We've Moved!

Please visit us at ACPL's new kids' blog, One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books. Find our latest Mock Coretta Scott King Book Awards nominees by selecting the Mock Coretta Scott King Category http://acplkid.wordpress.com/category/mock-coretta-scott-king/ .

The REAL 2012 Coretta Scott King Book Awards:

Author Award & Illustrator Honor Award: Kadir Nelson

Illustrator Award: Shane W. Evans

Author Honor Award: Patricia C. McKissack

Author Honor Award: Eloise Greenfield

And OUR award-winners are . . .

A group of us had a great time Saturday talking about the wonderful features of the books presented this year on this blog. It was a difficult decision, but we're pleased to announce that Underground, by Shane W. Evans, impressed us enough to be named our mock author AND illustrator award-winner in our annual Mock Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Don't miss looking at this book that explains the underground railroad to young readers, or those below that we named mock honor books. The real Coretta Scott King Book Awards will be announced at 8:45 a.m. on Monday, January 23, when 18 youth media awards are announced by the American Library Association. You can tune in at 8:30 a.m. here for a live webcast.


Mock Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books

Mock Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books

Love Twelve Miles Long, by Glenda Armand, illustrated by Colin Bootman

In 1820s Maryland, Frederick's mother, who is a slave on a different plantation, walks twelve miles each way for a nighttime visit with her son, during which she recounts what each mile of the journey represents. Based on the childhood of Frederick Douglass.






Publisher: Lee and Low Books, unpaged

Henry Ossawa Tanner: His Boyhood Dream Comes True, by Faith Ringgold

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first African American painter to achieve international fame, became an inspiration to Harlem Renaissance artists and generations of American painters His story is retold by Faith Ringgold, one of today's leading African American artists, to inspire another generation of children to become the artists of the future. Tanner's struggle to achieve his dream and his success as a painter on the world stage will inspire and challenge young readers.

Publisher: Bunker Hill Publishing, 32 p.

White Water: inspired by a true story, by Michael Bandy and Eric Stein

After tasting the warm, rusty water from the fountain designated for African Americans, a young boy questions why he cannot drink the cool, refreshing water from the "Whites Only" fountain. Based on a true experience co-author Michael S. Bandy had as a boy.








Publisher: Candlewick Press, unpaged

These Hands, by Margaret H. Mason, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

An African American man tells his grandson about a time when, despite all the wonderful things his hands could do, they could not touch bread at the Wonder Bread factory. Based on stories of bakery union workers; includes historical note.








Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, unpaged

My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey, by Jeanne Walker Harvey, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

In Harlem, New York City, an artist follows the rhythms of blues music as he recalls his North Carolina childhood while painting, cutting, and pasting to make art.









Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children, unpaged

Heart and soul : the story of America and African Americans, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

A simple introduction to African-American history, from Revolutionary-era slavery up to the election of President Obama. Written in the voice of an "Everywoman," an unnamed narrator whose forebears came to this country on slave ships and who lived to cast her vote for the first African American president, "Heart and Soul" touches on some of the great transformative events and small victories of that history.





Publisher: Balzer and Bray, 108 p.

Ghetto Cowboy, by G. Neri

Twelve-year-old Cole's behavior causes his mother to drive him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with a father he has never known, but who soon has Cole involved with a group of African-American "cowboys" who rescue horses and use them to steer youths away from drugs and gangs.








Publisher: Candlewick Press, 218 p.

With the Might of Angels, by Andrea Davis Pinkney

In 1955 Hadley, Virginia, twelve-year-old Dawnie Rae Johnson, a tomboy who excels at baseball and at her studies, becomes the first African American student to attend the all-white Prettyman Coburn school, turning her world upside down. Includes historical notes about the period.








Publisher: Scholastic, 324 p.

My Uncle Martin's words for America, by Angela Farris Watkins, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

In this inspirational story about Martin Luther King Jr.--told from the perspective of his niece Angela Farris Watkins--readers learn how King used his message of love and peace to effectively fight for African Americans' civil rights. Focusing on important words and phrases from his speeches, such as justice , freedom , and equality , Watkins uses King's language to expose young readers to important events during the civil rights era.





Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 39 p.

A Storm Called Katrina, by Myron Uhlberg, illustrated by Colin Bootman

When flood waters from broken levees submerge their New Orleans neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a young cornet player and his parents evacuate their home and struggle to survive and stay together.


Publisher: Peachtree, unpaged

Camo Girl, By Kekla Magoon

A poignant novel about a biracial girl living in the suburbs of Las Vegas examines the friendships that grow out of, and despite, her race.

Publisher: Aladdin, 218 p.

Carmen, by Walter Dean Myers

A policeman's obsessive love for a tempestuous wig factory worker ends in tragedy in this updated version of Bizet's Carmen, set in Spanish Harlem, and told in screenplay format.

Publisher: Egmont USA, 122 p.

Bird in a Box, by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Abstract: It's 1937. America is struggling to get out of the Great Depression and 3 children, Otis, Willie and Hibernia, are about to become friends. They already have a lot in common: they've each lost a loved one, they're all reaching for their dreams and they're a lot like their hero, African American boxer Joe Louis. As their lives gradually converge to form friendship, family and love, the children learn that hope and determination can change their lives forever. In this moving novel, their trials and triumphs echo those of Joe Louis, as he fights to become the next heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Award-winning and bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney masterfully weaves in factual information about Joe Louis and actual radio commentary from his fights, enriching the narrative of this uniquely rendered and beautifully written novel. Bird in a Box was inspired by the author's great-grandfather, Cyclone Williams, a one-time boxing hopeful on whom the character of Willie is based. This novel captures her family's recollections of the night Joe Louis won the title and what it meant to them but it also shows how one victory gave hope to a nationwide community.

Publisher: Little Brown, 278 p

Eliza's Freedom Road, An Underground Railroad Diary, by Jerdine Nolen

Abstract: A twelve-year-old slave girl begins writing in a journal where she documents her journey via the Underground Railroad from Alexandria, Virginia, to freedom in St. Catharines, Canada.

Publisher:   Simon and Schuster, 139 p

A Nation's Hope, the Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Abstract: On the eve of World War II, African American boxer Joe Louis fought German Max Schmeling in a bout that had more at stake than just the world heavyweight title; for much of America their fight came to represent America's war with Germany. This elegant and powerful picture book biography centers around the historic fight in which Black and White America were able to put aside prejudice and come together to celebrate our nation's ideals.


Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers, unpaged

Underground, written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans

A family silently crawls along the ground. They run barefoot through unlit woods, sleep beneath bushes, take shelter in a kind stranger's home. Where are they heading? They are heading for freedom.

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, unpaged

The Great Migration, Journey to the North, by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist

Abstract:  The author's poetry describes the period of the 20th century when many African Americans left the South to make better lives for themselves in the northern states.

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books, unpaged