2008 Author

Christopher Paul Curtis.  Elijah of Buxton

In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.

2008 Illustrator

Ashley Bryan.  Let It Shine

Illustrated versions of three well-known hymns.

2007 Author

Sharon Draper.  Copper Sun

Identifies the stressors that can affect teens and provides suggestions for dealing with them. Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

2007 Illustrator

Kadir Nelson.  Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to

Freedom   Tells the story of Harriet Tubman leading slaves to freedom in the North and the courage that it took.

2006 Author

Julius Lester.  Day of Tears:  A Novel in Dialogue

Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma.

2006 Illustrator

Bryan Collier.  Rosa

The story of Rosa Parks and her courageous act of defiance.

2005 Author

Toni Morrison.  Remember:  The Journey to School Integration

Presents a pictorial guide to depict the historical events surrounding school desegregation and tells a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the children during this time.

2005 Illustrator

Kadir Nelson.  Ellington Was Not a Street

A poem about the African American community of talented artists that frequented the author's childhood home.

2004 Author

Angela Johnson.  The First Part Last

With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson tells the story of a teen father's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it.

2004 Illustrator

Ashley Bryan.  The Beautiful Blackbird

In a story of the Ila people, the colorful birds of Africa ask Blackbird, whom they think is the most beautiful of birds, to decorate them with some of his "blackening brew."

2003 Author

Nikki Grimes. Bronx Masquerade

While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

2003 Illustrator

E. B. Lewis. Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth

Coleman   A biography of the woman who became the first licensed Afro-American pilot.

2002 Author

Mildred Taylor. The Land

After the Civil War Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, finds himself caught between the two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.

2002 Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney with text by Patricia McKissack. Goin' Someplace

Special   In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library.

2001 Author

Jacqueline Woodson. Miracle's Boys

Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

2001 Illustrator

Bryan Collier. Uptown

A tour of the sights of Harlem, including the Metro-North Train, brownstones, shopping on 125th Street, a barbershop, summer basketball, the Harlem Boys Choir, and sunset over the Harlem River.

2000 Author

Christopher Paul Curtis. Bud, Not Buddy

Ten-year-old Bud , a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

2000 Illustrator

Brian Pinkney with text by Kim L. Siegelson. In the Time of the

Drums Mentu, an American-born slave boy, watches his beloved grandmother, Twi, lead the insurrection at Teakettle Creek of Ibo people arriving from Africa on a slave ship.

1999 Author

Angela Johnson. Heaven

Fourteen-year-old Marley's seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.

1999 Illustrator

Michele Wood with text by Toyomi Igus. i see the rhythm

Chronicles and captures poetically the history, mood, and movement of African American music.

1998 Author

Sharon M. Draper. Forged by Fire

Teenage Gerald, who has spent years protecting his fragile half-sister from their abusive father, faces the prospect of one final confrontation before the problem can be solved.

1998 Illustrator

Javaka Steptoe. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans

Celebrating Fathers   A collection of poems celebrating African-American fathers by Angela Johnson, E. Ethelbert Miller, Carole Boston Weatherford, and others.

1997 Author

Walter Dean Myers. Slam!

Sixteen-year-old " Slam " Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

1997 Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney with text by Alan Schroeder. Minty: A Story of Young

Harriet Tubman   Young Harriet Tubman, whose childhood name was Minty, dreams of escaping slavery on the Brodas plantation in the late 1820s.

1996 Author

Virginia Hamilton with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon. Her

Stories   In this spellbinding sequel to a best-selling novel, cousins Cammy Coleman and Eloise Odie are forced to face some dark family secrets when their second cousins visit from New York City.

1996 Illustrator

Tom Feelings. The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo

Feelings's art speaks to the soul in this magnificent visual record of the Black Diaspora in the Americas. Clarke provides a concise narrative of the slave trade, and then readers pause at a double-spread image of a man, woman, bird, sun, and land before the pages become horrific.  - School Library Journal review

1995 Author

Patricia and Frederick McKissack. Christmas in the Big House,

Christmas in the Quarters   Describes the customs, recipes, poems, and songs used to celebrate Christmas in the big plantation houses and in the slave quarters just before the Civil War.

1995 Illustrator

James Ransome with text by James Weldon Johnson. The Creation

A poem based on the story of creation from the first book of the Bible.

1994 Author

Angela Johnson. Toning the Sweep

On a visit to her grandmother Ola, who is dying of cancer in her house in the desert, fourteen-year-old Emmie hears many stories about the past and her family history and comes to a better understanding of relatives both dead and living.

1994 Illustrator

Tom Feelings. Soul Looks Back in Wonder

Artwork and poems by such writers as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Askia Toure portray the creativity, strength, and beauty of their African American heritage.

1993 Author

Patrica McKissack. The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the

Supernatural  A collection of ghost stories with African American themes, designed to be told during the Dark Thirty --the half hour before sunset--when ghosts seem all too believable.

1993 Illustrator

Kathleen Atkins Wilson with text by David A. Anderson. The Origin

Of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth   Retells the Yoruba creation myth in which the deity Obatala descends from the sky to create the world.

1992 Author

Walter Dean Myers. Now Is Your Time! The Africian-Americian

Struggle for Freedom   A history of the African-American struggle for freedom and equality, beginning with the capture of Africans in 1619, continuing through the American Revolution, the Civil War, and into contemporary times.

1992 Illustrator

Faith Ringgold. Tar Beach

A young girl dreams of flying above her Harlem home, claiming all she sees for herself and her family. Based on the author's quilt painting of the same name.

1991 Author

Mildred D. Taylor. The Road To Memphis

Sadistically teased by two white boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.

1991 Illustrator

Leo and Diane Dillon with text by Leontyne Price. Aida

Retells the story of Verdi's opera in which the love of the enslaved Ethiopian princess for an Egyptian general brings tragedy to all involved.

1990 Author

Patricia and Frederick McKissack. A Long Hard Journey: The Story

of the Pullman Porter   A chronicle of the first black-controlled union, made up of Pullman porters, who after years of unfair labor practices staged a battle against a corporate giant resulting in a "David and Goliath" ending.

1990 Illustrator

Jan Spivey Gilchrist with text by Eloise Greenfield. Nathaniel Talking

A collection of first person poems that as a whole characterize an individual black child through the child's lyric impressions of self and the surrounding world.

1989 Author

Walter Dean Myers. Fallen Angels

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

1989 Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney with text by Patricia McKissack. Mirandy And Brother

Wind   To win first prize in the Junior Cakewalk, Mirandy tries to capture the wind for her partner.

1988 Author

Mildred D. Taylor. The Friendship

Four children witness a confrontation between an elderly black man and a white storekeeper in rural Mississippi in the 1930s.

1988 Illustrator

John Steptoe.Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

Mufaro's two beautiful daughters , one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife.

1987 Author

Mildred Pitts Walter. Justin And The Best Biscuits In The World

Suffering in a family full of females, ten-year-old Justin feels that cleaning and keeping house are women's work until he spends time on his beloved grandfather's ranch.

1987 Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney with text by Crecent Dragonwagon. Half A Moon And

One Whole Star    The summer night is full of wonderful sounds and scents as Susan falls asleep.

1986 Author

Virgina Hamilton. The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Retold Afro-American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on in hope.

1986 Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney with text by Valerie Flournoy. The Patchwork Quilt

Using scraps cut from the family's old clothing, Tanya helps her grandmother and mother make a beautiful quilt that tells the story of her family's life.

1985 Author

Walter Dean Myers. Motown and Didi

Motown and Didi , two teenage loners in Harlem, become allies in a fight against Touchy, the drug dealer whose dope is destroying Didi 's brother, and find themselves falling in love with each other.

1985 Illustrator

No award given.

1984 Author

Lucille Clifton. Everett Anderson's Goodbye

Everett Anderson has a difficult time coming to terms with his grief after his father dies.

1984 Illustrator

Pat Cummings with text by Mildred Pitts Walter. My Mama Needs

Me    Jason wants to help, but isn't sure that his mother needs him at all after she brings home a new baby from the hospital.

1983 Author

Virgina Hamilton. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush

Fourteen-year-old Tree, resentful of her working mother who leaves her in charge of a retarded brother , encounters the ghost of her dead uncle and comes to a deeper understanding of her family's problems.

1983 Illustrator

Peter Magubane. Black Child

1982 Author

Mildred D. Taylor. Let the Circle Be Unbroken

Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need to survive

1982 Illustrator

John Steptoe with text adapted by Rosa Guy. Mother Crocodile: An

Uncle Amadou Tale From Senegal

1981 Author

Sidney Poitier. This Life

Autobiography of actor Sidney Poitier.

1981 Illustrator

Ashley Bryan. Beat The Story-Drum, Pum-Pum

Five Nigerian folktales, masterfully retold, are accompanied by vibrant woodcuts. - Publishers Weekly

1980 Author

Walter Dean Myers. The Young Landlords

Five devoted friends become landlords and try to make their Harlem neighborhood a better place to live.

1980 Illustrator

Carole Byard with text by Camille Yarbrough. Cornrows

Explains how the hair style of cornrows , a symbol in Africa since ancient times, can today in this country symbolize the courage of outstanding Afro-Americans.

1979 Author

Ossie Davis. Escape To Freedom: A Play about Young Frederick

Douglass   Born a slave, young Frederick Douglass endures many years of cruelty before escaping to the North to claim his freedom.

1979 Illustrator

Tom Feelings with text by Nikki Grimes. Something On My Mind

1978 Author

Eloise Greenfield with illustrations by Carole Byard. Africa Dream

A black child's dreams are filled with the images of the people and places of Africa.

1978 Illustrator

Carole Byard with text by Eloise Greenfield. Africa Dream

A black child's dreams are filled with the images of the people and places of Africa.

1977 Author

James Haskins. The Story Of Stevie Wonder

1977 Illustrator

No award given.

1976 Author

Pearl Bailey. Duey's Tale

A maple seedling becomes separated from his mother tree, makes friends with a bottle and a log, and searches for his own place in life.

1976 Illustrator

No award given.

1975 Author

Dorothy Robinson. The Legend Of Africania

1975 Illustrator

No award given.

1974 Author

Sharon Bell Mathis with illustrations by George Ford. Ray Charles

A biography of the popular singer, who became blind as a young boy.

1974 Illustrator

George Ford with text by Sharon Bell Mathis. Ray Charles

A biography of the popular singer, who became blind as a young boy.

1973 Author

Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett. I Never Had It Made:

The Autobiography of Jackie Robinson   Before Barry Bonds, before Reggie Jackson, before Hank Aaron, baseball's stars had one undeniable trait in common: they were all white. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke that barrier, striking a crucial blow for racial equality and changing the world of sports forever.

1972 Author

Elton C. Fax. Seventeen Black Artists

1971 Author

Charlemae H. Rollins. Black Troubador: Langston Hughes

1970 Author

Lillie Patterson. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace