Coretta Scott King Awards 2010
Awards
Coretta Scott King Awards 2010
Designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace, the Coretta Scott King Books Awards annually recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience. Further, the Award encourages the artistic expression of the black experience via literature and the graphic arts in biographical, social and historical treatments by African American authors and illustrators.
2010 Author Winner
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, author of BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS
BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal
Carolrhoda Books
ISBN: 9780822567646
Ages 8-12
40 pages
November 2009
Sitting tall in the saddle, with a wide-brimmed black hat and twin Colt pistols on his belt, Bass Reeves seemed bigger than life. As a U.S. Marshal --- and former slave who escaped to freedom in the Indian Territories --- Bass was cunning and fearless.
When a lawbreaker heard Bass Reeves had his warrant, he knew it was the end of the trail, because Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this in spite of whites who didn't like the notion of a black lawman.
For three decades, Bass was the most feared and respected lawman in the territories. He made more than 3,000 arrests, and though he was a crach shot and a quick draw, he only killed 14 men in the line of duty. BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS reveals the story of a remarkable African American hero of the Old West.
2010 Author Honor
MARE’S WAR
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375857140
Ages 12-up
352 pages
June 2009
Octavia and Tali are dreading the road trip their parents are forcing them to take with their grandmother over the summer. After all, Mare isn’t your typical grandmother. She drives a red sports car, wears stiletto shoes, flippy wigs and push-up bras, and insists that she’s too young to be called Grandma. But somewhere on the road, Octavia and Tali discover there’s more to Mare than what you see. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less-than-perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
Told in alternating chapters, half of which follow Mare through her experiences as a WAC member and half of which follow Mare and her granddaughters on the road in the present day, this novel introduces a larger-than-life character who will stay with readers long after they finish reading.
2010 Illustrator Winner
Charles R. Smith Jr., author of MY PEOPLE
MY PEOPLE
Ginee Seo Books/Atheneum
ISBN: 9781416935407
Ages 4-8
40 pages
January 2009
Langston Hughes's spare yet eloquent tribute to his people has been cherished for generations. Now, acclaimed photographer Charles R. Smith Jr. interprets this beloved poem in vivid sepia photographs that capture the glory, the beauty and the soul of being a black American today.
2010 Illustrator Honor
THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS
Jump at the Sun/Disney-Hyperion
ISBN: 9780786818679
Ages 4-8
32 pages
January 2009
Langston Hughes has long been acknowledged as the voice, and his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” the song, of the Harlem Renaissance. Although he was only 17 when he composed it, Hughes already had the insight to capture in words the strength and courage of black people in America.
Artist E.B. Lewis acts as interpreter and visionary, using watercolor to pay tribute to Hughes’s timeless poem, a poem that every child deserves to know.
2010 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
Kekla Magoon, author of THE ROCK AND THE RIVER
THE ROCK AND THE RIVER
Aladdin Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416975823
Ages 9-14
304 pages
January 2009
For 13-year-old Sam it's not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no apparent reason. And then it happens: Sam finds something that changes everything forever.
Sam has always had faith in his father, but when he finds literature about the Black Panthers under Stick's bed, he's not sure who to believe: his father or his best friend. Suddenly, nothing feels certain anymore.
Sam wants to believe that his father is right: You can effect change without using violence. But as time goes on, Sam grows weary of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer at the hands of racism in their own community. Sam beings to explore the Panthers with Stick, but soon he's involved in something far more serious --- and more dangerous --- than he could have ever predicted. Sam is faced with a difficult decision. Will he follow his father or his brother? His mind or his heart? The rock or the river?
