On Tuesday, April 30, the Takoma Park Maryland Library and Politics & Prose hosted a special celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and it truly was a conversation for the ages. Skillfully led by moderator Deborah D. Taylor, our two presenters, legendary poet Eloise Greenfield and best-selling author Jason Reynolds, talked about how and why they write for children, their mutual love of the “musicality” of language, and the importance for all young readers to see themselves in books.
Taylor succinctly summed up the importance and celebratory
feeling of the evening for the audience of over 150 people by noting that “it
is something very special and very unusual to be able to talk to two people who
have been both at the beginning of something and at the current level of
recognition of outstanding work.”
Photo credit: Maurice Belanger
In fact, all three people on the stage at our event were Coretta Scott King Award winners: Greenfield and Taylor are both winners of the CSK-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award (Taylor in 2015, and Greenfield in 2018), and Reynolds has won the 2015 CSK-John Steptoe Award for new talent and three CSK Author Honors. Taylor stunned Reynolds by telling him that only one other author had won Coretta Scott King Awards in four consecutive years: Virginia Hamilton. Reynolds noted in an Instagram post later that evening, “I couldn’t believe it. Virginia Hamilton and me. Isabell’s son. I’m still reeling from that.”
The through-line from Greenfield, who will soon turn 90, to the 35-year-old Reynolds is a strong and personal one. Indeed, Reynolds spoke of how he once worked in a bookstore specializing in African American writers and hand-sold, and also purchased for his own young relatives, many copies of Greenfield’s classic book, Honey, I Love. But Reynolds’ connection to Greenfield began even earlier; when he was 15 years old, he heard Greenfield read from her books at the main branch of the Washington, D.C. library system.
Photo credit: Maurice Belanger
“It means the world to me, 20 years later, to sit next to her and share a stage,” Reynolds said, adding that Greenfield’s writing “helped me to understand another version of what poetry could be… how much you could say with a bit of brevity.”
Greenfield, meanwhile, talked about what drew her into the
world of children’s literature, with a special focus on African American
children. “… it was very important to me to see that this work was being done,”
she said. “My goal is to make children know how much they are loved…. I want
them to be proud of themselves and have confidence in themselves because the
world is not always that kind to them and to us who are Black.”
Photo credit: Maurice Belanger
Greenfield and Reynolds also talked about their writing process. In the Q&A following the main presentation, Greenfield, who has just published Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me, was asked to describe the “peaks” and the “pits” of writing. Greenfield responded, “It’s all tough.” She added that, because she writes for children, “people ask, ‘Didn’t you have fun writing this? No, I didn’t! I want the children who read it to have fun, but I didn’t have fun…. It’s hard work, but it’s very, very satisfying work.” Reynolds agreed, noting, “I tell everyone, ‘If you like it, somebody really suffered for it.”
Photo credit: Maurice Belanger
One of the most interesting questions of the evening was asked by a young audience member, who asked if Greenfield and Reynolds would ever collaborate. Reynolds immediately replied, “It would be my dream.” Greenfield added, “That would be wonderful.”
These are just a few of the many unforgettable moments during our 50th CSK anniversary event. Fortunately, there’s a way for everyone to enjoy the entire evening by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/ulz6JsKoya4. It’s well worth watching!
Karen MacPherson is the children’s & young adult manager at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, a member of the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), and on the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Board of Directors.
Lesa Cline-Ransome, Renée Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia and Tiffany Jackson Photo credit: Danielle Privat
On April 23, in Langston Hughes’s Harlem brownstone living room, four Coretta Scott King Award recipients gathered to share their stories of winning the honor and what it means to them. Mutual admiration radiated from Lesa Cline-Ransome, Tiffany Jackson, Renee Watson, and Rita Williams-Garcia, to the delight of the enthusiastic audience. Perched next to one of Hughes’s typewriters, Jennifer Baker from Minorities in Publishing moderated the four writers through a discussion of their inspirations and paths to authorship. Then, on an eventful morning, their phones rang to make them award winners.
Tiffany Jackson, 2019 Steptoe winnter, with Bweela Steptoe Photo credit: Susan Polos
Cline-Ransome described her joy at being recognized for Finding Langston after nearly two decades of publishing books for young readers. She explained that children’s literature allowed her to investigate people’s lives and follow her passion for writing without talking to interview subjects, as a journalist would. As a child, Jackson, the John Steptoe New Talent Award winner for Monday’s Not Coming, sought out the CSK “sticker books” but never imagined becoming a recipient herself. She confessed how little she knew about the award process before publishing her first YA novel; CSK regular Jason Reynolds broke it to her that she should expect to speak at the awards breakfast.
Renee Watson detailed the surreal experience of
receiving calls about Piecing Me Together from the Newbery committee and
the CSK jury on the same morning, hearing from the Newbery group first. When
the phone rang a second time, her first thought was “no take backs!” but
fortunately, the call came from the CSK committee with more wonderful news.
Rita Williams-Garcia–a four-time CSK winner for Like Sisters on the
Homefront, One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven, and Gone
Crazy in Alabama–reiterated the particular delight of recognition from the
Coretta Scott King jury. “The N-bery is lovely, but winning the CSK is like
hearing mama say she approves.”
Photo credit: Susan Polos
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee co-sponsored the event with the I, Too Arts Collective, a non-profit organization founded by Renee Watson and dedicated to cultivating underrepresented voices in the arts. The evening brought together librarians, students, writers, family, and more to celebrate these notable women and the award’s rich history. Asked about their own inspirations and influences, the authors offered support for each other. They shouted out some favorite CSK winners over the years, especially current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jacqueline Woodson, both for the lyricism of her writing and her way of being in the world. What they admire in her, they each strive to provide in their own writing: to reflect and validate the experience of other African-American readers, from D.C. to the Pacific Northwest. As the Coretta Scott King Book Award community honors the award’s impact for 50 years, these four authors demonstrate their power to inspire, commemorate, and shine a light.
On April 27, the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) held a party at Central Library to launch a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Claudette McLinn, the Chair for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, joined Jené Brown, Associate Director of the library’s Engagement and Outreach Department, to kick off festivities for children that included a storytime, coloring craft, party hats, and cake. Because Mrs. King would have turned 92 on April 27, the children also sang “Happy Birthday.”
Dr. Claudette McLinn
LAPL Public Librarian Mara Alpert
Jené Brown, Mara Alpert & Claudette McLinn
Anniversary celebrations in LAPL’s 73-library system will feature events and programs at branches across the city throughout the year; an online Coretta Scott King 50th Anniversary Reading Challenge; and the “Our Voice” exhibit of original illustrations from Coretta Scott King Award-winning books, November 8, 2019 – January 27, 2020, at Central Library.
Jené Brown and Claudette McLinn
Presented annually, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
Visit lapl.org/csk50 for details about LAPL’s reading challenge and upcoming 50th-anniversary events.
Jené Brown is Associate Director of the Los Angeles Public Library’s Engagement and Outreach Department. She serves as Recording Secretary for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee.
Jewel Davis speaking to 4th and 5th-grade students Photo Credit: Appalachian State University Academy at Middle Fork
On a cool early morning in mid-March 2019, I arrived at the Appalachian State University Academy at Middle Fork, where over 200 elementary students were participating in a Mad about Books March Madness tournament. The tournament featured a weekly bracket of four picture books from major book awards–the Caldecott, Pura Belpré, Sibert, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Each week featured a new award, and I was visiting to present information about the Coretta Scott King Book Awards criteria and tips for reading and selecting award-winning picture books.
During each presentation, I was met with bright-eyed and excited children. Together, we talked about the unique criteria of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards and how we could read picture books to select the best ones. We practiced using the tips below as we read In Plain Sight, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and written by Richard Jackson.
Look at the whole book!
Taking the time to examine the
various parts of a picture book (cover art, book jacket, casing, endpapers,
text, illustrations, etc.) can give more insight into how all of the parts of
the book work together to tell the story.
Before even diving into the text of In Plain Sight, readers are given a number of clues about the characters and story through the illustrated jacket, cover, and endpapers. We spent time making inferences about the beginning illustrations, and the students were delighted to find that the clues they pointed out made appearances later in the story and supported their observations.
2. Use your eyes, your heart, and your brain!
Asking readers to describe what they see on the page and how that makes them feel and what it makes them think can help push readers beyond simple observation into interpretation and analysis.
Looking at the illustration on the
title page, students made insightful remarks about the close relationship
between the characters because of how they interpreted the characters’ body
language and facial expressions.
3. Listen to what others notice.
A major part of choosing the best
books requires listening to what others think and notice about the book.
Working together to understand and make meaning of the various elements of a
book helps ensure the best book rises to the top. Together we listened to each other’s
observations, inferences, and insights, and together we began to realize what a
magical and exemplary book In Plain Sight is.
Some of the magic of In Plain Sight can be found in the interactive and participatory hide and seek game within the story. The elementary students excitedly engaged in exploring with each other to find the hidden items Grandpa placed around the room. Pinkey’s highly skilled pencil and watercolor illustrations are brimming with details. Students who made close observations could see the illustrated items around the room telling Grandpa’s rich past and present. In Plain Sight also showcases the warm and joyous cross-generational relationship between Sophie and her grandfather. Both characters delight in their time together, and I talked with the students about the importance and benefits of spending time with older relatives or family friends.
After using In Plain Sight to introduce students to the criteria and tips, I highlighted the titles they would be reading and judging for their March Madness brackets. It was heartwarming to see many of the children eager to read and judge newly awarded titles. With the award criteria fresh in their minds and some practice under their belts, I am sure they will work together to select their own winning title!
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Jewel Davis is the Education Librarian in a PreK-12 Curriculum Materials Center at Appalachian State University’s Belk Library and Information Commons. She is a member of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury.
Black Books Matter Panel Speakers and Moderator. Photo credit Sylvia Vardell.
The Coretta Scott King Book (CSK) Awards Committee/Community was well represented at the 56th edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, Italy, April 1-4, 2019. The CSK Community was invited to present at a flagship event titled: Black Books Matter: African American Words and Colors. The goal of the presentation was to promote the importance of diversity in children’s books at this international festival, with a special focus on African American literature and illustration.
Dr. Claudette McLinn; Chris Myers; Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop; Nikki Grimes; Ilaria Dall’Olio (host); Joshunda Sanders. Photo credit: Mike McLinn.
The distinguished panel included: Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee; Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, Author and Professor Emerita at The Ohio State University; Christopher “Chris” Myers, CSK Award-winning author and illustrator; Nikki Grimes, CSK Award-winning poet and author; and Joshunda Sanders, author and journalist. Leonard S. Marcus, critic and historian of children’s literature was the moderator.
The thought-provoking discussion centered on the various representations of African American life and culture. It also focused on the Coretta Scott King Books Awards, one of the most important prizes in children’s literature. Many questions were generated from the packed meeting room with varying viewpoints from the international attendees.
OUR VOICE art exhibit. Photo credit: Mike McLinn
The event was paired with the art exhibition Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, which showcased the work of over 30 major picture book illustrators and their representation of life, history, and culture of African Americans. This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) in Abilene, Texas, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the award.
OUR VOICE art exhibit. Photo credit: Mike McLinn.
CSK members who attended the Bologna Children’s Book Fair events were Therese Bigelow, Mary Beth Dunhouse, Dr. Elizabeth Poe, and Barbara Scotto.
This panel presentation and art exhibition was a true excursion into the African American experience, which was intensified by the lively exchange between the panel members and audience. In the words of Therese Bigelow, “What an amazing experience!”
Dr. Claudette McLinn is Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee. She is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature.
The 2000s were a decade of change: a new decade, a new century, and a new millennium. A time when our nation experienced the consequences of a horrifying tragedy: the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but also a time that fortunately ended on a joyful note when many children across the country saw themselves represented in our nation’s highest political office for the first time with the election of the first African American President, Barack Obama. This decade also witnessed the Coretta Scott King Books Awards continuing to shine its light on numerous prominent authors and illustrators. In the 2000s, the CSK Book Award was given to its first Nobel Prize winner, Toni Morrison, 2005 CSK Author Winner for Remember: The Journey to School Integration. Jerry Pinkney won an additional CSK Illustrator Winner Award in 2002 for Goin’ Someplace Special and was awarded a CSK Illustrator Honor two more times, in 2005 for God Bless the Child and in 2009 for The Moon Over Star. Ashley Bryan added two more CSK Illustrator Winner Awards to his mantle, in 2004 for Beautiful Blackbird and 2008 for Let It Shine. Mildred D. Taylor won her final CSK Author Award in 2002 for The Land.
Perhaps most significantly, this was the decade where two prominent illustrators made a splash in the children’s publishing world and made a huge impact on the Coretta Scott King Book Award community. Kadir Nelson and Bryan Collier received numerous honors and awards for their work through art and the written word for celebrating many prominent African Americans in history while also illuminating lesser-known yet equally important stories.
Bryan Collier
Born in Maryland in 1967 as the youngest of six children, Bryan was always an artistic child. With a mother who worked as a teacher, Bryan was always surrounded by books and was primarily drawn to the art in picture books. He remembers reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Harold and the Purple Crayon and becoming fascinated by the illustrations and the joy they conveyed. This led him to attend art school at Pratt Institute in New York, where his signature watercolor and collage pieces attracted the attention of children’s book publishers. Of his nine CSK winner and honor awards, five of them were awarded in the 2000s. He has won more CSK awards than any other illustrator.
In 2001, Bryan was awarded his first CSK Illustrator Winner
Award for Uptown, which he also
wrote. Uptown celebrates Harlem, the
historic African American New York City neighborhood that has been the home of
Black intellectuals, poets, and activists. This thriving community, seen
through the eyes of a young boy, allows the reader to feel the vibrant nature
of the neighborhood and its people through everyday life experiences. From
basketball courts and brownstones to the Apollo Theater and the jazz stylings
of Duke Ellington, Bryan’s artwork effectively conveys the joy and sometimes
struggles of this community.
That same year, Collier was awarded a CSK Illustrator Honor for Freedom River, written by Doreen Rappaport. A story that highlights the little-known tale of John Parker, an African-American man who bought his freedom from slavery and devoted his life afterward to helping hundreds of people escape slavery through the dangerous Underground Railroad. Unlike Uptown, where Bryan’s art conveys joy and effusion, the art in Freedom River conveys the fear and terror experienced by those trying to escape to a better life. In his collage work, Bryan’s use of deep blues and blacks accentuates the emotions and the treacherous path that many had to experience to achieve their basic human right of freedom.
In 2002, Bryan won his second CSK Illustrator Honor and his
third CSK Book Award overall for his work in Martin’s Big Words, a picture book biography about minister and
civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Working again with Doreen
Rappaport, Collier achieved an accessible look at the complicated life of one of
modern history’s most famous people. Dr. King was a Baptist minister; many of
Bryan’s illustrations effectively juxtapose light against the stained glass
windows endpapers, revealing King’s majestic serenity. A young boy features prominently throughout these
illustrations, providing young readers with a gateway into the life of this
distinguished man and his activism, making this book stand above other MLK, Jr.,
biographies for children. For his artistic achievement in this work, Bryan was
awarded the first of his four Caldecott Honors.
The following year (2003), Bryan won his third Illustrator
Honor and fourth CSK award overall for Visiting
Langston. Collaborating with acclaimed poet Willie Perdomo, Bryan showcases
the joy of Langston Hughes and his work by telling the story of a young girl
who is excited about the thought of going to Langston Hughes’s house in NYC
(which is still open and operational today) with her father. The appreciation
for Hughes’s work resonates through his complex art that, at times,
incorporates Perdomo’s words in the illustrations. In one particularly
breathtaking spread, the young girl sees the highest peak of Hughes’s home
drenched in light reminiscent of light shining through the window of a church.
In 2006, Collier received his second CSK Illustrator Award and fifth CSK award overall for his larger-than-life work in Rosa. Joining forces with legendary poet Nikki Giovanni, Collier illustrates the story of Rosa Parks, an ordinary woman who did something extraordinary by taking a stand. What makes this story tower over the mountain of titles about Ms. Parks is the breathtaking artwork from Bryan. Not only do the illustrations complement the text, but they also extend the text with his glorious signature use of color and light. Murky greens and grays convey the hot, hazy Alabama heat while bright beacons of light shine on Rosa throughout her journey. The illustration on the front cover is the pièce de résistance of this fine work. The tall white police officer stands menacingly over Rosa while her bright eyes convey her courage, her fear, and her determination to stand up (or, in her case, sit down) for what is right. In the background, Rosa is surrounded by what looks like a halo. This stunning work gave Bryan his second of four Caldecott Honors.
Kadir Nelson
“I feel that art’s highest function
is that of a mirror, reflecting the innermost beauty and divinity of the human
spirit, and is most effective when it calls the viewer to remember one’s
highest self. I choose subject matter that has emotional and spiritual
resonance and focuses on the journey of the hero as it relates to the personal
and collective stories of people.” – Kadir Nelson, author website.
Kadir Nelson was born in Maryland in 1974. He has always been drawn to art and the techniques behind the art. His uncle was a well-known artist who took Kadir under his wing and nurtured his artistic gifts. His work earned him a spot at Pratt Institute in New York (which Bryan Collier also attended.) Since his graduation in 1996, his work has been in constant demand and has attracted the attention of several children’s book publishers. Kadir Nelson has spent his career showcasing and highlighting African-American culture and history. Kadir Nelson has nine CSK awards, including two Author Awards, two Illustrator Awards, and five Illustrator Honors for his work. Five of these awards were given during the 2000s.
In 2004, Kadir won his first CSK Book Illustrator Honor for Thunder Rose, a tall tale featuring a young African American girl with a can-do attitude and the ability to help out those around her. Rose is born during a thunderstorm and controls the lightning as it zig-zags across the deep dark night sky, portrayed to chilling effect in a double-page spread. Kadir illustrates Rose almost always from below to convey her height but also to show how her mighty presence can fill a room. The cover image portrays Rose decked out in country-western gear as she oozes confidence and relatability, looking upon the young reader with a smirk.
A year later, Kadir won his first CSK Illustrator Award for Ellington Is Not A Street, an adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s poem “Mood Indigo.” This poem is a snapshot of young Shange’s experiences with many prominent African-American writers, thinkers, and activists as they made appearances in her father’s home. In this work, Nelson perfects his oil painting portraits of legendary African-Americans, including W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and Duke Ellington, to name a few. These portraits would become a signature part of his work. The respect Kadir has for these people shines through as each person’s personality leaps off the page, giving the young reader a strong sense of who these people are and how important they are.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, Nelson’s collaboration with Carole Boston Weatherford in 2007 earned Kadir his second Illustrator Award. This tribute to the prominent abolitionist and Underground Railroad leader is overflowing with esteem for its subject. Nelson’s dramatic signature portrait is on full display on the cover that not only displays his regard for his subject but also conveys the deep connection that Tubman had to God and her religious beliefs. Nelson showcases the admiration that the people who relied on Tubman’s help had for her, as shown in dramatic double-page spreads throughout. This exquisite work earned Kadir his first Caldecott Honor.
In 2009, Kadir Nelson made history with We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The first book he wrote and illustrated earned him his first CSK Author Award, third Illustrator Honor Award, and fourth and fifth wins overall. These wins made Kadir the first person to win both a CSK Author Award and a CSK Illustrator Award. In this retelling of the history of Negro League Baseball, Kadir’s deep regard for his subjects bursts from the page through both words and pictures. Told through his signature oil paint portraits, Kadir makes an everyman baseball player look like a head of state. The perspectives of many of these portraits are shown from below or straight on, making this an awe-inspiring experience for young readers. Readers will smell the dusty fields where the teams played and feel the hard wooden benches they sat on while experiencing all nine innings of Kadir’s delicate yet powerful prose.
These two artists, Bryan Collier and Kadir Nelson, represent some of the greatest talents to earn CSK Awards. Since the 2000s, they have continued to work steadily and have collected more awards for their mantle in the process.
Christopher Lassen is a Youth Materials Selector for The New York Public Library & Brooklyn Public Library. Chris is a member of the CSK Marketing Committee.
Four days after winning a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award for The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas attracted over 500 patrons to Downtown Cleveland. Not only was this one of the most significant author events the library had witnessed in a while, but it was also the most diverse. Several generations of book lovers of all colors came to hear Angie speak; some drove hours from out of town to be present.
Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium Photo Credit: The Cleveland Public Library
On a cold Saturday morning in Cleveland, Ohio, in February 2018, a line formed in front of the Cleveland Public Library’s Louis Stokes Wing auditorium doors two hours before they were scheduled to open. An abundance of local high school students, college students, professors, and neighborhood book club members from the Fair Fax community were dropped off by the bus. Auditorium seats became scarce, overflow seating began to fill up inside the Indoor Reading Garden, followed by seating on the second floor. Unfortunately, once we reached the maximum capacity of 500, patrons had to be turned away.
Thomas’ presentation was just as raw
and humorous as her debut novel, as she spoke on her love for the Cleveland
Cavaliers and the movie Black Panther, released the same weekend of her visit
to Cleveland.
The shooting death of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old black man killed by a police officer at Fruitvale BART Station, motivated Thomas to create this novel, which began as a short story. Thomas explained the title, which is inspired by Tupac Shakur’s T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. tattoo, The Hate U Give Little Infants F*s Everyone.
Angie Thomas Photo Credit: The Cleveland Public Library
“Last year, more than 900 people were killed by police. People should care more about that number than the number of f-words.” Thomas said, after discussing the banning of her book in a suburban school district in Texas and how students fought to get T.H.U.G. back on the shelves.
The question of colorism in selecting Amandla Stenberg in the Fox 2000 film did arise. Thomas informed the oversized crowd, just as she did on Twitter that she was not involved in casting but fully supported Stenberg and hoped people would give her a chance.
In closing, Thomas addressed young
people in the audience, informing them that their actions mold the future. Thomas let the crowd of 500 plus know,
“I am here to beg you to change the world.”
Having served on the 2016-2018 Coretta Scott King Book Awards jury, I am cognizant of thoughts jurors may have; that great feeling of knowing your team got it right. This author event, which is still discussed until this day, was proof that Angie’s book was as powerful as our committee believed it to be.
Erica Marks and Angie Thomas Photo Credit: The Cleveland Public Library
The Hate U Give is one of many titles representing the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King. After Angie Thomas’ author visit, the Cleveland Public Library hosted an author event featuring Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Honor Winners for Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James in partnership with Case Western Reserve University Schubert Center for Child Studies, The Cleveland Foundation and Anisfield Book Awards. Our most recent visit was from Floyd Cooper, Coretta Scott King Honor, and Illustrator Winner, in partnership with A Cultural Exchange. As we celebrate 50 years of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, I am truly honored to share the work our CSK community upholds with patrons in my neighborhood, spreading peace and love through literature.
Erica Marks is
Corresponding Secretary for the CSK Book Awards Executive Board. She is Youth
Outreach & Programming Coordinator for the Cleveland Public Library.
By the mid-1990s, the CSK Book Awards was on solid ground and fully positioned to recognize and reward the new African American children’s and young adult literary talent emerging, as well as those already on the path of excellence. From 1995 and on through the remainder of the decade, the CSK Book Awards journeyed full-steam ahead, bringing extraordinary authors and illustrators along for the glorious ride.
James E. Ransome
Illustrator James E. Ransome is second to none in his visual creations that superbly depict all manner of African American history, life, and culture. In 1995, he received the CSK Illustrator Award for his artistic contribution to the picture book The Creation.
Ransome’s greatest award-winning picture books include Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Visiting Day, and 1994CSK Honor Book Uncle Jed’s Barbershop. In recognition of his extraordinary artistic ability, The Children’s Book Council named Ransome one of 75 authors and illustrators everyone should know in 1994.
Often Ransome teams up with his talented wife, author Lesa Cline-Ransome. Together the two had produced several noteworthy titles, including their latest highly praised picture book, Before She Was Harriet, which tells of the many names and roles Harriet Tubman had throughout her life in a reverse chronology. Ransome received his second CSK Illustrator Award. for this work in 2018.
Sharon Draper
1995 was a ground-breaking year for new young adult author Sharon Draper, who quickly gained national recognition and regard when she emerged as the inaugural recipient of the CSK John Steptoe Award for Outstanding New Talent for her riveting first novel, Tears of a Tiger. After a successful career as an educator and the state of Ohio’s Teacher of the Year, Draper would win four more CSK Author Awards and Honors during her notable literary career.
Tears of a Tiger takes the reader along for the ride into the life of Andy, an African American teen who struggles to cope and accept the alcohol-related death of his best friend, whose life was cut short in a terrible car accident while he was behind the wheel. Using letters, journal writing, and class assignments or activities to organize and advance the novel, Draper aptly draws on school experiences relatable to young adults and helps them understand and empathize with several of the book’s characters.
Fellow educators have frequently marveled over the book’s ability to compel youth who had never finished a novel before to read Tears of a Tiger in its entirety. Tears of a Tiger was also honored as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, recognized as one of the best books of the year by the Children’s Book Council and named Best of the Best by VOYA and the American Library Association, as one of the top 100 books for young adults. It is the first book in what would later become the Hazelwood High trilogy. It was followed by Forged by Fire, a winner of the CSK Author Award in 1997, then Darkness Before Dawn in 2001.
In Forged by Fire, Draper provides an unfortunate yet authentic account of the life of African American teenager and basketball player Gerald as he tries to handle his tough home life and protect his younger sister and himself from the inattention and neglect experienced by their emotionally absent mother and the mental and physical torment endured at the hands of his abusive step-father.
Continuing to amass literary accolades and accomplishments, Draper received three more CSK Awards within a four-year span. In 2004 her book, The Battle of Jericho,was selected as a CSK Honor Book; it gives the reader a raw look into the often-ignored topic of hazing and succumbing to peer pressure based on the desire to be accepted at all costs.
In 2007 Draper again won a CSK Author Award for Copper Sun. This emotion-filled and gut-wrenching historical fiction story details the horrific circumstances of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the resulting harsh plantation life in America from the perspective of 15-year-old Amari, an enslaved Ashanti girl who, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, demonstrates fortitude, inventiveness, and hope for a better future. Copper Sunwas also named one of the Top Ten Historical Fiction Books for Youth by Booklist, nominated for the 2007 NAACP Image Award for Literature, and listed as a New York Times Bestseller.
A year later, Draper’s novel November Blueswas chosen as a CSK Honor Book in2008. It is the second novel in the Jericho trilogy, ending with Just Another Hero, published in 2009. November Blues was also featured on the 2008 New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age list. This story allows the reader to peer into the crisis-filled life of November, a teenager grieving the recent death of her boyfriend due to a high school hazing event gone terribly wrong. Matters are made worse when she soon learns that she is pregnant with his child and must decide on the best path forward as an expectant mother and high school student grappling with the unexpected consequences of life-altering, split-second choices that deeply affect her and the people she loves and cares for.
Out of my Mind,published in 2010,is considered by many to be Draper’s most well-written and received work thus far. The book remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for nearly two years, translated into 20 languages, and selected to 32 state reading lists.
In 2015 the American Library Association honored Draper as the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime literary achievement. Acknowledging her interconnected relationship with reading, writing, and teaching, the author has shared that she learned to dream through reading, create dreams through writing, and develop dreamers through teaching.
Draper’s latest book, Blended, was published in 2018 and deals with issues of divorce, racism, and blended families from the perspective of Isabella, a bi-racial preteen. Draper continues to skillfully ignite and engage a diverse body of youth and young adult readers with her appealing, realistic, and thought-provoking storylines and writing style.
JavakaSteptoe
Javaka Steptoe, the phenomenal son of the literary groundbreaker and CSK New Talent Award eponym John Steptoe, is as eclectic and unique an artist and author as his name suggests. In 1998 he was the recipient of the CSK Illustrator Award for his first book, In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, and dedicated it to the memory of his own father. This beautifully illustrated book celebrates the majesty and splendor of African American fathers through poetry (one he contributed, titled “Seeds,” was written in homage to his father) and an African proverb. In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall was an ALA Notable Children’s Book selection and received a nomination for Outstanding Children’s Literature Work at the 1998 NAACP Image Awards.
Almost 20 years later, Steptoe was once again recognized and rewarded for his dual talent as an illustrator and author when he received the CSK Author Award in 2017 for his picture book biography, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. In Radiant Child, Steptoe writes the sometimes complicated yet ever remarkable life story of the young, gifted, and Black visual artist Basquiat, with compassion and dignity that helps lessen the sadness the reader cannot help but feel for the loss of a rare genius, gone too soon. His words, coupled with the colorful and captivating collages that comprise the book’s illustrations, make this work an artistic and literary masterpiece, bar none. Adding to his professional success that year, Steptoe also received the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Regarding his use of collage as a frequent art form, Steptoe once declared it a means of survival. From his perspective, this hodge-podge artistic method is analogous to how Black people have survived 400 years of oppression and taken the scraps life has thrown them and fashioned them into art.
Sharon Flake
Rounding out the 1990s CSK Book Award recipients is none other than children and youth author Sharon Flake, who in 1999 burst onto the literary scene as the last of only three recipients of the CSK John Steptoe Award for New Talent during the 10-year span. In that year, Flake was recognized and rewarded for her highly acclaimed book The Skin I’m In, which featured the headshot of a dark-skinned beauty on the cover that captivated and commanded the attention of countless readers in the United States and internationally. Possessing its own literary brand of Black Girl Magic, The Skin I’m In tells the all-too-familiar story of Maleeka, a 13-year-old middle school student who suffers from low self-esteem because of her dark skin and profound sadness due to the sudden death of her father. With the aid of an unexpected ally, Maleeka ultimately develops the strength to battle and defeat the internal and external foes she faces to finally be content in her own skin. Written in a culturally relevant and realistic style that speaks the language of so many Black youths globally, the book was a compelling force that sparked important conversations about race and demanded that attention be paid to the deleterious effects of racism and colorism in our contemporary culture. In 2018, The Skin I’m In celebrated its 20th Anniversary, including a foreword written by Jason Reynolds. With well over one million copies in print and translated into several languages, this powerful work has withstood the literary test of time and promises to forge ahead in popularity and praise for many more decades to come.
In recognition of her incredible ability to reach active and reluctant young readers alike through her engaging, keeping-it-real writing style, Flake received a CSK Book Honor in 2002 for Money Hungry, which takes the reader on the journey of a teenage girl’s challenges to overcome the cyclical poverty her family has endured for generations. Who Am I Without Him: Short Story Collection about Girls and Boys in Their Lives earned Flake her second CSK Honor in 2005; this book recounts a variety of social, emotional, and physical entanglements and experiences endured by girls facing real-life relationship challenges and struggles.
Sharon Flake’s literary repertoire includes eight novels, a short story collection, and a children’s picture book. Her written works continue to receive numerous awards, honors, and recognition for their literary merit and distinguished style.
Without question, the 1990s was a decade bursting with new and established African American literary notables, as evidenced by the bestowing of more than 30 prized CSK Author, Illustrator, and Honor Awards during this time period. Many first-time and relatively new award recipients in the 1990s received additional CSK Book Awards in later years, as well as other book awards and recognitions.
Regarded as the gold standard for annually evaluating the best in African American children’s and young adult literature created by a cadre of exceptionally talented African American authors or illustrators, the CSK Book Awards is unparalleled in acknowledging literary works that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. Growing increasingly stronger in its reputation for identifying, recognizing, and showcasing the meritorious contributions of emerging and existing talent, the CSK Book Awards firmly established its distinctive place among other literary award programs during the 1990s.
Nichole Lynn Shabazz is a Media and Educational Technology Specialist for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Her forthcoming book, Engaging Boys of Color at the Library: Proven Strategies for Reading Achievement (ABC-CLIO, Libraries Unlimited), was published January 31, 2021. She is a member of the CSK Marketing Committee.
The two decades prior to the 1990s firmly established the Coretta Scott King Book Awards as exemplary and essential among its earlier created counterparts. During the 1990s, incredibly talented authors and illustrators such as Angela Johnson, Sharon Draper, Sharon Flake, James Ransome, Tom Feelings, Javaka Steptoe, and Patricia and Fredrick McKissack received award recognition and honors for their outstanding written works and exceptional illustrations celebrating and showcasing the remarkable culture and history of African Americans.
Patricia and Fredrick McKissack
At the start of the decade, literary couple extraordinaire Patricia and Fredrick McKissack won the 1990 CSK Author Award for A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter. This title recounted the true story of the powerful union effort and victory of African American Pullman porters known as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters as they ultimately became the first major Black labor union admitted to the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1925.
The McKissacks were inspired to write African and African American stories and make history come alive for children to introduce them to the greatness exhibited and pain endured by such extraordinary people. They aimed to provide stories that deeply resonated with young people in a way they could understand, internalize, and connect with emotionally. This literary power couple co-wrote more than 50 books, with Fred serving as the primary researcher and Patricia writing the text. They attributed their continued success to constant communication and conferring with one another throughout the writing process.
In 1993, the McKissacks won a CSK Honor Book designation for Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman? This biographical account told the story of Sojourner Truth, an African American female activist, abolitionist, and preacher who dedicated her life to the cause for African American and women’s equal rights.
Writing numerous books herself, in 1993, Patricia McKissack received the CSK Author Award for what has been considered her most notable work, The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural. This compilation of nine stories and a poem was written from her childhood memories when the half-hour before nightfall was considered the dark thirty. This award-winning title was illustrated by Brian Pinkney, who also won the CSK Illustrator Award for Sukey and the Mermaid in the same year.
Teaming up again, two years later, Fred and Patricia won their second CSK Author Award in 1995 for Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. This historical story described the contrast between the slaveholder and the enslaved as they prepared the Big House for the Christmas holiday on a Virginia plantation in the 1850s while also revealing the triumphant spirit of a people, who, despite oppression, find a way to prepare their humble yet heart-filled living quarters for the “Big Times.” That same year, the couple received another CSK Honor Book recognition for Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues. In this non-fiction book, they share the history of the Negro League Baseball and pay homage to the legendary players whose perseverance and enduring spirit paved the way for others to follow.
Honoring their illustrious careers and unforgettable contributions to African American children’s literature, the McKissack’s were awarded the prestigious Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014, shortly after Fred’s death a year earlier. After what can only be regarded as a remarkable literary ride of more than 40 years, Patricia McKissack died in 2017. Her final picture book, What is Given from the Heart, an endearing tale about the priceless act of giving, was posthumously published in 2019.
Tom Feelings
In 1994 Tom Feelings received the CSK Illustrator Award for Soul Looks Back in Wonder. Throughout his multi-dimensional artistic and literary career, Feelings created as a painter, sculptor, cartoonist, illustrator, and author whose work visually exuded the uplifting mantra, “Black is Beautiful,” which evoked pride and respect from people of African descent while commanding awe and appreciation from fans all over the world.
Just two years later, Feelings was again awarded the CSK Illustrator Award in 1996 for his breathtaking picture book The Middle Passage: White Ships, Black Cargo. The arresting illustrationsvisually tell the harrowing and tragic story of the forced journey of Africans to the Americas during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Once asked who he was and what he did, Feelings responded that he was an African born in America and a visual storyteller producing art rooted in African culture, informed by the African American experience and reflecting and interpreting the lives and experiences of the people who gave him life. After more than four decades of fulfilling his mission to encourage and inspire Black children to know and love their beauty in every way. Tom Feelings died in 2003.
Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson’s first CSK Book Award recognition came in 1991 when she received a CSK Honor for her book When I Am Old with You. This lovely story features a small African American boy and his grandfather, who share happiness and family ties that transcend generational differences.
Like Tom Feelings, who was recognized for his artistic talent by the CSK Book Awards in 1994, Angela Johnson won the CSK Author Award, in the same year, for her book Toning the Sweep. In this poignant novel, the lives of three generations of African American women, 14-year-old Emily, her mother, and grandmother (who is dying of cancer), are chronicled as each holds their own separate truths that are ultimately revealed to the others.
Fairly new on the literary scene in the early 1990s, Johnson’s acclaim quickly grew as young readers, fellow authors, and book reviewers marveled at her rare and resonant writing style, which captured her audience with relevant stories that spoke to children and older youth. Her goal was, and still is, to write books filled with characters who come alive and stick with the reader far after the story has ended.
Johnson closed out the decade by earning her second CSK Author Award in 1999 for her book, Heaven. In this story, the main character Marley’s world is turned upside down when she learns that she is not the biological daughter or the parents who raised her and must come to terms with what it truly means to be someone’s family. In 1999 she also received a CSK Honor for her book, The Other Side: Shorter Poems.
Five years later, Johnson won her third CSK Author Award in 2004 for her novel, The First Part Last, and the prequel to Heaven. This noveloffers an alternating before and after perspective inside the life of 16-year-old Bobby, a new father, raising his daughter as a single parent.
Impressed with an admiring reader and aspiring writer, Elizabeth Acevedo, Johnson dedicated the novel to Miss Acevedo and her 1999-2000 sixth grade class. Fast forward almost 20 years later, and it is as if the nod in recognition of the writer’s emerging talent and Johnson’s intuitive foresight, coupled with her own literary and poetic prowess, added fuel to Acevedo, who, in 2018, skyrocketed to even higher heights of recognition and respect by winning the coveted National Book Award, and the Globe-Horn Book Award for her book The Poet X. The novel-in-verse also won the 2019 Pura Belpre and Printz Awards. Fondly recalling the importance of being regarded and the impact Johnson’s book dedication had on her, Acevedo noted it as the first time she’d ever seen her name in print.
Angela Johnson has been named a MacArthur Foundation fellow and Genius Grant recipient among her vast career accomplishments. This rare honor is given to a select few considered exceptionally talented in their creative endeavors and comes with a hefty $500,000 prize. Over the years, Johnson has received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, the Printz Award, and the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth’s Literary Award. She has written over 40 picture books, poetry, short stories, and young adult novels to date.
Please read Part Two featuring Sharon Draper, Sharon Flake, James Ransome, and Javaka Steptoe.
Nichole Lynn Shabazz is a Media and Educational Technology Specialist for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Her forthcoming book, Engaging Boys of Color at the Library: Proven Strategies for Reading Achievement (ABC-CLIO, Libraries Unlimited), was published January 31, 2021. She is a member of the CSK Marketing Committee.
As you visit DC for Annual, some sites must not be missed. One is the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Here are some tips to expedite your visit:
VIP TOURS are being offered on Thursday June 20 and Tuesday June 25 beginning at 9:30 am on each day. Contact Bettye Smith at bls.csktreas2018@gmail.com if you would like to participate. Sign up is required – Deadline is May 3. For security reasons, all names must be submitted to the museum.
GROUP VISITS – If VIP tours are not convenient or available, group tickets may be obtained. Go to website https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/groups for more details. (This does not include any tours. The Welcome Desk inside the museum will have more information if any tours are available.)
WALK-INS – For entry into the museum Monday through Friday after 1:00 pm, no passes are required.
SAME DAY PASSES – These are available online at https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/passes each day beginning at 6:30 am. Up to 4 passes per order may be obtained.
ADVANCED TIMED PASSES – These are available online 3 months prior to the month of your visit. Unfortunately the date for June has passed.
