Welcome!

For several years, we have wanted to host a Mock Coretta Scott King (CSK) Book Award program. This is the year to begin! You are invited to join us on this adventure as we discover and discuss the books of 2009 and select our own 2010 Mock Coretta Scott King Book awards, using the criteria of the real Coretta Scott King Book Award.

The real awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Committee of the American Library Association's Ethnic Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). This committee presents three awards: CSK Author Award, CSK Illustrator Award, and the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

The purpose of the awards is, as written on the ALA EMIERT's The Coretta Scott King Book Award's Selection Process page, "to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts, including biographical, historical and social history treatments by African American authors and illustrators." Please refer to that page for the complete criteria. Here's an abbreviated version of what we are to consider: original work published in the U.S. by an African American writer or illustrator in which the African American experience is portrayed. The work must be quality writing and illustration for youth and "seek to motivate readers to develop their own attitudes and behaviors as well as comprehend their personal duty and responsibility as citizens in a pluralistic society."

We will obtain titles from review journals such as School Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist and Publishers Weekly. We will read blogs, specifically The Brown Bookshelf (http://thebrownbookshelf.com/), for titles being discussed. We also encourage suggestions from you.

To recommend books to be discussed, please leave a comment here or email Just comment here or send an email to acplmockcsk at gmail dot com.