Coretta Scott King Book Award Honor

In the small town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, all eyes are on Henson Blayze, a thirteen-year-old football phenom who many have wondered if he was super-human. The predominately white townsfolk have been waiting for Henson to play high-school ball, and now they're overjoyed to finally possess an elite Black athlete of their own. Until a horrifying incident forces Henson to speak out about injustice. Until he says that he might not play football anymore. Until he quickly learns he isn't as loved by the people as he thought. In that moment, Henson's town is divided into two chaotic sides when all he wants is justice. Even his best friends and his father can't see eye to eye. When he is told to play ball again or else, Henson must decide whether he was born to entertain people who may not even see him as human, or if he's destined for a different kind of greatness.

This picture-book biography presents the life of André Leon Talley, tracing his early years in North Carolina through his rise in the international fashion industry. It describes formative influences, including his interest in magazines and fashion, and outlines challenges he faced growing up in the segregated South. The book highlights his career achievements and legacy, accompanied by illustrations that depict significant moments in his personal and professional development.

When Junior moves to Roxboro, North Carolina, in 1959, new friends bring him to an incredible place: the Negro Library.

Three African American boys, including one visiting from New York, form a meaningful connection during a summer trip to rural Mississippi.

Twelve-year-old Charley Cuffey is many things: a granddaughter, a best friend, and probably the best pitcher in all of Lee's Mill. Set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball, Charley doesn't need reminders from her best friend Cool Willie Green to know that she has lofty dreams for a Black girl in the American South. Even so, Nana Kofi's thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. 

This picture book adaptation of her critically acclaimed adult memoir paints a vivid portrait of the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a singular 20th-century American civil and human rights activist who fought for justice against all odds, becoming an unforgettable champion of social change.

This visually stunning portrait of Black photographer Roy DeCarava, a child of the Harlem Renaissance and an artistic collaborator of Langston Hughes, takes readers through 1940s Harlem where beauty is everywhere as he immortalizes and documents the lives of ordinary Black people. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations.

A luminous picture book biography about librarian and storyteller Augusta Baker, the first Black coordinator of children's services at all branches of the New York Public library.

While a young Panamanian American girl and her father share "just-us" time on an early morning horseback ride around their town, he tells her cowboy stories and she realizes she is a cowboy too.

When Jackie Ormes sees an opportunity, she takes it. She's a journalist, cartoonist, fashionista, philanthropist, and activist -- and she wants to use her artistry to bring joy and hope to Black people everywhere. But in post-World War II America, Black people are still being denied their civil rights, and Jackie has a dilemma: How can her art remain true to her signature Jackie joy, while also staying honest about the inequalities Black people have been fighting against? Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright have crafted a gorgeous and moving tribute to the indelible legacy of America's first Black woman cartoonist.

A true story of determination and groundbreaking achievement follows eighth grade African American spelling champion MacNolia Cox, who left Akron, Ohio in 1936 to compete in the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., only to be met with prejudice and discrimination.

A multi-generational family history told in the voices of the author's ancestors, spanning enslavement alongside Frederick Douglass at Maryland's Wye House plantation, service in the U.S. Colored Troops, andthe founding of all-Black Reconstruction-era communities.

A celebration of Langston Hughes and African American authors he inspired, told through the lens of the party held at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1991.

Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, "big" becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.

Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees--until she's stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she's forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help.

As a little boy grows into a bigger boy, he first must have the difficult conversation Black families have with their sons, warning them about the challenges they face due to racism.

A biography of Nina Simone, an acclaimed singer whose music gave voice to the struggle for racial equality during the Civil Rights Movement.

Recounts the journey of African descendants in America by connecting their history to the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Granny teaches her young grandson how to cook the family meal, in this celebration of food, traditions, and gathering together at the table. Includes recipe for baked macaroni and cheese.

The late Civil Rights attorney and activist shares a poignant moment from her childhood beside her wise grandmother, who taught Roundtree the values of self-worth, strength and justice that inspired the co-author's boundary-breaking career.

A biography of African American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks.

The dragonflies live down by the bayou, but there's no way to know which one's my brother. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands...King is sure that his brother, Khalid, has turned into a dragonfly. After Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed his first skin for another and found refuge in the backwaters of their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, a secret King must keep to himself--that, and the fact that he might be gay. As King watches grief transform his family, he comes to understand the beauty and redemption of learning to fly past the secrets that keep him from rising to his truest self. 

Joyful young narrators celebrate feeling at home in one's own skin.

For a little girl on a rainy day, the best place to be is with Mama.

A lush and lyrical biography of Harriet Tubman, written in verse. An evocative poem and opulent watercolors come together to honor a woman of humble origins whose courage and compassion make her larger than life.

A slave family is distressed when they discover their son Ben has run away.

Thirteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

This book details artist Ashley Bryan's experiences as a Black soldier in the segregated army of WWII.

A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school.

When five-year-old Sulwe's classmates make fun of her dark skin, she tries lightening herself to no avail, but a shooting star's tale of the sisters Night and Day helps her understand there is beauty and worth in every shade.

Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it, and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to get it away from the creature, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left Black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, and being bullied.

Explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA's African American women mathematicians to America's space program, describing how Jim Crow laws segregated them despite their groundbreaking successes. Includes biographies on Dorothy Jackson Vaughan (1910-2008), Mary Winston Jackson (1921-2005), Katherine Colman Goble Johnson (1918-), Dr. Christine Mann Darden (1942-).

Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, children and teenagers march against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

This historical fiction picture book presents the story of nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson, who in 1968 witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final stand for justice before his assassination--when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest.

Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.

Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city.

Celebrates the magnificent feeling that comes from walking out of a barber shop with newly-cut hair.

When Genie and his older brother spend their summer in the country with their grandparents, he learns a secret about his grandfather and what it means to be brave.

As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square.

Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away.

An ailing grandfather and his helpful granddaughter play a unique game of seek and find.

Relates the story of the National Memorial African Bookstore, founded in Harlem by Louis Michaux in 1939, as seen from the perspective of Louis Michaux Jr., who met famous men like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X while helping there.

A young boy, CJ, rides the bus across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things.

A portrait of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.