Coretta Scott King Award Recipients
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.
2005 Coretta Scott King Awards
REMEMBER: The Journey to School Integration
by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison has collected a treasure chest of archival photographs that depict the
historical events surrounding school desegregation. These unforgettable images serve as
the inspiration for Morrison's text --- a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the
children who lived during the era of "separate but equal" schooling. REMEMBER was
published on the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision ending legal school segregation, handed down on May 17, 1954.
FORTUNE'S BONES: The Manumission Requiem
by Marilyn Nelson
There is a skeleton on display in the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut. It has
been in the town for over 200 years. Over time, the bones became the subject of stories
and speculation in Waterbury. In 1996 a group of community-based volunteers, working in
collaboration with the museum staff, discovered that the bones were those of a slave named
Fortune who had been owned by a local doctor. After Fortune's death, the doctor dissected
the body, rendered the bones, and assembled the skeleton. A great deal is still not known
about Fortune, but it is known that he was baptized, was married, and had four children. He
died around the age of 60, sometime after 1797.
Marilyn Nelson was commissioned by the Mattatuck Museum and received a grant from the
Connecticut Commission on the Arts to write a poem in commemoration of Fortune's life.
"The Manumission Requiem" is that poem.
THE LEGEND OF BUDDY BUSH
by Shelia P. Moses
The day Uncle Goodwin "Buddy" Bush came from Harlem all the way back home to
Rehobeth Road in Rich Square, North Carolina, is the day Pattie Mae Sheals' life changes
forever.
Pattie Mae adores and admires Uncle Buddy --- he's tall and handsome and he doesn't
believe in the country stuff most people believe in, like ghosts and stepping off the sidewalk
to let white folks pass. He unsettles the dust and brings fresh ideas to Rehobeth Road. But
when Buddy's deliberate inattention to the protocol of 1947 North Carolina lands him in jail
for a crime against a white woman that he didn't commit, Pattie Mae and her family are
suddenly set to journeying on the long, hard road that leads from loss and rage to
forgiveness and pride.
WHO AM I WITHOUT HIM? Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in
Their Lives
by Sharon G. Flake
There is "The Ugly One," whose only solace comes when she is locked inside her own head.
In "Wanted: A Thug," a teenager seeks advice on how to steal her best friend's bad-guy
boyfriend. And then there's Erika, who only likes white boys.
Sharon Flake takes readers through the minds of girls trying to define themselves while
struggling to remain relevant to the boys in their lives.
ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
written by Ntozake Shange
In a reflective tribute to the African-American community of old, noted poet Ntozake Shange
recalls her childhood home and the close-knit group of innovators that often gathered there.
These men of vision, brought to life in the majestic paintings of artist Kadir Nelson, lived at
a time when the color of their skin dictated where they could live, what schools they could
attend, and even where they could sit on a bus or in a movie theater. Yet in the face of this
tremendous adversity, these dedicated souls and others like them not only demonstrated
the importance of Black culture in America, but also helped usher in a movement that
"changed the world."
GOD BLESS THE CHILD
illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
written by Billie Holiday
The song "God Bless the Child" was first performed by legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday
in 1939 and remains one of her enduring masterpieces. In this picture book interpretation,
renowned illustrator Jerry Pinkney has created images of a family moving from the rural
South to the urban North during the Great Migration that reached its peak in the 1930s. The
song's message of self-reliance still speaks to us today but resonates even stronger in its
historical context. A free CD of Billie Holiday's timeless recording of "God Bless the Child" is
included to enjoy along with the book.
JAZZY MIZ MOZETTA
illustrated by Frank Morrison
written by Brenda C. Roberts
One fine evening, Miz Mozetta puts on her firecracker-red dress and heads outside to enjoy
the moonlight. When she hears the neighborhood kids' music, she is inspired to dance, but
her old friends have too many aches and pains to join her. The kids doubt that Miz Mozetta
would be able to keep up with them. So she retreats to her parlor, where she dreams about
the old days at the Blue Pearl Ballroom. Just when her feet are itching to get out there and
do the jitterbug --- friends or no friends --- there's a knock on the door, and Miz Mozetta
gets some welcome company.
THE PEOPLE COULD FLY: The Picture Book
illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
written by Virginia Hamilton
"The People Could Fly," the title story in Virginia Hamilton's prize-winning American Black
folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words
that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom. And it is a moving tale of those who did
not have the opportunity to "fly" away, who remained slaves with only their imaginations to
set them free as they told and retold this tale.
Leo and Diane Dillon have created powerful new illustrations in full color for every page of
this picture book presentation of Virginia Hamilton's most beloved tale. The author's original
historical note as well as her previously unpublished notes are included.
MISSY VIOLET AND ME
by Barbara Hathaway
The summer that Viney is eleven years old is extraordinary. It takes her out of school and
puts her under the wing of Missy Violet, a well-loved midwife whose wise and warm ways
help teach Viney about the business of catchin' babies. Suddenly, Viney must learn about
roots and herbs and their medicinal purpose, understand the contents of Missy Violet's
"birthin' bag," and contend with a snooty peer and wild, irrepressible cousin --- Charles
Elister Paxton Nehemiah Windbush. And all this before she actually helps to deliver a single
baby!
Notable Previous Coretta Scott King Award Recipients:
2003 Nikki Grimes
Bronx Masquerade
2002 Mildred D. Taylor
The Land
2001 Jacqueline Woodson
Miracle's Boys
2000 Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud, Not Buddy
1999 Angela Johnson
Heaven
1998 Sharon M. Draper
Forged by Fire
1997 Walter Dean Myers
Slam!
1996 Virginia Hamilton
Her Stories
1995
Patricia & Frederick
McKissack
Christmas in the House, Christmas in the Quarters
1994 Angela Johnson
Toning the Sweep
1993 Patricia McKissack
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural
1992 Walter Dean Myers
Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle
for Freedom
1991 Mildred D. Taylor
The Road to Memphis
1990
Patricia & Frederick
McKissack
A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman
Porter
1989 Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels
1988 Mildred D. Taylor
The Friendship
1987 Mildred Pitts Walter
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World
1986 Virginia Hamilton
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
1985 Walter Dean Myers
Motown and Didi
1984 Lucille Clifton
Everett Anderson's Goodbye
1983 Virginia Hamilton
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
1982 Mildred D. Taylor
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
1981 Sidney Poitier
This Life
1980 Walter Dean Myers
The Young Landlords
1979 Ossie Davis
Escape to Freedom: A Play about Young Frederick
Douglass
1978 Eloise Greenfield
Africa Dream
1977 James Haskins
The Story of Stevie Wonder
1976 Pearl Bailey
Duey's Tale
1975 Dorothy Robinson
The Legend of Africania
1974 Sharon Bell Mathis
Ray Charles
Other Adolescent Novels concerning Black History:
The House of Dier Drears by Virginia Hamilton
Cousins by Virginia Hamilton
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
To KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE
M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Which Way Freedom? (Obi and Easter Trilogy (Paperback)) by Joyce Hansen
The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton
Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! by Eleanora Tate