Search Catalog
Help/FAQ
Awards & Other Booklists
Coretta Scott King Book Award
Given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions,
the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their
contribution to the realization of the American dream.
The award is designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King
for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.
For more information see: The Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Click on the titles below to search the catalog
| Year | Category | Title | Author or Illustrator | |
| 2012 | Author Award Winner | Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans | Kadir Nelson | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom | Shane W. Evans | ||
| Author Honor Books | The Great Migration: Journey to the North | Eloise Greenfield | ||
| Never Forgotten | Patricia C. McKissack | Illustrator Honor Books | Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans | Kadir Nelson |
| Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement | Ashley Bryan | |||
| 2011 | Author Award Winner | One Crazy Summer | Rita Williams-Garcia | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | Dave the Potter | Bryan Collier | ||
| Author Honor Books | Lockdown | Walter Dean Myers | ||
| Ninth Ward | Jewell Parker Rhodes | |||
| Yummy | G. Neri | |||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix | Javaka Steptoe | ||
| 2010 | Author Award Winner | Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal | Vaunda Micheaux Nelson | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | My People | Charles S. Smith, Jr. | ||
| Author Honor Books | Mare's War | Tanita S. Davis | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The Negro Speaks of Rivers | E.B. Lewis | ||
| 2009 | Author Award Winner | We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Kadir Nelson | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | The Blacker the Berry | Floyd Cooper | ||
| Author Honor Books | Keeping the Night Watch | Hope Anita Smith | ||
| The Blacker the Berry | Joyce Carol Thomas | |||
| Becoming Billie Holiday | Carole Boston Weatherford | |||
| Illustrator Honor Books | We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Kadir Nelson | ||
| The Moon Over Star | Jerry Pinkney | |||
| Before John Was a Jazz Giant | Sean Qualls | |||
| 2008 | Author Award Winner | Elijah of Buxton | Christopher Paul Curtis | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | Let it Shine | Ashley Bryan | ||
| Author Honor Books | November Blues | Sharon M. Draper | ||
| Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali | Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Bryan Collier | |||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The Secret Olivia Told Me | Nancy Devard, Illustrator N. Joy, Author |
||
| Jazz on a Saturday Night | Leo and Diane Dillon | |||
| 2007 | Author Award Winner | Copper Sun | Sharon Draper | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom | Kadir Nelson, Illustrator Carole Boston Weatherford, Author |
||
| Author Honor Books | The Road to Paris | Nikki Grimes | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Jazz | Christopher Myers, Illustrator Walter Dean Myers, Author |
||
| Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes | Benny Andrews, Illustrator David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad, editors |
|||
| 2006 | Author Award Winner | Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue | Julius Lester | |
| Author Honor Books | Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl | Tonya Bolden | ||
| Dark Sons | Nikki Grimes | |||
| A Wreath for Emmett Till | Marilyn Nelson, Author Philippe Lardy, Illustrator |
|||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Rosa | Nikki Giovanni, Author Bryan Collier, Illustrator |
||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan | R. Gregory Christie, Author R. Gregory Christie, Illustrator |
||
| 2005 | Author Award Winner | Remember: The Journey to School Integration | Toni Morrison | |
| Author Honor Books | The Legend of Buddy Bush | Shelia P. Moses | ||
| Who Am I without Him?: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives | Sharon G. Flake | |||
| Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem | Marilyn Nelson | |||
| Illustrator Award Book | Ellington Was Not a Street | Kadir A. Nelson, Illustrator Ntozake Shange, Author |
||
| Illustrator Honor Books | God Bless the Child | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. |
||
| The People Could Fly: The Picture Book | illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon; text by Virginia Hamilton |
|||
| 2004 | Author Award Winner | The First Part Last | Angela Johnson | |
| Author Honor Books | Days of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | ||
| Locomotion | Jacqueline Woodson | |||
| The Battle of Jericho | Sharon Draper | |||
| Illustrator Award Book | Beautiful Blackbird | Ashley Bryan | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Almost to Freedom | illustrated by Colin Bootman; text by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson | ||
| Thunder Rose | illustrated by Kadir Nelson; text byJerdine Nolen | |||
| 2003 | Author Award Winner | Bronx Masquerade | Nikki Grimes | |
| Author Honor Books | The Red Rose Box | Brenda Woods | ||
| Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | Nikki Grimes | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | illustrated by E. B. Lewis; text by Nikki Grimes | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-Think of That | illustrated and written by Leo and Diane Dillion | ||
| Visiting Langston | illustrated by Bryan Collier; text by Willie Perdomo | |||
| 2002 | Author Award Winner | The Land | Mildred Taylor | |
| Author Honor Books | Money-Hungry | Sharon G. Flake | ||
| Carver: A Life in Poems | Marilyn Nelson | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Goin' Someplace Special | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Patricia McKissack | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Martin's Big Words | illustrated by Bryan Collier; text by Doreen Rappoport | ||
| 2001 | Author Award Winner | Miracle's Boys | Jacqueline Woodson | |
| Author Honor Books | Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters | Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn | ||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Uptown | Bryan Collier | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Freedom River | illustrated by Bryan Collier; text by Doreen Rapport | ||
| Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth | illustrated by R. Gregory Christie; text by Anne Rockwell | |||
| Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys | illustrated by E.B. Lewis; text by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard | |||
| 2000 | Author Award Winner | Bud, Not Buddy | Christopher Paul Curtis | |
| Author Honor Books | Francie | Karen English | ||
| Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers | Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack | |||
| Monster | Walter Dean Myers | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | In the Time of the Drums | illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text by Kim L. Siegelson | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | My Rows and Piles of Coins | illustrated by E. B. Lewis; text by Tololwa M. Mollel | ||
| Black Cat | Christopher Myers | |||
| 1999 | Author Award Winner | Heaven | Angela Johnson | |
| Author Honor Books | Jazmin's Notebook | Nikki Grimes | ||
| Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground | Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan | |||
| The Other Side: Shorter Poems | Angela Johnson | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | i see the rhythm | illustrated by Michele Wood; text by Toyomi Igus | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | I Have Heard of a Land | illustrated by Floyd Cooper; text by Joyce Carol Thomas | ||
| The Bat Boy and His Violin | illustrated by E. B. Lewis; text by Gavin Curtis | |||
| Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra | illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text by Andrea Davis Pinkney | |||
| 1998 | Author Award Winner | Forged by Fire | Sharon M. Draper | |
| Author Honor Books | Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement | James Haskins | ||
| I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl | Joyce Hansen | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers | illustrated by Javaka Steptoe; text by Alan Schroeder | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry | Ashley Bryan | ||
| Harlem | illustrated by Christopher Myers; text by Walter Dean Myers | |||
| The Hunterman and the Crocodile | Baba Wagu, Diakit, | |||
| 1997 | Author Award Winner | Slam | Walter Dean Myers | |
| Author Honor Books | Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts | Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack | ||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Alan Schroeder | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children | illustrated by Gregorie Christie; edited by Davida Adedjouma | ||
| Running the Road to ABC | illustrated by Reynold Ruffins; text by Denize Lauture | |||
| Neeny Coming, Neeny Going | illustrated by Synthia Saint James; text byKaren English | |||
| 1996 | Author Award Winner | Her Stories | Virginia Hamilton | |
| Author Honor Books | The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 | Christopher Paul Curtis | ||
| Like Sisters on the Homefront | Rita Williams-Garcia | |||
| From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun | Jacqueline Woodson | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo | Tom Feelings | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Her Stories | illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon; text by Virginia Hamilton | ||
| The Faithful Friend | illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text by Robert San Souci | |||
| 1995 | Author Award Winner | Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters | Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack | |
| Author Honor Books | The Captive | Joyce Hansen | ||
| I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This | Jacqueline Woodson | |||
| Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball League | Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | The Creation | illustrated by James Ransome; text by James Weldon Johnson | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The Singing Man | illustrated by Terea Shaffer; text by Angela Shelf Medearis | ||
| Meet Danitra Brown | illustrated by Floyd Cooper; text by Nikki Grimes | |||
| 1994 | Author Award Winner | Toning the Sweep | Angela Johnson | |
| Author Honor Books | Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea | Joyce Carol Thomas; illustrated by Floyd Cooper | ||
| Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary | Walter Dean Myers | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Soul Looks Back in Wonder | illustrated by Tom Feelings; edited by Phyllis Fogelman | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea | illustrated by Floyd Cooper; text by Joyce Carol Thomas | ||
| Uncle Jed's Barbershop | illustrated by James Ransome; text by Margaree King Mitchell | |||
| 1993 | Author Award Winner | Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural | Patricia A. McKissack | |
| Author Honor Books | Mississippi Challenge | Mildred Pitts Walter | ||
| Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? | Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack | |||
| Somewhere in the Darkness | Walter Dean Myers | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth | illustrated by Kathleen Atkins Wilson; retold by David A. Anderson/SANKOFA | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Little Eight John | illustrated by Wil Clay; text by Jan Wahl | ||
| Sukey and the Mermaid | illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text by Robert San Souci | |||
| Working Cotton | illustrated by Carole Byard; text by Sherley Anne Williams | |||
| 1992 | Author Award Winner | Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom | Walter Dean Myers | |
| Author Honor Books | Night on Neighborhood Street | Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist | ||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Tar Beach | Faith Ringgold | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals | illustrated and selected by Ashley Bryan | ||
| Night on Neighborhood Street | illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist; text by Eloise Greenfield | |||
| 1991 | Author Award Winner | The Road to Memphis | Mildred D. Taylor | |
| Author Honor Books | Black Dance in America | James Haskins | ||
| When I Am Old with You | Angela Johnson | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Aida | illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon; text by Leontyne Price | ||
| 1990 | Author Award Winner | A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter | Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack | |
| Author Honor Books | Nathaniel Talking | Eloise Greenfield illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist | ||
| The Bells of Christmas | Virginia Hamilton | |||
| Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Freedom Movement | Lillie Patterson | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Nathaniel Talking | illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist; text by Eloise Greenfield | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The Talking Eggs | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Robert San Souci | ||
| 1989 | Author Award Winner | Fallen Angels | Walter Dean Myers | |
| Author Honor Books | A Thief in the Village and Other Stories | James Berry | ||
| Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave | Virginia Hamilton | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Mirandy and Brother Wind | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Patricia McKissack | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Under the Sunday Tree | illustrated by Amos Ferguson; text by Eloise Greenfield | ||
| Storm in the Night | illustrated by Pat Cummings; text by Mary Stolz | |||
| 1988 | Author Award Winner | The Friendship | Mildred L. Taylor | |
| Author Honor Books | An Enchanted Hair Tale | Alexis De Veaux | ||
| The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit | Julius Lester | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale | John Steptoe | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals | illustrated by Ashley Bryan; selected by John Langstaff | ||
| The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua | illustrated by JoeSam.; compiled by Harriet Rohmer, et al | |||
| 1987 | Author Award Winner | Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World | Mildred Pitts Walter | |
| Author Honor Books | Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Ashley Bryan | ||
| Which Way Freedom | Joyce Hansen | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Half a Moon and One Whole Star | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Crescent Dragonwagon | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Ashley Bryan | ||
| C.L.O.U.D.S. | Pat Cummings | |||
| 1986 | Author Award Winner | The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales | Virginia Hamilton; illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon | |
| Author Honor Books | Junius Over Far | Virginia Hamilton | ||
| Trouble's Child | Mildred Pitts Walter | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | The Patchwork Quilt | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Valerie Flournoy | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales | illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon; text by Virginia Hamilton | ||
| 1985 | Author Award Winner | Motown and Didi | Walter Dean Myers | |
| Author Honor Books | Circle of Gold | Candy Dawson Boyd | ||
| A Little Love | Virginia Hamilton | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | No award | |||
| 1984 | Author Award Winner | Everett Anderson's Goodbye | Lucille Clifton | |
| Special Citation | The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. | compiled by Coretta Scott King | ||
| Author Honor Books | The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl | Virginia Hamilton | ||
| Lena Horne | James Haskins | |||
| Bright Shadow | Joyce Carol Thomas | |||
| Because We Are | Mildred Pitts Walter | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | My Mama Needs Me | illustrated by Pat Cummings; text by Mildred Pitts Walter | ||
| 1983 | Author Award Winner | Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush | Virginia Hamilton | |
| Author Honor Books | This Strange New Feeling | Julius Lester | ||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Black Child | Peter Mugabane | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | All the Colors of the Race | illustrated by John Steptoe; text by Arnold Adoff | ||
| I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals | illustrated by Ashley Bryan | |||
| Just Us Women | illustrated by Pat Cummings; text by Jeanette Caines | |||
| 1982 | Author Award Winner | Let the Circle Be Unbroken | Mildred D. Taylor | |
| Author Honor Books | Rainbow Jordan | Alice Childress | ||
| Lou in the Limelight | Kristin Hunter | |||
| Mary: An Autobiography | Mary E. Mebane | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale from Sengal | illustrated by John Steptoe; text by Rosa Guy | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Daydreamers | illustrated by Tom Feelings; text by Eloise Greenfield | ||
| 1981 | Author Award Winner | This Life | Sidney Poitier | |
| Author Honor Books | Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday | Alexis De Veaux | ||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum | Ashley Bryan | ||
| Illustrator Honor Books | Grandmama's Joy | illustrated by Carole Byard; text by Eloise Greenfield | ||
| Count on Your Fingers African Style | illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Claudia Zaslavsky | |||
| 1980 | Author Award Winner | The Young Landlords | Walter Dean Myers | |
| Author Honor Books | Movin' Up | Berry Gordy | ||
| Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir | Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little | |||
| Andrew Young; Man with a Mission | James Haskins | |||
| James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin' Man | James Haskins | |||
| Let the Lion Eat Straw | Ellease Southerland | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Cornrows | illustrated by Carole Byard; text by Camille Yarbrough | ||
| 1979 | Author Award Winner | Escape to Freedom | Ossie Davis | |
| Author Honor Books | Benjamin Banneker | Lillie Patterson | ||
| I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf | Jeanne W. Peterson | |||
| Justice and Her Brothers | Virginia Hamilton | |||
| Skates of Uncle Richard | Carol Fenner | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Something on My Mind | illustrated by Tom Feelings; text by Nikki Grimes | ||
| 1978 | Author Award Winner | Africa Dream | Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Carole Bayard | |
| Author Honor Books | The Days When the Animals Talked: Black Folk Tales and How They Came to Be | William J. Faulkner | ||
| Marvin and Tige | Frankcina Glass | |||
| Mary McLeod Bethune | Eloise Greenfield | |||
| Barbara Jordan | James Haskins | |||
| Coretta Scott King | Lillie Patterson | |||
| Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington | Ruth Ann Stewart | |||
| Illustrator Award Winner | Africa Dream | illustrated by Carole Bayard; text by Eloise Greenfield | ||
| 1977 | Author Award Winner | The Story of Stevie Wonder | James Haskins | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | No award | |||
| 1976 | Author Award Winner | Duey's Tale | Pearl Bailey | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | No award | |||
| 1975 | Author Award Winner | The Legend of Africana | Dorothy Robinson | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | No award | |||
| 1974 | Author Award Winner | Ray Charles | Sharon Bell Mathis; illustrated by George Ford | |
| Illustrator Award Winner | Ray Charles | illustrated by George Ford; text by Sharon Bell Mathis | ||
| 1973* | I Never Had It Made: The Autobiography of Jackie Robinson | as told to Alfred Duckett | ||
| 1972 | 17 Black Artists | Elton C. Fax | ||
| 1971 | Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes | Charlemae Rollins | ||
| 1970 | Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace | Lillie Patterson |
* Note: Prior to 1974, the CSK Award was given to authors only