Coretta Scott King Book Awards 1970-2021
(Please note that the age and grade levels are estimates
as they have been assembled from various sources and should be verified.)
1. Sulve by Lupita Nyongo Pre-K
2. Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement by James Haskins Preschool and up
3. Rainbow Jordan by Alice Childress Age 4+ (A Hero Ain’t Nothing but a Sandwich,)
4. Lifetime Achievement Award Eloise Greenfeld (total 40 books)
Year Honey, I Love to 4-8 years
The Great Migration 4-8 years: Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Curt by Derick Barnes Age 3.
5. The Blacker the Berry Joyce Carol Thomas Age 5-8 (Brown Honey in Brown Wheat Tea)
6. Ebony Book of Black Achievement by Margaret Peters Age 4
7. Every Man Heart Lay Down by Lorenz Graham Age 4-6
8. Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams Age: 4-8
9. What is Given from the Heart by April William Harris age: 4-8
10. Everett Anderson’s Goodbye Lucille Clifton Age 5-8
11. Blacker the Berry Joyce Carol Thomas Age 5-8 (Brown Honey in Brown Wheat Tea)
12. Her Stories: African American Folk Tales by Virginia Hamilton Age 4-8 (The Bells of Christmas) Anthony Burns:
13. The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave, The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales, Junius Over Far, Sweet Whispers, Brush Rush)
14. The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon Age 5-7
15. Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem by Marilyn Nelson Age 6-9
16. Do You Remember? By Lucille Clifton Age 6 and 7
17. Night on Neighborhood Street by Eloise Greenfield Age 2-5 (Nathaniel Talking, Africa Dream,
Mary MCCleod Bethune, Childtimes: A Three Generation Memoir, Paul Robeson)
18. Cornrows by Carole Byard Age 5-8
19. An Enchanted Hair Tale by Alexis De Veaux Age 6 -7 (Don’t explain: A Song of Billie Holiday)
20. Mary Jo’s Grandmother by Joseph May Udry Age 6-8
21. Lifetime Achievement Award: Mildred D. Taylor books:
Miss Bridge; Song of the Trees; The Friendship 3-5 years
The Gold Cadillac 4-6 years
The Well; The Land, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry 6-8 years
Years – Let the Circle Be Unbroken 7-9 years
Years Road to Memphis 6-12 years
Years All the Days Past, All the Days to Come 8-12 years
22. The Road to Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor Age 10+ (The Friendship, A Little Love, Let the Circle Be Unbroken))
23. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson Age 6-10
24. Circle of Gold by Candy Dawson Boyd Age 8-10
25. Lion and the Ostrich Chick sand other African Folk Tales by Ashley Bryan Age 7-10
26. C.L.O.U.D.S. by Pat Cummings Age 7-9? (Carousel, Trace)
27. N ever Forgotten by Patricia McKissack (Days of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States, Black Hands: White Sales:
The Story of African American Whalers, Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts,
Christmas in the Big House; Christmas in the Quarters,The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural,
A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullam Porter) Age 6-9
28. Seeds of Change by Sonia Lynn Sadler Age 8 -9
29. The Days When the Animals Talked: Black Folk Tales and How They Came to be by William J. Faulkner Age 9+
30. The Days Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Rudine Sims Bisho
Mirrors, windows and Sliding Glass Doors Age 9+
31.Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita William Garcia Age – 9+ (P.S. Be Eleven & One Crazy Summer)
32. Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes Age 10+
33. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson Age 6-10
34. Heaven by Angela Johnson Age 10-12 (The Other Side: Shorter Poems, When I am Old with You)
35. Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers Age 10-11 (Malcom X: By Any Means Necessary,
Somewhere in the Darkness Bud, not Buddy, Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom,
Fallen Angels, The Young Landlords, Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff)
36. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson Age 10-12 (Miracle’s Boys, I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This
37. Mary, An Autobiography by Mary E. Mebane Age 12+
38. Let The Lion East Straw by Ellease Southerland Age 12+?
39. Movin’ Up by Berry Gordy Age 12+
40. This Life by Sydney Portier Age teens
41. I Am a Black Woman Mari Evans (Poetry) Age – teens
42. Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome Age 8-12
43. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson Age 8-12
44. Yummy: The Last Days of Southside Shorty by G.Neri Age 10+
45. Zora and Me by Victoria Bond T.R. Simon age 10+
46. Ray Charles by Sharon Bell Matthews Age 8-11
47. Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves by Ashley Brown age 9-11
48 Jimi and Me by Jaime Adoff Age 11-15
49. Look Both Ways by Jason Reynold Age 9-11
50. As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds age Age 10+
51. The Red Rose Box by Brenda Woods Age 9-11
52. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander: Middle School
53. Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Stephen Alcorn Age 6-10
54, Black Means by Gladys Groom and Bonnie Grossman Age 6-13
55. Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, Daughter of Booker T. Washing by Ruth Ann Stewart Age teens
56. Dear Black Boy by Martellus Bennett Age: 7-12
57. 17 Black Artists by Elton C. Fox No Information
58. New Kid by Jerry Craft: age 8-12
59. Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammed Ali by Charles R. Smith Age 10 and 11
60. Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith Age 10-13
61. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis Age 10-13 (The Watsons Go To Birmingham)
62. Marvin and Tige by Frankcina Glass Age 10 -11
63. Justice and Her Brothers by Virginia Hamilton Age 11+
64. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor Age 11+ (Song of the Trees)
65.Ms. Africa: Profiles of Modern African Women by Louise Crane Age Young Adult (out of print?)
66. Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Age11-17
67. Mukasa by John Nagenda Age 9-11
68. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia Age; 8-12
69. Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Dais Pickney Age 8-11
70. Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves US Marshall by Vaunda Micheau Nelson Age 8-12
71. X: A Noel by Ilyash Shabazz with Kekia Magoon Age 8-12
72. Brendan Buckley’s Universe by Sundee T. Frazier Age 8-12
73. Copper Sun by Sharon Draper Age 8-11 (Tears of a Tiger)
74. A Nineteenth Century American Girl by Tonya Bolden Age 8-12
75. (Searching for Sarah Rector) The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes (Dark Sons; Jump at the Sun, Bronx Masquerade,
Talkin’ About Bessie, Jazmin’s Notebook) Age 8-12
76. Missy Violet and Me by Barbara Hathaway Age 8-12
77. The Way a Door Closes by Hope Anita Smith Age 8-12
78. The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit by Julius Lester Age 8—12
79. Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York’s African Burial Ground by Joyce Hanson and Gary McGowan A. Bayard Age 8-12
80. We are the Ship: The Story of the Negro Baseball League by Kadir Nelson age 9-12
81. Thief in the Village by James Berry Age 9-12
82. A Wreath for Emmert Till by Marilyn Nelson Ager 9-12 (Carver: A Life in Poems)
83. I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly by Joyce Hansen Age- 9-12 (The Captive, Which Way Freedom
84. I Never Had It Made: The Autobiography of Jack Robinson by Jackie Robinson and Alfred Duckett Age 9-12
85. A Thief in the Village by James Berry Age 9-12
86. Unbought and Unbossed by Mary Chisholm Age 9-17
87. Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson Age 10-12
88. Hoodoo by Ronald Smith Age – 10 -12
89. The First Part Last by Angela Johnson ( Heaven) Age 9-12 (Toning the Sweep)
90. Like Sisters on the Homefront by Ria Williams Garcia Age 10-12
91. Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison Age 10-13
92. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Age 10-13 (Each Kindness, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun)
93. Who Am I Without him? By Sharon G. Flake Age 10-12 (Money-Hungry, The Skin I’m In)
94. Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis Age 12+
95. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon age 12 (Fire in the Streets; Camo Girl)
96. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely age 12+
97. November Blue by Sharon M. Draper Age 12 78. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon Age 12+
98. Mississippi Challenge by Mildred Pitts Walter Age 11-15 (Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World)
99. Trouble’s Child by Mildred Pitts Walter Age 12-14 (Because We Are)
100. Lou in the Limelight by Kristin Hunter Age 12-14 (Guest in the Promised Land
101. Day of Tears: A Novel In Dialogue by Julius Lester Age 12+ (Jump at the Sun, This Strange New Feeling) 82.
Standing Against the Wind by Traci L. Jones Age 12-14
102. Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper Age 12-14 (Forged by Fire)
103. Francie by Karen English Age 12-14 A
104. Another Way to Dance by Martha Southgate Age 12-14
105. Martin Luther King Jr. & the Freedom Movement by Lillie Patterson Age 12-14
(Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Man of Peace, Benjamin Banneker: Genius of Early America)
106. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Age 12-17
107. March: Book Three by John Lewis Age 13-16
108. Black Dance in America by James Haskins Age 14+ (Lena Horne, James Van Der Zee: the Picture Takin’ Man,
Andrew Young: Young Man with a Mission, Barbara Jordan, The Story of Stevie Wonder)
109. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Age – 14+
110. The Star and Blackness by Junauda Peytrus age: 14+
111. Monday’s Not coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (language violence) Age – 14+
112. The Stars Beneath our Feet by David Barclay Moore age 10-11; content 16-17
113.Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne (ages 10+). Dionne provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the overlooked roles African American women played in the efforts to end slavery and then to secure the right to vote for women, arguing that black women worked consistently for their communities in all areas. A lively and critical addition as the United States commemorates the centennial of women’s suffrage.”
114. Marion Dane Bauer, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator) Age 4-8
115. Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora Age 4-8
116. What Is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack and April Harrison Age 4-8
117. R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison Age 4-8
118. Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration by Samara Cole Doyon and Kaylani Juanita Age 5-8
119. Let the Children March By Monica Clark-Robinson, Frank Morrison (Illustrator) Age 6-9
120. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race By Margot Lee Shetterly, Laura Freeman (Illustrator) ) Age 8-12
121. The Season of Styx Malone By Kekla Magoon Age 8-12
122. King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callander Age 8-12
123. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan and R. Gregory Christie Age 9-12
124. Monday’s Not Coming by Age 14 and up (sexuality)
125. New Kid by Jerry Craft Age 8-12
126. Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds and Alexander Nabaum Age 9-11
127. Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams Age 9-12
128. Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera Age 11 and up
129. Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson Age 10-14
130. Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne Age 10-12
131. Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan Age 12-14
132. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus Age 14-17
133. Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade and Cozbi A. Cabrera Age 14-17
134. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Age 14 and up
135. All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor Age 14-17
136. Gone Crazy in Alabama – HarperCollins
The Coretta Scott King Award–winning Gone Crazy in Alabama by Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime. Grade 4-8