Coretta Scott King Awards, 2002
The Coretta Scott King Award is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table. Recipients are authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."
The Award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and honors his widow, Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination in continuing the work for peace and world brotherhood. Winners of the Coretta Scott King Award receive a framed citation, an honorarium, and a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica or World Book Encyclopedias. The announcements were made January 21, 2002 during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans. All the books are reviewed below.
Author Award Winner
The Land Mildred D. Taylor
For young Paul Logan, life in the post-Civil War South is complicated. Born to a slave mother and her owner, Paul is seen by outsiders as a social blemish. While his father has accepted Paul, many other people hate him because of his mixed racial heritage. The elder Logan allows Paul to come to his home, to eat with his three white brothers and to receive an education. Unfortunately, society in the South during Reconstruction will not tolerate any further acceptance by a white father for his "colored" children. Paul is also a gifted horseman and woodworker but he struggles against the limited horizons open to him. A neighbor boy, Mitchell, emerges first as Paul's primary tormenter and then his long-term friend. Eventually, Paul can no longer tolerate his partial acceptance by his white father. Fleeing the family home in Georgia, Paul travels to Mississippi where he begins a series of backbreaking jobs in lumber camps. His heartfelt goal is to earn enough money to purchase land of his own and rear a family. He and Mitchell settle on a forty-acre farm that they strive to purchase. Ultimately, Paul must overcome betrayals, intolerance and prejudice to achieve his dream. Written by the author as a prequel to the Newbery Award winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, this moving story is based upon the experiences of the writer's great grandparents. Written with great care, accuracy and emotion, The Land is a wonderful novel, telling a family story that will move and enrich its readers. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of what life in the South was like for African-Americans struggling to make their way in a society grounded upon prejudice. 2001, Phyllis Fogelman Books, $17.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck
For years, Mildred Taylor has attracted readers with stories about the Logans, based on her own family history. In seven previous novels, readers watched this black family struggle to hold on to their small Mississippi farm and fight against bigoted whites who want to take it from them. The Land is a prequel that takes place in the 1880's, and tells about the acquisition of this land by Paul-Edward Logan, the family's biracial forbearer. The prequel slips into place like a fictional puzzle piece, giving depth, strength and unity to all Taylor's previous stories, explaining in a new way why the land is so very precious. Paul is the son of a white Georgian landowner and his black mistress, and has a strange position in life. As Paul grows, his idyllic life turns ugly when his father prepares him for the harshness of life in the outside world. Taylor is skillful at portraying the situation through Paul's eyes. Paul's father sends his intelligent son, not to schools where he's sent the other boys, but to a furniture apprenticeship. Later, he beats and shames Paul in front of two despicable white boys who are in the wrong. Yet, the apprenticeship, Paul's early education, and the memory of those beatings build his strength and aid his survival. Feeling displaced from land he'll never own, Paul leaves his home, his mother, and his privileged background and soon learns first hand how a white man's word means nothing and how banks care more about color than collateral. His hard work, honesty, and determination are undone by whites whose contemptible acts are supported by a social structure that jeopardizes his rights and dreams. In this story, as in Taylor's others, the pain and suffering of her characters are bearable because of the family love surrounding them, and triumph is measured in how well they live and maintain the land. 2001, Dial, $17.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-8037-1950-7
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 2002 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Bulletin Blue Ribbons, 2001 ; Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books; United States
Capitol Choices, 2001 ; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2001 ; American Library Association-Booklist; United States
Notable Books for Children, 2002 ; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, 2002 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Readers, 2002 ; National Council for the Social Studies; United States
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2001 ; Cahners; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, August 2001 ; Cahners; United States
Teachers' Choices, 2002 ; International Reading Association; United States
Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth, 2002 ; American Library Association-Booklist; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award Winner 2002 Young Adult Readers United States
Coretta Scott King Awards Winner 2002 Author United States
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner 2002 Young Adult Fiction United States
Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction Winner 2002 United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, 2003 ; Vermont
Volunteer State Book Award, 2004 ; Tennessee
Honor Books
Money HungrySharon G. Flake
Thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill is the main character in Sharon Flake's Money Hungry. She is starved for cash and has nickels, quarters and dollars stashed under her bed, shoved in socks, and piled in drawers. Raspberry explains, "Some nights, when I can't sleep, I grab me a fistful and count it till I drop off snoring." Her friends tease her about her greed as she resells pencils and old candy, and then, they begin to distance themselves. Raspberry's obsession is easily understood when you learn that she has lived on the streets. Even though she now has a roof over her head and her mom is working two jobs to get them out of the projects, Raspberry remembers her homeless experience all too well. "You know what it is like," she asks her friends, "to eat beans every night for two weeks straight? To drink Kool-Aid without sugar?" Just when you believe this family will succeed, there comes a heart-breaking climax. Raspberry's mom misunderstands a situation, believes her daughter is guilty of stealing, and throws Raspberry's hoarded cash to the streets. Soon after their apartment is robbed, everything begins to crumble, and it looks as if they will have to live on the streets once again. But friends and their community support them and in the end, the author provides hope without an overly-pretty resolution. 2001, Hyperion, $15.99. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
Raspberry Hill knows what it is like to be on the streets, to sleep in an abandoned car and to bathe in a public washroom. Now living in the projects with her mother, the thirteen-year-old has vowed never to live like that again. Raspberry is obsessed with money--earning it and keeping it--and never seems to have enough of it. Money is her life. She loves the feel of it, the smell of it. It motivates all that she does. Whether it is selling pencils or involving her friends in cleaning a filthy nursing home, Raspberry is always scheming for a way to make a buck. Against her better judgment she digs into her $600 nest egg to loan $200 to her friend Ja'nai and frets continually over its return. The loan that deepens the rift between Raspberry and her mother, who fears that greed is destroying her child. In a fit of rage, Raspberry's mother throws her money out of the window after being mistakenly told that the money is stolen. This act becomes the catalyst for Raspberry to examine the hold that money has over her and her own depth of forgiveness. Tough and tender, with moments of humor, this is a riveting story. The streetwise Raspberry and the mean streets she inhabits are vividly portrayed in the vernacular of the streets, and hers is a story that is hard to put down. Urban kids will nod their heads in agreement with Raspberry, and suburban kids will come away with a new understanding and respect. 2001, Hyperion, $16.99 and $15.99. Ages 12 to 14. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey
Best Books:
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Children's Choices, 2002 ; International Reading Association; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
Coretta Scott King Awards Honor Book 2002 Author United States
Society of School Librarians International Book Awards Honor 2001 Language Arts - K-6 Novels United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2003 ; Kentucky
Carver, A Life in Poems
Marilyn Nelson
The author chronicles the life story of George Washington Carver in verse, opening with the poem, "Out of 'Slave's Ransom'" wherein Carver is described as a "puny black baby" who was "convulsive with fever" and "shook by the whooping cough." Many of the poems are based upon the accomplishments of George Washington Carver, which were astounding, but others offer insight into the lesser-known aspects of his life. This approach works: to go beyond the usual focus on his extraordinary gifts and appreciate the man who, with grace and faith, made his way out of the depths of poverty, over racial boundaries, and through the walls of ignorance with his gentle, sometimes plodding and always relentless quest for knowledge. His expansive mind was extraordinary, as was his character. "House Ways and Means" illustrates both of these attributes. As Carver extols the benefits of peanuts in testimony before the committee, he tastes one and Rep. Tilson from Connecticut asks, "Do you want a watermelon to go with that?" Unshaken, Carver responds, indicating that if Tilson wants dessert that's fine, but then he calmly continues with his expert testimony. The book is illustrated with historical photos. 2001, Front Street, $16.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Carolyn Mott Ford
Marilyn Nelson unites poetry and biography in Carver: A Life in Poems, a Newbery-honor book. These are not simple verses, but intricate expressions of Carver's enigmatic and complex personality. Carver was driven by a desire to know and he paid for his education by becoming "a wizard with a washboard,/a genie of elbow grease and suds...the best washerwoman in town." Nelson writes of his reactions to lynchings and injustice, his relationship with Booker T. Washington and the success that came from his curiosity and ambition to do right by his people. How fitting that poetry is used to convey the way Carver married art and science to reach other human beings! These fifty-nine vignettes give glimpses that leave us wondering and seeking more information, a perfect representation of a man who did the same. Whether it's changing perspectives, reflecting life, explaining emotions, or intriguing with images, story delivered through verse clears a path to appreciation and understanding. 2001, Front Street, $16.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
George Washington Carver comes alive in these poems. Nelson sets the poems in the chronological order of Carver's life. Most of the narrative poems are short yet paint powerful, word-picture descriptions of Carver. Nelson accompanies her poems with photographs of Carver, his family and friends and gives brief descriptions of the important events in his life. By the end of the book, the reader feels as if s/he has walked with Carver through the major events of his life and has shared in his hunger, sadness, joy and accomplishments. The poems alternately bring laughter and tears as they portray the life of this great man. One even forgets that the poems are modern; they seem to have been written by Carver and those who knew him best. This book is a must for any library's poetry collection, regardless of whether the collection is for children, young adults or adults. 2001, Front Street, $16.95. Ages 9 up. Reviewer: J. B. Petty
ISBN: 1-886910-53-7
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 2002 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Bulletin Blue Ribbons, 2001 ; Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books; United States
Capitol Choices, 2001 ; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Children's Books of Distinction, 2002 ; Riverbank Review; United States
Fanfare Honor List, 2001 ; Horn Book; United States
Notable Books for Children, 2002 ; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
Parent's Guide to Children's Media, 2001 ; Parent's Guide to Children's Media, Inc.; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Readers, 2002 ; National Council for the Social Studies; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
Boston Globe--Horn Book Awards Winner 2001 Fiction and Poetry United States
Coretta Scott King Awards Honor Book 2002 Author United States
Flora Stieglitz Straus Award Winner 2001 Nonfiction United States
John Newbery Medal Honor Book 2002 United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2003 ; Kentucky
Illustrator Award Winner
Goin' Someplace SpecialPatricia C. McKissack
Illustrations by Jerry Pinkney
'Tricia Ann endures the indignities of segregation in the 1950s South, fortified with the love of her family and friends. As a Negro, she must sit at the back of the bus. Because of Jim Crow laws, she can only sit in the back of the balcony at the theater. When a crowd rushes into a plush downtown hotel following a celebrity, 'Tricia Ann is caught up in the throng-and then thrown out of the all-white establishment. She tolerates all of these insults because she is on her way to Someplace Special. That someplace is full of good things and it welcomes all people. That place is the Public Library. Based on McKissack's early life in Nashville, Tennessee, this is a story about how unfair life can be-and how love and persistence can triumph over injustice. Artwork is rendered in pencil and watercolor on paper by artist Jerry Pinkney, the only illustrator to have won the Coretta Scott King Award five times including the 2002 Award for this book. 2001, Atheneum Books, Ages 4 to 8, $16.00. Reviewer: Chris Gill
ISBN: 0-689-81885-8
Best Books:
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, Supplement, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Books for Children, 2002 ; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, 2002 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award Winner 2002 Picture Books United States
Coretta Scott King Awards Winner 2002 Illustrator United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Nominees, 2003 ; Maryland
Colorado Children's Book Award List, 2003 ; Colorado
Delaware Diamonds, 2003 ; Delaware
Georgia Children's Literature Awards, 2003 ; Georgia
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2003 ; Kentucky
Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award, 2004 ; Louisiana
North Carolina Children's Book Award, 2003 ; North Carolina
Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award, 2002-2003 ; Pennsylvania
Texas Bluebonnet Award, 2004 ; Texas
Honor Book
Martin's Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.Doreen Rappaport
Illustrations by Brian Collier
Beautiful in its simplicity, this small biography of Martin Luther King shines forth. Rappaport's text portrays King's childhood in two pages with his discovery that in spite of the "whites only" signs, his mother's words that "You are as good as anyone" would sustain him. When he sang hymns and read from the Bible in church, he vowed that he would grow up to "get big words." His career as a minister, being influenced by Gandhi, participation in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and subsequent civil rights marches, winning the Nobel Peace Prize, threats to his family and his death are touched upon. Each short paragraph ends with a memorable quote relevant to the subject of the page and many are familiar to adult readers. Instead of drawing from the "I have a dream" speech the quote about judging people by the content of their character, the author has selected--"I have a dream that one day in Alabama little black boys and black girls will join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." It is more accessible to the intended audience, if less ringing and memorable to the adult reader. Collier's stunning collage and bold watercolor illustrations are layered with meanings, textures, light and shadow. Stained glass windows, which appear in many of the illustrations, serve multiple symbolic purposes including providing light and a way of looking past where you are, says the illustrator in a front note. This is obviously a work of great care and love for the subject, a fine introduction and a fitting tribute to the Dr. King and his work. A chronology of important dates includes 1986 when Dr. King's birthday became a national holiday, and a fine selection of additional readings and web sites are suggested. 2001, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, $16.49 and $15.99. Ages 4 to 9. Reviewer: Susan Hepler
Yes, there have been a million biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr., but there's something special about Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier's Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year it deservedly won both Coretta Scott King and Newbery honor awards. The uniqueness of this book is apparent before you ever open it; the cover bears only a large, smiling, monochromatic illustration of Martin Luther King. The title, author and illustrator are on the back. Opening to the end flaps, one sees the thoughtfulness, artistry and intriguing contrast of brightness and monochromes in Collier's stained glass window collage. His illustrations continue to compel readers through the book. The text begins with notes by author and illustrator. Rappaport notes that she was inspired by King's words, which were simple and direct, yet profound and poetic. Collier explains his use of stained glass as metaphors that blaze out at you like beams of light. The multicolors symbolize multi races...and allow you to look past where you are. The book's combination of text, layout and illustrations have a powerful emotional impact. Rappaport's spare style and prosaic words serve as a background to highlight King's quotations. These appear on every page, emphasized with color and size. Quotations like, "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that," could be read alone to show King's life, message and legacy. Rappaport's rhythmic, simplistic statements seem inspired by King's rousing sermons and are a tribute to both the man and his vision. 2001, Hyperion, $15.99. Ages 5 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-7868-0714-8
ISBN: 0-7868-2591-X
Best Books:
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Booklist: Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2001; American Library Association; United States
Books About Relationships and Community-Building, 2002; Children's Book Council; United States
Capitol Choices, 2001; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Children's Books of Distinction, 2002; Riverbank Review; United States
Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, Supplement, 2002; H.W. Wilson; United States
New York Times Notable Books, 2001; New York Times; United States
Notable Books for Children, 2002; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Readers, 2002; National Council for the Social Studies; United States
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, October 2001; Cahners; United States
School Library Journal: Best Books, 2001; Cahners; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
Coretta Scott King Awards Honor Book 2002 Illustrator United States
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year Winner 2001 United States
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children Honor 2002 United States
Randolph Caldecott Medal Honor Book 2002 United States
State Reading Lists:
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Nominees, 2003; Maryland
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2003; Kentucky
Coretta Scott King Award-2001
Coretta Scott King Award-2002
Coretta Scott King Award-2003
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