Youths4Peace

Coretta Scott King
Award Books

2006 Coretta Scott King Awards

Author Medal Award

Lester, Julius.  Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue.  Jump At the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2005.  ISBN:  078680494.

Based on a little known event in March of 1859 at the Pierce Butler Plantation, this novel unfolds a story during the time of the largest slave auction in the history of the United States.  Gr. 6 to 8.

Author Honor Awards

Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl. Harry N. Abrams, 2005. ISBN: 0810950456.

Based on an unpublished memoir by Ms. Maritcha Lyons — Memories of Yesterdays:  All of Which I Saw and Part of Which I Was, dated 1928 — this biography charts the incredible story of a free black girl growing up in the midst of racism, and the courage she had to overcome opposition.  It includes a wealth of photographs, archival maps, and illustrations, and details strong connections that Maritcha had with people like Frederick Douglass and the Tappan family (who were founders of Oberlin College).   Gr. 6 to 8.

Grimes, Nikki.  Dark Sons.  Jump At the Sun/Hyperion Book for Children, 2005.  ISBN:  0786818883.

From different time periods, set in four parts and written in free verse, this honor book is about two boys and their struggled relationships with their fathers. Taken from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Ismael is Abram’s son, while Sam, who is James’ son, lives in the 21st Century in Brooklyn, New York. Though distanced through time, their experiences converge in their relationships with their heavenly Father, who never lets them down.         Gr. 9 to 12.

Nelson, Marilyn. Illustrated by Philippe Lardy. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005. ISBN: 0618397523.

This profound and chilling sonnet is in remembrance of Emmett Till, who was lynched in 1955 for supposedly whistling at a white woman.                Gr. 9 to 12.

Illustrator Medal Award

Giovanni, Nikki. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. Rosa. Henry Holt and Company, 2005. ISBN: 0805071067.

Nikki Giovanni retells the story of Rosa Parks’ courage as she took a quiet stand against segregation. The result of her actions changed the course of history for all of Montgomery, Alabama and for all African Americans throughout the U.S.  Gr. 3 to 5.

Illustrator Honor Award

Williams, Mary. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Lee & Low, 2005. ISBN: 1584302321.

Garang, a young boy, shares how his life, as well as the lives of about a thousand other boys, changed drastically when their villages were attacked because of war. Without any parents, these boys grouped together tightly as they traveled for days to Ethopia from their war-torn country of Sudan.       Gr. 3-5.

2005

2007