Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners 1970 to Present
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The CSK Book Awards seal and award names are owned by the American Library Association.
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. “… an excellent start on your quest for the best in African-American literature for children.”
The award was established in 1969 to recognize authors. In 1979 it was expanded to include a separate award for illustrators. There are now five categories for book awards; Author, Author Honor, Illustrator, Illustrator Honor, and the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
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 for her continuing efforts in working for peace and civil rights issues. In 2015 The Coretta Scott King Awards became part of the Youth Media Awards. Here is a printable list of all the award winning books.
You may learn more about this award at the American Library Association’s website. Also check out our list of Top 100+ Recommended African-American Children’s Books, some are also CSK Award winning titles.
10 Coretta Scott King Award Winning and Honored Books for 2022
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation s history.
Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation s history. The book traces the history of African Americans in Tulsa s Greenwood district and chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Black community.
News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation occurred for seventy-five years. This picture book sensitively introduces young readers to this tragedy and concludes with a call for a better future.
Home Is Not a Country
Nothing short of magic. Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X
From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa s 30 Under 30 list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been. Woven through with moments of lyrical beauty, this is a tender meditation on family, belonging, and home.
my mother meant to name me for her favorite flower
its sweetness garlands made for pretty girls
i imagine her yasmeen bright & alive
& i ache to have been born her instead
Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn t feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn t feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn t different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can t, and suddenly her only refuge is gone.
As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen the name her parents meant to give her at birth Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows. And the life Nima wishes were someone else s is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People
by Kekla Magoon
With passion and precision, Kekla Magoon relays an essential account of the Black Panthers as militant revolutionaries and as human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community.
In this comprehensive, inspiring, and all-too-relevant history of the Black Panther Party, Kekla Magoon introduces readers to the Panthers community activism, grounded in the concept of self-defense, which taught Black Americans how to protect and support themselves in a country that treated them like second-class citizens. For too long the Panthers story has been a footnote to the civil rights movement rather than what it was: a revolutionary socialist movement that drew thousands of members mostly women and became the target of one of the most sustained repression efforts ever made by the U.S. government against its own citizens.
Revolution in Our Time puts the Panthers in the proper context of Black American history, from the first arrival of enslaved people to the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Kekla Magoon s eye-opening work invites a new generation of readers grappling with injustices in the United States to learn from the Panthers history and courage, inspiring them to take their own place in the ongoing fight for justice.
Kekla Magoon is a national treasure, and Revolution in Our Time passionately and meticulously details a critical truth that is both feared and necessary in the classroom.
Rita Williams-Garcia, award-winning author of A Sitting in St. James
The People Remember
by Ibi Zoboi, Illustrated by Loveis Wise
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her debut picture book a tour de force that uses the principles of Kwanzaa to talk about the history of African Americans. This lyrical, powerful tribute is sumptuously illustrated by New Yorker artist and rising star Loveis Wise. A beautiful gift for readers of all ages and for fans of Kadir Nelson s Heart and Soul.
The People Remember tells the journey of African descendants in America by connecting their history to the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It begins in Africa, where people were taken from their homes and families. They spoke different languages and had different customs.
Yet they were bound and chained together and forced onto ships sailing into an unknown future. Ultimately, all these people had to learn one common language and create a culture that combined their memories of home with new traditions that enabled them to thrive in this new land.
Sumptuously illustrated, this is an important book to read as a family a story young readers can visit over and over again to deepen their understanding of African American history in relation to their own lives and current social justice movements. By turns powerful and revealing, this is a lyrical narrative that tells the story of survival, as well as the many moments of joy, celebration, and innovation of Black people in America.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation s history.
Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation s history. The book traces the history of African Americans in Tulsa s Greenwood district and chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Black community.
News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation occurred for seventy-five years. This picture book sensitively introduces young readers to this tragedy and concludes with a call for a better future.
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
by Traci N. Todd, Illustrated by Christian Robinson
This illuminating and defining picture book biography illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Christian Robinson, tells the story of little Eunice who grew up to become the acclaimed singer Nina Simone and her bold, defiant, and exultant legacy.
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in small town North Carolina, Nina Simone was a musical child. She sang before she talked and learned to play piano at a very young age. With the support of her family and community, she received music lessons that introduced her to classical composers like Bach who remained with her and influenced her music throughout her life. She loved the way his music began softly and then tumbled to thunder, like her mother s preaching, and in much the same way as her career. During her first performances under the name of Nina Simone her voice was rich and sweet but as the Civil Rights Movement gained steam, Nina s voice soon became a thunderous roar as she raised her voice in powerful protest in the fight against racial inequality and discrimination.
2022 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Winner
A 2022 Jane Addams Children s Book Award Finalist
A 2021 Publishers Weekly Best Book
A 2021 Kirkus Best Book
A 2021 Horn Book Fanfare List Pick
Soul Food Sunday
by Winsome Bingham, Illustrated by C. G. Esperanza
Granny teaches her grandson to cook the family meal in this loving celebration of food, traditions, and gathering together at the table
On Sundays, everyone gathers at Granny s for Soul Food.
But today, I don t go to the backyard or the great room.
I follow Granny instead.
You re a big boy now, Granny says. Time for you to learn.
At Granny s, Sunday isn t Sunday without a big family gathering over a lovingly prepared meal. Old enough now, our narrator is finally invited to help cook the dishes for the first time: He joins Granny in grating the cheese, cleaning the greens, and priming the meat for Roscoe Ray s grill. But just when Granny says they re finished, her grandson makes his own contribution, sweetening this Sunday gathering and the many more to come.
Evocatively written and vividly illustrated, this mouthwatering story is a warm celebration of tradition and coming together at a table filled with love and delicious food.
We Wait For The Sun
by Katie McCabe, Illustrated by Raissa Figueroa
A beautiful and uplifting non-fiction picture book from Katie McCabe and trailblazing civil rights lawyer and activist Dovey Johnson Roundtree, We Wait for the Sun.
In the hour before dawn, Dovey Mae and Grandma Rachel step into the cool, damp night on a secret mission: to find the sweetest, ripest blackberries that grow deep in the woods.
But the nighttime holds a thousand sounds and a thousand shadows and Dovey Mae is frightened of the dark. But with the fierce and fearless Grandma Rachel at her side, the woods turn magical, and berry picking becomes an enchanting adventure that ends with the beauty and power of the sunrise.
A cherished memory from Dovey Johnson Roundtree s childhood, this magical experience speaks to the joy that pulsed through her life, even under the shadow of Jim Crow. With Grandma Rachel s lessons as her guiding light, Dovey Mae would go on to become a trailblazer of the civil rights movement fighting for justice and equality in the military, the courtroom, and the church. With warm, vibrant illustrations from Raissa Figueroa, We Wait for the Sun is a resonant, beautiful story told through one exquisite page turn after another.
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2021
Evanston Public Library 101 Great Books for Kids List of 2021
Me (Moth)
A debut YA novel-in-verse by Amber McBride, Me (Moth) is about a teen girl who is grieving the deaths of her family, and a teen boy who crosses her path.
Moth has lost her family in an accident. Though she lives with her aunt, she feels alone and uprooted.
Until she meets Sani, a boy who is also searching for his roots. If he knows more about where he comes from, maybe he ll be able to understand his ongoing depression. And if Moth can help him feel grounded, then perhaps she too will discover the history she carries in her bones.
Moth and Sani take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors. The way each moves forward is surprising, powerful, and unforgettable.
Here is an exquisite and uplifting novel about identity, first love, and the ways that our memories and our roots steer us through the universe.
Me (Moth) holds you like a gentle haint, pulling you in and out of song, and dance, and dreams until you are not sure where reality ends and memory begins. Amber McBride in her young adult debut has written a marvelous novel in verse full of ancestor wisdom and love that traverses crossroads that we must navigate to live. Joanne V. Gabbin, Director, Furious Flower Poetry Center
The Me I Choose to Be
by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, Illustrated by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt
The bestselling author of I Love My Hair! joins forces with a dynamic photography duo in this stunning celebration of the many things you can be!
What will you choose to be?
A free spirit?
A weaver of words?
A star dancing across the night sky?
A limitless galaxy?
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