Announced by the American Library Association during the Midwinter which took place in San Diego, CA on Jan 10th 2011 Below are the Coretta Scott King Award Winning Books for 2011. You'll find the Author Award and Honor Books, the Illustrator and illustrator honor books, the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award and the Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award winning Books.
Click here see the award winning books from prior years.
Coretta Scott King Author Award
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.
About the Author
Winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of five other distinguished novels for young adults: Blue Tights, Every Time a Rainbow Dies, Fast Talk on a Slow Track, Like Sisters on the Homefront, and No Laughter Here, the latter four of which were chosen as ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Like Sisters on the Homefront was also named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and a best book of the year by ALA Booklist, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Publishers Weekly. She has also written an acclaimed novel for middle-grade readers, One Crazy Summer, which the New York Times called "a powerful and affecting story of sisterhood and motherhood."
Rita Williams-Garcia is currently a faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. She has two daughters, Michelle and Stephanie, and lives in Jamaica, New York.
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books
Lockdown
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by Walter Dean Myers
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Amistad; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061214809
ISBN-13: 978-0061214806
Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either.
It seems as if the only progress that's going on at Progress juvenile facility is moving from juvy jail to real jail. Reese wants out early, but is he supposed to just sit back and let his friend Toon get jumped? Then Reese gets a second chance when he's picked for the work program at a senior citizens' home. He doesn't mean to keep messing up, but it's not so easy, at Progress or in life. One of the residents, Mr. Hooft, gives him a particularly hard time. If he can convince Mr. Hooft that he's a decent person, not a criminal, maybe he'll be able to convince himself.
Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers offers an honest story about finding a way to make it without getting lost in the shuffle.
Ninth Ward
Click to order via AmazonReading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition
Publication Date: August 16, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316043079
ISBN-13: 978-0316043076
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8 inchesAbout the Book
Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orlean's Ninth Ward. She doesn't have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya's visions show a powerful hurricane�Katrina�fast approaching, it's up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.Ninth Ward is a celebration of resilience, love, family, and friendship, and a deeply emotional story of transformation.
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
Click to order via Amazonby G. Neri (Author), Randy Duburke (Illustrator)
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Lee & Low Books (July 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1584302674
ISBN-13: 978-1584302674
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
Eleven-year old Roger is trying to make sense of his classmate Robert "Yummy" Sandifer's death, but first he has to make sense of Yummy's life. Yummy could be as tough as a pit bull sometimes. Other times he was as sweet as the sugary treats he loved to eat. Was Yummy some sort of monster, or just another kid? As Roger searches for the truth, he finds more and more questions. How did Yummy end up in so much trouble? Did he really kill someone? And why do all the answers seem to lead back to a gang-the same gang to which Roger's older brother belongs? Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty is a compelling graphic dramatization based on events that occurred in Chicago in 1994. This gritty exploration of youth gang life will force readers to question their own understandings of good and bad, right and wrong.
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
Click to order via Amazonby Laban Carrick Hill (Author), Bryan Collier (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031610731X
ISBN-13: 978-0316107310
Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill's elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier's resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave's story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.To us
it is just dirt,
the ground we walk on...
But to Dave
it was clay,
the plain and basic stuff
upon which he formed a life
as a slave nearly 200 years ago.About the Author
Laban Carrick Hill is the author of more than thirty books, including the 2004 National Book Award Finalist Harlem Stomp!, a book he researched for nearly a decade, and America Dreaming, which examines the legacy of the 1960s. He has taught writing at Columbia University, Baruch College, and St. Michael's College and is currently teaching at the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Pine Manor College in Massachusetts. He is also the cofounder and codirector of the Writers Project of Ghana, based in the US and Ghana.
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award
Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
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by Gary Golio
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Clarion Books (October 4, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618852794
ISBN-13: 978-0618852796
Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 10.6 x 0.4 inchesJimi Hendrix was many things: a superstar, a rebel, a hero, an innovator. But first, he was a boy named Jimmy who loved to draw and paint and listen to records. A boy who played air guitar with a broomstick and longed for a real guitar of his own. A boy who asked himself a question: Could someone paint pictures with sound?
This a story of a talented child who learns to see, hear, and interpret the world around him in his own unique way. It is also a story of a determined kid with a vision, who worked hard to become a devoted and masterful artist. Jimi Hendrix--a groundbreaking performer whose music shook the very foundations of rock 'n' roll.
About the Author
Gary Golio is a fine artist and a clinical social worker/psychotherapist who works with children and teens, specializing in the area of addiction. This is his first book. He lives in Ossining, New York. To learn more, please visit www.garygolio.com
John Steptoe Award for New Talent
zora and me
Click to order via Amazonby Victoria Bond (Author), T. R. Simon (Author)
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (October 12, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763643009
ISBN-13: 978-0763643003
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
Racial duplicity threatens an idyllic African American community in the turn-of-the-century South in a dazzling debut inspired by the early life of Zora Neale Hurston.
Whether she’s telling the truth or stretching it, Zora Neale Hurston is a riveting storyteller. Her latest creation is a shape-shifting gator man who lurks in the marshes, waiting to steal human souls. But when boastful Sonny Wrapped loses a wrestling match with an elusive alligator named Ghost — and a man is found murdered by the railroad tracks soon after — young Zora’s tales of a mythical evil creature take on an ominous and far more complicated complexion, jeopardizing the peace and security of an entire town and forcing three children to come to terms with the dual-edged power of pretending. Zora’s best friend, Carrie, narrates this coming-of-age story set in the Eden-like town of Eatonville, Florida, where justice isn’t merely an exercise in retribution, but a testimony to the power of community, love, and pride. A fictionalization of the early years of a literary giant, this astonishing novel is the first project ever to be endorsed by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust that was not authored by Hurston herself.
About the Author
Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon met ten years ago while working together in publishing and became fast friends. After kicking around the idea of a collaboration for years, the idea of writing a middle-grade novel about Zora Neale Hurston emerged, and both knew they had stumbled into the project of their dreams. Excited and humbled by the opportunity to expose young readers to a seminal figure in twentieth-century American letters, they discovered that Zora’s life as both field anthropologist and writer custom fit their own backgrounds. T. R. (Tanya) Simon has an MA in anthropology, while Victoria Bond holds an MFA in creative writing.
Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World
Click to order via Amazonby Jen Cullerton Johnson (Author), Sonia Lynn Sadler (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Lee & Low Books (June 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160060367X
ISBN-13: 978-1600603679
Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
As a young girl in Kenya, Wangari was taught to respect nature. She grew up loving the land, plants, and animals that surrounded her -from the giant mugumo trees her people, the Kikuyu, revered to the tiny tadpoles that swam in the river. Although most Kenyan girls were not educated, Wangari, curious and hardworking, was allowed to go to school. There, her mind sprouted like a seed. She excelled at science and went on to study in the United States. After returning home, Wangari blazed a trail across Kenya, using her knowledge and compassion to promote the rights of her countrywomen and to help save the land, one tree at a time. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace brings to life the empowering story of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman, and environmentalist, to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Engaging narrative and vibrant images paint a robust portrait of this inspiring champion of the land and of women's rights.
About the Author
Jen Cullerton Johnson is a writer, an educator, and an environmentalist with masters degrees in nonfiction writing and curriculum development. She has taught in countries all over the world and now teaches at an inner-city elementary school in Chicago, where she also conducts writing workshops. She is inspired by Wangari Maathai's dedication to women and the environment. Johnson can be found online at jencullertonjohnson.com. Seeds of Change is her first picture book.
Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith
Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita at the University of South Florida, Tampa, School of Library and Information Science“Dr. Smith’s life’s work has influenced generations of library professionals and readers, and embodies the essence of this lifetime achievement award,” stated Barbara Jones Clark, award committee chair.
Dr. Smith began her career as a children’s librarian and storyteller in the New York public library system in 1948. After receiving her Ph. D, Smith worked at Florida Atlantic University for ten years before becoming the first African American faculty member at the University of South Florida, School of Information. Retiring in 1993, she remains on the faculty as professor emerita.
Dr. Smith has served in numerous capacities within the American Library Association and has served on the Newbery, Caldecott, Batchelder, Wilder and Pura Belpré award selection committees. As part of the Coretta Scott King Task Force since its inception, Smith has edited four volumes about the history of the award.
Related Links
A
complete 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.
