Coretta Scott King Award

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The Crossover (2014) is a coming-of-age novel in verse by award-winning children’s author and poet Kwame Alexander. The narrative follows a 12-year-old Black boy named Josh Bell whose poems express his love for basketball and his family. With his twin brother, Jordan, Josh’s sense of self evolves as he uses basketball to deal with his father’s death. The book explores themes of Confidence and Vulnerability; Basketball as Life Lessons; and Music, Rhythm, and Identity.Rebound, a... Read The Crossover Summary

Originally published in 2018, The Parker Inheritance is a fast-paced mystery novel with messages about identity and society. Varian Johnson presents a dynamic young protagonist, Candice, who teams up with her new friend Brandon to uncover the truth behind a mysterious letter that reveals the hidden history of Lambert, South Carolina.The Parker Inheritance is the recipient of a number of awards: it was named a 2019 Coretta Scott King Honor Book, a Publishers Weekly Best... Read The Parker Inheritance Summary

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The Rock and the River is a young adult historical fiction work that earned author Kekla Magoon the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award upon its publication in 2009. Set in the 1960s Civil Rights era, the story’s protagonist, Samuel Childs, is the son of a famous activist who worked alongside Dr. King and the brother of a teenager involved with a local Black Panther group. The tensions between the historical “passive resistance”... Read The Rock and The River Summary

The Season of Styx Malone (2018) is a contemporary realistic middle grade novel written by Kekla Magoon. Caleb Franklin, 10, seeks a summer of unique adventures to prove he is the opposite of ordinary, despite his father’s insistence that Caleb and his brother Bobby Gene never stray beyond the town limits. Then Caleb meets Styx Malone, a cool, daring 16-year-old boy in the foster care system who shows the Franklin brothers a quick way to... Read The Season of Styx Malone Summary

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Published in 2016, Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star is a young-adult novel and National Book Award Finalist. Told from multiple character perspectives, the novel tells the story of the romance that transpires over one day between two young people, Natasha Katherine Kingsley and Daniel Jae Ho Bae, and the impact they have on the people around them. Natasha and Daniel come from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Natasha is an undocumented... Read The Sun Is Also a Star Summary

Walter Dean Myers first published his middle grade novel, The Young Landlords, in 1979. Like most of the 100 books Myers penned before his death in 2014, the story centers on Black youth. The Young Landlords is particularly personal to Myers, however, because he writes about the neighborhood in Harlem, New York, where he grew up, describing the sort of activities and individuals he encountered as a youth. The main character, 15-year-old Paul Williams, pays... Read The Young Landlords Summary

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Zora and Me (2010) is a middle grade novel by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon. Both authors held a strong interest in 20th-century Black American writer Zora Neale Hurston, and they wanted to introduce her to younger readers. Bond has an MFA in poetry, while Simon has an MA in anthropology; Hurston was both a writer and an anthropologist. Inspired by real details from Hurston’s childhood as illustrated in her short stories, Bond and Simon... Read Zora and Me Summary