Short List of 2010 Titles for Discussion of our Mock Award

Below is our short list for our in-person discussion on December 5. If you would like to add a title to this list, please do so in the comment section of this blog entry. Thanks!

For Author Award:
8th Grade Superzero
Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson
Clemente!
The Cruisers
Finding Family
One Crazy Summer
Oprah: The Little Speaker
The Other Half of my Heart
Ruth and the Green Book
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
What Momma Left Me

For Illustrator Award:
Back of the Bus
Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson
Clemente!
Dave the Potter
Oprah: The Little Speaker
Ruth and the Green Book
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
Skit-Skat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate

Abstract: Effa always loved baseball. As a young woman, she would go to Yankee Stadium just to see Babe Ruth's mighty swing. She never dreamed she would someday own a baseball team. Or be the first-and-only woman ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.













Publisher: Harpercollins, 1 v. (unpaged)

Good Fortune by Noni Carter

Abstract: Brutally kidnapped from her African village and shipped to America, a young girl struggles to come to terms with her new life as a slave, gradually rising from working in the fields to the master's house, secretly learning to read and write, until, risking everything, she escapes to seek freedom in the North.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 489 p.

Creating a Short List of 2010 Titles

For our in-person discussion on December 5, we will work off a short list of suggested titles. Which books would you like to have included? Do you know of titles that have been missed?

The short list will be posted October 25, 2010.

What Momma Left Me by Renee Watson

Abstract: After the death of their mother, thirteen-year-old Serenity Evans and her younger brother go to live with their grandparents, who try to keep them safe from bad influences and help them come to terms with what has happened to their family.








Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 240 p.

The Cruisers by Walter Dean Myers

Abstract: Friends Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi, caught in the middle of a mock Civil War at DaVinci Academy, their Harlem gifted and talanted school, learn the true cost of freedom of speech when they use their alternative newspaper, The Cruiser, to try to make peace.

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 128 p.

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Abstract: Ruth and the Green Book is the story of one black family's trip from Chicago to Alabama by car in the late 1940s. Along the way they encounter prejudice, but they also discover The Green Book, a real guide to accommodations which was published for decades to aid African-American travelers as they faced prejudice on the roads across the country.







Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., unpaged

Almost Zero by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Abstract: Dyamonde really wants red high-top sneakers. Too bad they're so expensive! A classmate tells her it's her mom"s job to give her what she needs, but when Dyamonde tries that argument, her mom teaches her a lesson by literally only giving her what she needs.






Publisher: G.P. Putnam's, 96 p.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Abstract: A graphic novel based on the true story of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, an eleven-year old African American gang member from Chicago who shot a young girl and was then shot by his own gang members








Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 94 p.

Sell-Out by Ebony Joy Wilkins

Abstract: Being nearly the only African American in her school doesn't bother NaTasha. But it bothers Tilly, NaTasha's spitfire grandmother from Harlem, who decides NaTasha needs to get back to her roots.






















Publisher: Scholastic, 267 pages

Paper Thin by Shelia M. Goss

Abstract: Living with her emotionally absent father and a stepmother who spoils her, Sierra doesn't lack for material things, but she still struggles with the pain of losing her birth mother at an early age. Sierra hides her fears and disappointments behind food and fashion. After time spent at a weight loss camp, she returns to school twenty-five pounds lighter. She goes from being sweet to displaying a diva-like attitude. Her best friends, Britney and Jasmine, are quick to point out this new change.




Publisher: Urban Renaissance, 296 pages