Coretta Scott King Award Winning Books for 2008

2008 CSK Winners

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Coretta Scott King Author Awards - 2008
Announced by the American Library Association during the Midwinter which took place in Philadelphia, PA, January 11-16 2008Below are the Coretta Scott King Award Winning Books for 2008. 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 see the award winning books from other years.

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Coretta Scott King Author Award

Elijah of Buxton
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by Christopher Paul Curtis

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.

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books

November Blues
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Sharon M. Draper

Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9781416906988
ISBN: 1416906983
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Publisher: Atheneum
Reading Level: Young Adult

When November Nelson loses her boyfriend, Josh, to a pledge stunt gone horribly wrong, she thinks her life can't possibly get any worse. But Josh left something behind that will change November's life forever, and now she's faced with the biggest decision she could ever imagine. How in the world will she tell her mom? And how will Josh's parents take the news? She's never needed a friend more.

Jericho Prescott lost his best friend when he lost his cousin, Josh, and the pain is almost more than he can bear. His world becomes divided into "before" and "after" Josh's death. He finds the only way he can escape the emptiness he feels is to quit doing the things that made him happy when his cousin was alive, such as playing his beloved trumpet, and take up football, where he hopes the physical pain will suppress the emotional. But will hiding behind shoulder pads really help? And will his gridiron obsession prevent him from being there for his cousin's girlfriend when she needs him most?

This sequel to The Battle of Jericho is a no-holds-barred look at what happens when life doesn't go as planned, by the acclaimed author of the 2007 Coretta Scott King Award winner Copper Sun.

Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali
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Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Bryan Collier

Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780763616922
ISBN: 0763616923
Number Of Pages: 80
Publication Date: November 13, 2007
Publisher: Candlewick
Reading Level: Ages 9-12

A dynamic author-illustrator team follows the threetime heavyweight champ through twelve rounds of a remarkable life.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. . . . I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived!"

From the moment a fired-up teenager from Kentucky won 1960 Olympic gold to the day in 1996 when a retired legend, hands shaking from Parkinson’s, returned to raise the Olympic torch, the boxer known as "The Greatest" waged many a fight. Some were in the ring, against opponents like Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier; others were against societal prejudice and against a war he refused to support because of his Islamic faith. Charles R. Smith Jr.’s rap-inspired verse weaves and bobs and jabs with relentless energy, while Bryan Collier’s bold collage artwork matches every move — capturing the "Louisville loudmouth with the great gift of rhyme" who shed the name Cassius Clay to take on the world as Muhammad Ali.

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

Let it Shine
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by Ashley Bryan

Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780689847325
ISBN: 0689847327
Number Of Pages: 48
Publication Date: January 09, 2007
Publisher: Atheneum
Reading Level: Ages 9-12

This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine.
Let it shine,
let it shine,
let it shine.

With a kaleidoscope of color and cut paper, Hans Christian Anderson Award nominee and two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan celebrates three favorite spirituals: "This Little Light of Mine," "Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In," and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." The power of these beloved songs simply emanates through his joyous interpretations. Come, sing, and celebrate!

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award

The Secret Olivia Told Me
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written by N. Joy

Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 1933491086
Number Of Pages: 32
Publication Date: September 15, 2007
Publisher: Just Us Books, Inc.
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Can you keep a secret? Olivia has a secret - a BIG secret. It's a secret that she tells only to her very best friend. And her friend promises she won't say a word. But the secret is really BIG and really Juicy. What happens when a trusted friend slips and the secret gets out?

Jazz On A Saturday Night
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Leo and Diane Dillon

Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0590478931
Number Of Pages: 40
Publication Date: September 01, 2007
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

If you have ever been lucky enough to hear great jazz, then you will understand the pure magic of this book. Leo and Diane Dillon use bright colors and musical patterns that make music skip off the page in this toe-tapping homage to many jazz greats. From Miles Davis and Charlie Parker to Ella Fitzgerald, here is a dream team sure to knock your socks off. Learn about this popular music form and read a biography of each player pictured-and then hear each instrument play on a specially produced CD. What's the featured song? "Jazz on a Saturday Night," written and recorded to accompany this book.

John Steptoe Award for New Talent

Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It
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Sundee T. Frazier

Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0385734395
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: October 09, 2007
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Release Date: October 09, 2007

TEN-YEAR-OLD TAE KWON DO blue belt and budding rock hound Brendan Buckley keeps a "Confidential" notebook for his top-secret
scientific discoveries. And he's found something totally top secret. The grandpa he's never met, who his mom refuses to talk about or see, is an expert mineral collector and lives nearby! Secretly, Brendan visits Ed DeBose, whose skin is pink, not brown like Brendan's, his dad's, or that of Grampa Clem's, who recently died. Brendan sets out to find the reason behind Ed's absence, but what he discovers can't be explained by science, and now he wishes he'd never found him at all. . . .