Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King by recognizing outstanding books by African American authors and illustrators. The award encourages the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts, including biographical, historical, and social history treatments.

 2025 Twenty-four Seconds from Now... written by Jason Reynolds

Call Number: YA (on order)

Twenty-four Seconds from Now tackles a first-time sexual experience from the guy’s perspective in this unfiltered and undeniably sweet stream of consciousness story about teen boy Neon, who is about to experience a huge first with his girlfriend, Aria.

 2025 My Daddy Is a Cowboy illustrated by C.G. Esperanza

Call Number: jPIC SEA

While a young Panamanian American girl and her father share "just-us" time on an early morning horseback ride around their town, he tells her cowboy stories and she realizes she is a cowboy, too.

 2024 Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi

Call Number: On Order

A powerful story about discovering who you are in the world—and fighting for that person—by having the courage to be your own revolution.

 2024 An American Story illustrated by Dare Coulter

Call Number: j306.3620973 ALE

A powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.

 2023 Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Call Number: jF LUQ

A lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children's escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

 2023 Standing in the Need of Prayer illustrated by Frank Morrison

Call Number: jPIC WEA

The popular spiritual, Standing in the need of prayer, has been reworked to chronicle the milestones, struggles, tragedies, and triumphs of African American people and their history. The text and illustrations of this inspirational book are informative reminders of yesterday, hopeful images for today, and aspirational dreams of tomorrow.

 2022 Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper

Call Number: j976.68600496073 WEA

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre provides a powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation's history.

 2021 Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Call Number: YA F WOO

ZJ's friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.

 2021 R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul illustrated by Frank Morrison

Call Number: jB FRANKLIN

Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father's Detroit church. Aretha sang with a soaring voice that spanned more than three octaves. Her incredible talent and string of hit songs earned her the title "the Queen of Soul." This Queen was a multi-Grammy winner and the first female inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there was even more to Aretha than being a singer, songwriter, and pianist: she was an activist, too. Her song "Respect" was an anthem for people fighting for civil rights and women's rights. With words that sing and art that shines, this vibrant portrait of Aretha Franklin pays her the R-E-S-P-E-C-T this Queen of Soul deserves

 2020 New Kid by Jerry Craft

Call Number: jF CRA

A timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real.

 2020 The Undefeated illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Call Number: j811.6 ALE

This poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes.