Ron's Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden, illustrated by Don Tate

Abstract: One summer day in 1959, nine-year-old Ron McNair, who dreams of becoming a pilot, walks into the Lake City, South Carolina, public library and insists on checking out some books, despite the rule that only white people can have library cards. Includes facts about McNair, who grew up to be an astronaut.



Publisher : Dutton Childrens Books, 30 pages.

The Brown Bookshelf interviews the current CSK Chairperson

Deborah Taylor is the current chairperson of the real Coretta Scott King Book Award committee. The members of the Brown Bookshelf talk with her "about the award's journey. Where it came from, where it's been and where it and publishing, in general, should go." Visit The Brown Bookshelf for the interview.

Dope Sick by Walter Dean Myers

Abstract: Seeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy "Lil J" Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a weird man who shows different turning points in Lil J's life when he could have made better choices.





Publisher: Amistad/HarperTeen, 186 p.

Fun Facts about the Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Thanks to A Fuse #8 Production for posting the following list which she credits to Meghan Clinton:


CORETTA SCOTT KING BOOK AWARDS
40TH ANNIVERSARY FUN FACTS

Lillie Patterson was the first author to receive the Coretta Scott King Book Award for “Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace.”


The author who has won the most Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Walter Dean Myers with five wins.


The illustrator who has won the most Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Jerry Pinkney with five wins.


Coretta Scott King received a special citation in 1984 for “The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.”


Critically-acclaimed actor, Sidney Poitier, won the Coretta Scott King Book Award in 1981 for “This Life.”


Internationally renowned artist, Lev Mills, designed the Coretta Scott King Book Award seal in 1974.


The Coretta Scott King Book Award has honored 113 authors and illustrators over the past 40 years.


In 1995, Sharon Draper was the first author to win the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award (formerly known as the Genesis Award) for “Tears of a Tiger.” Three years later, she won her first Coretta Scott King Book Award for “Forged by Fire.”


After winning her first Coretta Scott King Book Author Award for “Toning the Sweep” in 1994, Angela Johnson went on to win the 2003 MacArthur “Genius” Award.


In 2000, Christopher Paul Curtis became the first author to win the Coretta Scott King Book Award and the Newbery Medal for the same book “Bud, Not Buddy.”


In 1972, several dozens of librarians gathered for the first Coretta Scott King Book Awards gala breakfast. This year, close to 1,000 are expected to celebrate in Chicago, IL.


The 2009 winners of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards are Kadir Nelson, author of “We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” and Floyd Cooper, illustrator of “The Blacker the Berry.”