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Below are the Coretta Scott King Award Winning Books for 2004. You'll find the author award and honor books, the illustrator and illustrator honor books as well as the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award winning Books. Click here for the previous year's winners. |
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Coretta Scott King Author
Awards - 2004 |
Author Award Winner
The
First Part Last
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Amazon
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.
Honor Books:
Days of Jubilee:
The End of Slavery In The United States
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Patricia C. McKissack, Fredrick L. McKissack, Leo Dillon (Illustrator)
ISBN: 059010764X
Format: Hardcover, 144pp
Pub. Date: January 2003
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Edition Description: 1ST
Age Range: 9
For two and a half centuries African-American slaves sang about, prayed for, and waited on their long anticipated freedom -- a day of Jubilee. But freedom didn't come for slaves at the same time. DAYS OF JUBILEE chronicles the various stages of U.S. emancipation beginning with those slaves who were freed for their service during the Revolutionary War, to those who were freed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Using slave narratives, letters, diaries, military orders, and other documents, the McKissacks invite young readers to celebrate coming freedom and the Days of Jubilee.
Locomotion
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ISBN: 0399231153
Format: Hardcover, 100pp
Pub. Date: January 2003
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Age Range: 9 to 12
When Lonnie was seven years old, his parents died in a fire. Now he's eleven, and he still misses them terribly. And he misses his little sister, Lili, who was put into a different foster home because "not a lot of people want boys-not foster boys that ain't babies." But Lonnie hasn't given up. His foster mother, Miss Edna, is growing on him. She's already raised two sons and she seems to know what makes them tick. And his teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper.
Told entirely through Lonnie's poetry, we see his heartbreak over his lost family, his thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and most of all his love for Lili and his determination to one day put at least half of their family back together. Jacqueline Woodson's poignant story of love, loss, and hope is lyrically written and enormously accessible.
The Battle of
Jericho
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Amazon
Sharon Mills Draper
ISBN: 0689842325
Format: Hardcover, 297pp
Pub. Date: June 2003
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Age Range: Young Adult
When Jericho is invited to pledge for the Warriors of Distinction, he thinks his life can't get any better. As the most exclusive club in school, the Warriors give the best parties, go out with the hottest girls, and sail through their classes. And when Arielle, one of the finest girls in his class, starts coming on to him once the pledge announcements are made, Jericho is determined to do anything to become a member....
But as the initiation week becomes progressively harrowing, Jericho is forced to make choices he's not entirely comfortable with. And one member seems to have it in for the sole female pledge in the group...a pledge who will stop at nothing to show she can handle the pressure. But when is she being pushed too far, and when should Jericho and his friends step in and risk losing their places in the pledging process? As Jericho becomes increasingly uneasy, his cousin Joshua breezes through the initiation, never thinking of the consequences, even when the fine line between fun and games, and life and death is crossed.
Sharon M. Draper proves once again that she knows just how real kids think, act, and feel in this haunting story of peer pressure, popularity, and hazing.
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Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards - 2004 |
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.
Almost to Freedom
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Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Colin Bootman (Illustrator)
ISBN: 157505342X
Format: Hardcover, 40pp
Pub. Date: September 2003
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Age Range: 6 to 10
Series: Carolrhoda Picture Books Series
Sally, tattered rag doll, tells the story of a young girl and her parents as they escape from slavery and start the dangerous journey along the Underground Railroad to a place called Freedom. Lindy and Sally are best friends -- wherever Lindy goes, so does Sally. They eat together, sleep together, and they even pick cotton together. So, when Lindy and her mama run away one night, Sally goes too. At their first stop, Sally and Lindy are hiding in the basement when slave catchers approach. Lindy and her parents must escape quickly. In the rush Sally is left behind, will she be found? Stunning paintings capture the drama and emotion of this unforgettable story.
Thunder Rose
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Jerdine Nolen, Kadir Nelson (Illustrator),
ISBN: 0152164723
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Pub. Date: September 2003
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company
Age Range: 5 to 8
On a dark night of howling rain and booming thunder, Jackson and Millicent MacGruder welcome a new baby girl into their lives. Imagine their surprise when she sits up, thanks them for bringing her into the world, and informs them that she's quite partial to the name Rose.
So begins the story of Thunder Rose, who drinks her milk straight from the cow and prefers the company of her bull, Tater, to any kitten or puppy. Rose is capturing outlaws by the time she's a teenager, but she always has time to find joy in a song. Jerdine Nolen and Kadir Nelson have created a tall tale -- and a powerful new African American heroine -- to delight readers of all ages.
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Coretta Scott King/John
Steptoe New Talent Author Award - 2004 |
Author Award Winner
The Way a Door
Closes
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Hope Anita Smith, Shane W. Evans (Illustrator)
ISBN: 080506477X
Format: Hardcover, 52pp
Pub. Date: March 2003
Publisher: Holt, Henry Books for Young Readers
Age Range: 8 to 12
With a click, a bang, a whisper--or no noise at all. There are so many ways that a door can close, but it's not just the closing; it's the knowing. And thirteen-year-old CJ knows too much--about losing his father, about his family's pain, and especially about what it means to hold things together when times are the toughest.
In this beautifully written and powerfully moving novel in poems, Hope Anita Smith tells the story of a young man's struggle to accept a father who has walked out on his family. Here, in CJ's words, is a portrait of hurt and healing, and finding the strength to open the door again.
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Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award - 2004 |
My Family Plays Music
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Judy Cox, Elbrite Brown (Illustrator)
ISBN:
0823415910
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Pub. Date: September 2003
Publisher: Holiday House, Inc.
Age Range: 5 to 8
Here’s a clan that outdoes even the Marsalis family. From her great grandmother, who plays a cathedral’s mighty pipe organ, to little niece Sadie, who plays pots and pans in the kitchen, it seems that everyone related to this high-energy young narrator is a musician. And she’s no exception, either: in fact, she plays with them all, on tambourine, triangle, cowbell, woodblock, maracas, handbell, and more. In cut-paper collages that look silk-screened, Brown depicts this exuberant percussionist with cornrows and a big grin, confidently accompanying big band and string quartet, dancing on club stages, and joining marching bands, plainly welcome wherever she goes. A closing glossary explains some of the terms and musical genres mentioned here, but it’s the pride this child takes in her family, and her place in that family, that readers will remember most clearly. �Kirkus Reviews
Related Links
American
Library Association
http://www.ala.org/srrt/csking/index.html
The Coretta Scott King Award is presented annually by the
Coretta Scott King Task Force of the American Library Association's Social
Responsibilities Round Table. Recipients are authors and illustrators of African
descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of
the "American Dream. "
Check out all the Coretta Scott King Award Winners since the Award's inception in 1969
AALBC Children's Book Section
http://aalbc.com/children.htm
The children's Literature Web Guide -
Newberry, Caldecott and other ALA Awards - 1999 Winners
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/ala99.html
