse. But who will protect Gerald? Young Adult
1997
Slam!,
Walter Dean Myers
Sixteen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris can do it all on the basketball
court. His grades aren't so hot, though. And when his teachers jam his troubles in his
face, Slam blows up. He never doubted himself on the court until he found himself going
one on one with his future
1996
Her
Stories! African American Folktales, Fairy Tales and True Stories, Virginia Hamilton
For children ages 6 to 4.
In the tradition of Hamilton's The People Could Fly and In the Beginning, a dramatic new
collection of 25 compelling tales from the female African American storytelling tradition.
Each story focuses on the role of women--both real and fantastic--and their particular
strengths, joys and sorrows. Full-color illustrations
1995
Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters,
Patricia C. McKissack
For children ages 9 to 11.
In a poignant, heartwarming book rich in historical detail and careful research, two
Coretta Scott King Award-winning authors movingly describe Christmas on a pre-Civil War
plantation from two starkly different points of view--the big house and the slave
quarters. Magnificent full-color illustrations, along with recipes, poems, songs, journal
excerpts, and more add depth and authenticity to this extraordinary book.
1994
Toning the Sweep, Angela Johnson
One of the best-reviewed novels for young adults in 1993, this powerful debut is
reminiscent of Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale. This story spans three generations of
African-American women and their struggle to find a common ground for sharing love,
friendship, and hardships. Young Adult.
1993
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, Patricia C. McKissack
For children ages 8 to 12.
With an extraordinary gift for suspense, the award-winning author of Mirandy and Brother
Wind offers a collection of original spine-tingling tales inspired by African-American
history and the oral storyteller tradition. A 1993 Coretta Scott King Award winner. A 1993
Newbery Honor Book.
1992
Now is Your Time! The African American Struggle for Freedom
Walter Dean Myers
1991
The Road to Memphis, Mildred D.
Taylor
Set in Mississippi in 1941, The Road to Memphis
describes three harrowing, unforgettable days in the life of an African-American high
school girl dreaming of law school. Caught up in the center of tense racial dramas
unfolding around her, Cassie Logan is forced to confront the adult world as never before.
A Coretta Scott King Author Award Book.
1990
A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter
Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick McKissack
1989
Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers
For Young Adults.
The critically acclaimed story of one young man's tour of duty in Vietnam and a testament
to the thousands of young people who lived and died during the war. This generation's most
powerful Vietnam story. 1989 Coretta Scott King Author Award Book; ALA Notable Children's
Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.Ages Young Adult.
1988
The Friendship, Mildred D.
Taylor
Cassie Logan and her brothers have been warned never to
go to the Wallace store, so they know to expect trouble there. What they don't expect is
to hear Mr. Tom Bee, an elderly black man, daring to call the white storekeeper by his
first name. The year is 1933, the place is Mississippi, and any child knows that some
things just aren't done. Black & white illustrations. 56 pp. 50,000 print.
1987
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, Mildred Pitts Walter
Mildred Pitts Walter
For children ages 8 to 12.
Justin thinks housework is for women, until his cowboy grandfather teaches him otherwise
in this engaging modern-day cowboy story. Coretta Scott King Award.
1986
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales, Virginia Hamilton
"The well-known author retells 24 black American
folktales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and
cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom."--School Library Journal, starred
review. Full color.
1985
Motown and Didi: A Love Story
Walter Dean Myers
1984
Everett Anderson's Goodbye, Lucille
Clifton
1983
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, Virginia Hamilton
1982
Let the Circle Be Unbroken, Mildred
D. Taylor
Mildred
D. Taylor
For children ages 12 to 4.
The year is 1935. The young Logan family watches as their friend is charged with murder
and tried by an all-white jury. "A profoundly affecting novel."--Publishers
Weekly. Coretta Scott King Award.
1981
This Life
Sidney Poitier
1980
The Young Landlords, Walter Dean
Myers
Walter Dean
Myers
For Young Adults.
The derelict Stratford Arms is turned over to the Action Group to be cleaned up. But then
the group realizes that there is an outrageous bunch of tenants living in the building.
1979
Escape to Freedom; A Play about Young Frederick Douglass
Ossie Davis
1978
Africa Dream, Eloise Greenfield,
author Carole Byard, illustrator
Eloise Greenfield,
author Carole Byard, illustrator
For children ages 4 to 8.
An African-American child dreams of Africa, where she sees animals, shops in a
marketplace, reads from a strange old book, and returns to the village where her
granddaddy welcomed her so long ago.
1977
The Story of Stevie Wonder, James Haskins
1976
Duey's Tale, Pearl Bailey
1975
Legend of Africania
Dorothy Robinson, author Herbert Temple, illustrator
1974
Ray Charles
Sharon Bell Mathis, author George Ford, illustrator
1973
I Never Had It Made: The Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
Alfred Duckett
1972
17 Black Artists
Elton Fax
1971
Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes
Charlemae Rollins
1970
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace
Lillie Patterson
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards
2004 (click to see all the 2004 Illustrator award winning books)
Beautiful Blackbird
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Ashley Bryan
ISBN:
0689847319
Format: Hardcover, 40pp
Pub. Date: December 2002
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Age Range: 1 to 7
Long ago, Blackbird was voted the most beautiful bird in the forest. The other birds, who were colored red, yellow, blue, and green, were so envious that they begged Blackbird to paint their feathers with a touch of black so they could be beautiful too. Although Black-bird warns them that true beauty comes from within, the other birds persist and soon each is given a ring of black around their neck or a dot of black on their wings -- markings that detail birds to this very day.
Ashley Bryan's adaptation of a tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia resonates both with rhythm and the tale's universal meanings -- appreciating one's heritage and discovering the beauty within. His cut-paper artwork is a joy.
2000 (click to see all the 2000 Illustrator award winning books)
In the Time of the Drums,
Illustrated by Brian Pinkney, text by
Kim L. Siegelson
Publisher: Hyperion Books
for Children
Date Published: February 1999
Mentu, an American-born slave boy, watches his beloved grandmother, Twi, lead the insurrection at Teakettle Creek of Ibo people arriving from Africa on a slave ship.
1999
I
See the Rhythm, Toyomi Igus, Michele Wood (Illustrator)
Publisher: Children's Book Press
Date Published: April 1998
Winner of the 1999 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrator (Michele Wood). A celebration of African-American music and the far-reaching impact it has had on the world, I See the Rhythm traces the progression of black music from its traditional roots in Africa to contemporary hip hop.
1998
In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating
Fathers,
Javaka Steptoe
For children ages 7 to 4.
In this collection of poetry by new and established African-American writers, fatherhood
is celebrated with honor, humor and grace. Contributors include Carole Boston Weatherford,
Michael Burgess, E. Ethelbert Miller, Lenard
D. Moore, David Anderson, Angela Johnson, Sonia Sanchez and
Davida Adedjouma. Full color.
1997
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, Jerry Pinkney
For children ages 5 to 9.
Many people know about Harriet Tubman's adult life--how she helped hundreds of slaves
escape to freedom along the Underground Railroad. But how know about Harriet Tubman's life
as a little African-American girl? This dramatic portrayal will open the eyes of countless
young readers and help them to know the little girl who would become one of America's
greatest heroines. Full color.
1996
Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo
Tom Feelings
1995
Creation
James Ransome
For children ages 4 to 8.
A poem based on the story of creation from the first book of the Bible.
1994
Soul Looks Back in Wonder
Tom Feelings
1993
The Origin of Life on Earth: an African Creation Myth
Kathleen Atkins Wilson
1992
Tar Beach
Faith Ringgold
1991
Aida
Leo Dillon & Diane Dillon
1990
Nathaniel Talking
Jan Spivey Gilchrist
1989
Mirandy and Brother Wind
Jerry Pinkney
1988
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
John Steptoe
1987
Half a Moon and One Whole Star
Jerry Pinkney
1986
The Patchwork Quilt
Jerry Pinkney
1985
No Award Given
1984
My Mama Needs Me
Pat Cummings
1983
Black Child
Peter Magubane
1982
Mama Crocodile
John Steptoe
1981
Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum
Ashley Bryan
1980
Cornrows
Carole Byard
1979
Something on My Mind
Tom Feelings
Tom Feelings
