Coretta Scott King Book Awards

The Coretta Scott King Award is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Committee of the ALA's Ethnic Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT).

The awards, honoring African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults, were announced on January 23, 2006 at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association.

Award Winning Book

Julius Lester's Day of Tears "is a masterful fictionalized account of the largest slave auction in US history, held in 1859 in Savannah, Georgia. In a powerfully dramatic format, the voices of enslaved Africans and their masters move between monologues and conversations." The novel "allows the reader to understand the moral dilemmas faced by the characters, and their challenge to affirm humanity in the midst of slavery."

Award Winning Illustrated Book

The illustrations in Rosa, illustrated by Bryan Collier, create "an image of a weary and determined Mrs. Parks. Her frustration with the status quo of the Jim Crow South is palpable." With watercolor and collage "Collier uses uniquely bold illustrations depicting Rosa Parks as an inspirational and unwavering force. Intricate profiles hidden in the details of the background give the reader a sense of collective community spirit."

New Talent Author Award

Written in free verse, Jimi and Me, by Jaime Adoff, tells the story of a bi-racial teen who, after his father is murdered and he and his mother are forced to move from Brooklyn to small town Ohio, "finds solace in his music and in his idol, Jimi Hendrix."

Honorable Mentions

Tonya Bolden, author of Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl, Nikki Grimes, author of Dark Sons, and Marilyn Nelson, author of A Wreath for Emmett Till, were selected for King Book Award Honors. R. Gregory Christie's artwork in Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan was selected for Book Award Illustrator Honors.