Coretta Scott King Award Honors

Twenty black and Puerto Rican children write their poetic impressions of growing up in the ghettos of America.

In this beautifully-written first book by Mildred Taylor, Cassie loves to listen to the trees. But can she save the old forest from being turned into lumber?

Stuff doesn't know anyone when he first moves to 116th Street. But all of that changes when he meets Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Gloria. Stuff and the gang grow close that eventful year, and nothing is ever like it again. That's the year modern science gets them all in jail; Stuff falls in love and is unfaithful; and Cool Clyde and Fast Sam win the dance contest-almost.

This time-saving, easy-to-use teacher guide includes inspiring lesson plans which provide a comprehensive novel unit--the legwork is done for you! The guide incorporates essential reading, writing and thinking practice.

Presents more than 20 Afro-American folktales featuring the escapades of Brer Rabbit and more than 10 tales describing the lives of Afro-American slaves.

An 11-year-old and her older twin brothers struggle to understand their supersensory powers.

A collection of poems written from the point of view of a child with a black mother and a white father.

Two short stories and one novella (all based on true stories) about love in the time of slavery. The first is about Ras, who helps other slaves escape, and ultimately escapes with his girlfriend, Sally. The second is about Maria, whose husband (a free black man) buys her but neglects to officially set her free; when he dies, she finds herself a slave again because her husband had debts and so she becomes the payment. The third is about William and Ellen Craft, a famous slave couple who escaped by pretending that Ellen (with her very light skin) was a white woman being escorted north by her slave; they went on to speak against slavery form the home base of Boston.

Pretty Pearl, a spirited young African god child eager toshow off her powers, travels to the New World where, disguised as a human, she lives among a band of free blacks who have created their own separate world deep inside a vast forest.

Four folktales from different parts of Africa include the title story, in which a clever mongoose outwits a foolish lion while rescuing six ostrich chicks. Reprint. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. SLJ. H.

The classic tales of Brer Rabbitt with a contemporary twist, by the award winning author Julius Lester and illustrated by award-winning Jerry Pinkney! Whether he is besting Brer Fox or sneaking into Mr. Man''s garden, Brer Rabbit is always teaching a valuable lesson. These classic tales are full of wit, humor, and creativity, and Julius Lester brings an added contemporary sense to these forty-eight timeless stories. "Lester juxtaposes a contemporary voice and settings (like shopping malls) with some dialect in these "wonderfully funny folktales,"--Publisher''s Weekly

Summary, While sitting through a fearsome thunderstorm that has put the lights out, Thomas hears a story from Grandfather's boyhood, when Grandfather was afraid of thunderstorms.

The true story of a young man struggling for freedom at the dawn of the Civil War Anthony Burns is a runaway slave who has just started to build a life for himself in Boston. Then his former owner comes to town to collect him. Anthony won’t go willingly, though, and people across the city step forward to make sure he’s not taken. Based on the true story of a man who stood up against the Fugitive Slave Law, Hamilton’s gripping account follows the battle in the streets and in the courts to keep Burns a citizen of Boston—a battle that is the prelude to the nation’s bloody Civil War.

A Southern folktale in which kind Blanche, following the instructions of an old witch, gains riches, while her greedy sister makes fun of the old woman and is duly rewarded.

A biography of the Baptist minister, focusing on his leadership role in the civil rights movement.

Summary, Twelve-year-old Jason describes the wonderful Christmas of1890 that he and his family celebrate in their home in Springfield, Ohio.

For use in schools and libraries only. An African American girl imagines being old with Grandaddy and joining him in such activities as playing cards all day, visiting the ocean, and eating bacon on the porch.

Award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Bryan has selected twenty best-known and best-loved African-American spirituals, including the title song, "All Night, All Day," and such others as "This Little Light of Mine," "O When the Saints Go Marching In," and "He''s Got the Whole World in His Hands." Glorious full-color pictures, piano accompaniment, and guitar chords help capture the spirit and essence of these timeless songs that can be enjoyed by people of every age and every level of musical skill.

Unhappy with her life at home, Sukey receives kindness and wealth from Mama Jo the mermaid.

Little Eight John, as mean as mean there was, persists in disobeying his mother until he finds his mischief backfiring on him.

Things are going OK for Jimmy. He's getting along and holding his own in a tough world that's getting even tougher. Until he meets up with a stranger standing in a dark hallway. A man who turns out to be Jimmy's father, Crab, whom he hasn't seen since he was a baby. Crab's got something to prove to Jimmy. Maybe he's not sure what it is. Maybe Jimmy's not sure he wants to hear it. But Crab's determined to break through to his son, and he knows this could be his last chance. So he takes Jimmy off on a trip halfway across the country to his old haunts. Because he has to show Jimmy who he was, who he is. His father. In this intense and intimate book, Walter Dean Myers takes an unsparing look at the ties that bind us, and sometimes free us. - Publisher. A teenage boy accompanies his father, who has recently escaped from prison, on a trip that turns out to be an, often painful, time of discovery for them both.

A biography of the former slave who became well-known as an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights.

In the segregated South of the 1920s, Uncle Jed was the only black barber in a county of sharecroppers. He always dreamed of owning his own barbershop, but his generous heart and some bad luck during the Depression forced him to defer that dream for years. Finally, on his 79th birthday, Uncle Jed opened the doors of his new shop. A Coretta Scott King Honor Book. An ALA Notable Children's Book. Full color. 40 pp. Ages 4-7. Pub: 1/98. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Relates briefly the rise of a convict through self-education and love of his black brothers to become a leader of the black people of the United States

A couple's youngest son is forced to leave his West African village because he chooses music over the more practical occupations of his brothers, but years later he returns to show the wisdom of his choice.

Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret... or by telling it.

Melanin Sun has a lot to say. But sometimes it's hard to speak his mind, so he fills up notebooks with his thoughts instead. He writes about his mom a lotu they're about as close as they can be, because they have no other family. So when she suddenly tells him she's gay, his world is turned upside down. And if that weren't hard enough for him to accept, her girlfriend is white. Melanin Sun is angry and scared. How can his mom do this to himuis this the end of their closeness? What will his friends think? And can he let her girlfriend be part of their family?

Rita Williams-Garcia’s masterful and bold Coretta Scott King Honor Book is fresh, funny, and powerfully relevant. This novel by a master storyteller and Newbery Honor-winning author is about one girl’s discovery of her family history—and her own place within it. When fourteen-year-old Gayle gets in trouble with a boy—again—her mother doesn’t give her a choice: Gayle is getting sent away from New York to her family down South, along with her baby, José. In a small town in Georgia, there is nowhere to go but church, nothing to do but chores, and no friends except her goody-goody, big-boned, kneesock-wearing cousin, Cookie. Gayle is stuck cleaning up after Great, the old family matriarch who stays upstairs in her bed. But the more she spends time with Cookie and Great, Gayle learns about her family’s history and secrets, stretching all the way back through the preachers and ancestors of the past. And slowly, the stories of her roots begin to change how Gayle sees her future. Like Sisters on the Homefront is a fast, gritty read about mistakes, second chances, and family. A strong choice for summer reading and for sparking conversation in the classroom or at home.

Long before the sun even thinks of rising the Haitian children run to school where they learn the letters, sounds, and words of their beautiful books.