Ezra Jack Keats Award Winning and Honored Books
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The Ezra Jack Keats Award was established in 1985 and the New Illustrator Award in 2001 to recognize and encourage emerging talent in the field of children’s books. Many past winners have gone on to distinguished careers, creating books beloved by parents, children, librarians, and teachers around the world.
The EJK Award is given annually to an outstanding new writer and new illustrator by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. A distinguished selection committee reviews the entries, seeking books that portray the universal qualities of childhood, a strong and supportive family, and the multicultural nature of our world. Learn more about this award at Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.
Below are the Ezra Jack Keats Award Winning or Honored Books featuring Black Main Characters.
2 Books Received The Ezra Jack Keats Award or Honor in 2002
Freedom Summer: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Summer
by Maya Angelou, Illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue
Friendship defies racism for two boys in this stirring story of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now in a 50th Anniversary Edition with a refreshed cover and a new introduction. John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn t swim in the town pool with me.
He s not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there s one important way they re different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn t allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people s hearts. This 50th Anniversary Edition of a cherished and touching story includes a new introduction and a refreshed cover.
Freedom Summer: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Summer
by Maya Angelou, Illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue
Friendship defies racism for two boys in this stirring story of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now in a 50th Anniversary Edition with a refreshed cover and a new introduction. John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn t swim in the town pool with me.
He s not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there s one important way they re different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn t allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people s hearts. This 50th Anniversary Edition of a cherished and touching story includes a new introduction and a refreshed cover.
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