Coretta Scott King Book Awards
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, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards annually recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience.
2024 Author Award Winner
Warrior Princess. That’s what Nigeria Jones’s father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother–the perfect matriarch of their Movement–disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want. Nigeria’s mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father’s disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. There, she begins to flourish and expand her universe. As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.
2024 Author Honor Books
Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, “big” becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.
A true story of determination and groundbreaking achievement follows eighth grade African American spelling champion MacNolia Cox, who left Akron, Ohio, in 1936 to compete in the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., only to be met with prejudice and discrimination.
A multi-generational family history told in the voices of the author’s ancestors, spanning enslavement alongside Frederick Douglass at Maryland’s Wye House plantation, service in the U.S. Colored Troops, and the founding of all-Black Reconstruction-era communities.
2024 Illustrator Award Winner
A picture book in verse that threads together past and present to explore the legacy of slavery during a classroom lesson.
2024 Illustrator Honor Books
Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, “big” becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.
When Jackie Ormes sees an opportunity, she takes it. She’s a journalist, cartoonist, fashionista, philanthropist, and activist–and she wants to use her artistry to bring joy and hope to Black people everywhere. But in post-World War II America, Black people are still being denied their civil rights, and Jackie has a dilemma: How can her art remain true to her signature Jackie joy, while also staying honest about the inequalities Black people have been fighting against? Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright have crafted a gorgeous and moving tribute to the indelible legacy of America’s first Black woman cartoonist
You are invited. To a most marvelous party. For a most marvelous man. A man who turned the alphabet into THUMP A BUMP. Who turned words into JAZZ and RIVERS into BUSTIN’ A MOVE. All of his word-children will be there, uh-huh. Because it’s a party for LANGSTON. Langston Hughes. King of letters. Renaissance man. So don’t be shy. Come on in. To the hoopla in Harlem. EVERYONE is welcome.
Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature is presented annually to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named in memory of a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association.
2024 Winner
From David Levithan’s story about a non-binary kid collecting pieces of other people’s collections to Jenny Torres Sanchez’s tale of a girl gathering types of fire while trying not to get burned to G. Neri’s piece about 1970s skaters seeking opportunities to go vertical–anything can be collected and in the hands of these award-winning and best-selling authors, any collection can tell a story.
2024 Honor Book
Part memoir, part speculative fiction, The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be explores the often surreal experience of growing up as a mixed-Black transracial adoptee through the stories of two girls on two different timelines bridged by a mysterious portal. Gibney surrounds those stories with reproductions of her own adoption documents, letters, family photographs, interviews, medical records, and brief essays on the absurdities of the adoptee experience. The end result is a unique portrait of an American experience rarely depicted in any form.
Truman Readers Award
The Truman Readers Award encourages students in the early teen years to express their unique voice through exploring new literary genres, communicating with their peers about young adult literature, and honoring authors writing for young teens. Missouri school children in middle school/junior high vote for their favorite book from a list of nominated titles. The Truman Readers Award is awarded to the author of this book by the Missouri Association of School Librarians.
2024 Winner
Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and escaping her village and the narrow role that the Taliban believes is appropriate for women–both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11.
Truman Award Nominees 2024-2025
Twelve-and-a-half-year-old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone (father, grandparents, teachers, and classmates) have started treating her differently: urging caution and trying to help and for an independently-minded girl who loves speed and big air tricks it is frustrating–so Emelyn and her best friends come up with a plan to change their minds.
Fourteen-year-old star freshman quarterback Caleb Springer watches his father deteriorate from injuries he suffered playing the very same sport, forcing Caleb to consider whether playing football, the sport of his dreams, is worth risking irreparable physical harm.
Before the storm, thirteen-year-old Quinn was happy flying under the radar. She was average. Unremarkable. Always looking for an escape from her house, where her bickering parents fawned over her genius big brother. Inside our broken home, we didn’t know how broken the world outside was. But after the storm, Quinn can’t seem to go back to average. Her friends weren’t affected by the tornado in the same way. To them, the storm left behind a playground of abandoned houses and distracted adults. As Quinn struggles to find stability in the tornado’s aftermath, she must choose: between homes, friendships, and versions of herself. Nothing that was mine yesterday, is mine today.
Most people inherit eye colors or heirlooms, but for Celia Cleary, the gift of prophecy has been passed down in her family for generations. And on the 4,444th day of her life, Celia will have her first vision. But nothing could have prepared her for what she sees–the quiet boy down the street, Jeffrey Johnson, is about to die. Determined to save him despite her grandmother’s warnings against it, Celia alters events to stop her vision from playing out. But for each prophecy she avoids, another one takes its place, putting Jeffrey in constant danger. Fate has made its choice, and it’s not giving up the hunt. Focusing on homework or friends isn’t easy when you’re going head-to-head with death, and keeping Jeffrey Johnson alive is throwing Celia’s seventh-grade year into chaos. It doesn’t help that she’s getting to know Jeffrey more and more with each new rescue attempt. It really doesn’t help when she realizes she kind of likes him. Will Celia’s gifts be enough to thwart fate? Or are some things in life inevitable?
Thirteen-year-old Rain, who struggles with low self-esteem, must overcome sadness after her older brother Xander is severely beaten up at a frat party, but through the help of an after-school circle group, Rain finds the courage to help herself and her family heal.
Thirteen-year-old Annabella Ballinkay has never been normal, even by her psychic family’s standards. Every generation uses their abilities to help run the Ravenfall Inn, a sprawling, magical B&B at the crossroads of the human world and the Otherworld. So when fourteen-year-old Colin Pierce arrives at Ravenfall searching for his missing older brother and the supernatural creature who killed their parents, Anna jumps at the chance to help. But the mysteries tied to Colin go much deeper than either of them expects.
Five middle schoolers find a fully stocked bomb shelter constructed decades ago in the local woods by an eccentric tycoon and lost until a hurricane exposes the entrance. So, how to keep the hideout secret from interfering grown-ups–and, more particularly, from scary teen psychopath, Jaeger Devlin.
Twelve-year-old Sophie and her 300-year-old best vampire friend Delphine break into a secret government facility to find a cure for the illness causing vampires to go rogue.
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn’t easy–some Marvellers mistrust her magic. Eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. When a dangerous criminal escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror’s aid, Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family’s name and track down her mentor before it’s too late.
On the day of Henry Ludd’s thirteenth birthday, the power goes out. No phones, no news, people descending in lawlessness– and in the chaos, Henry’s father has gone missing.
When three children endure separate climate change disasters–a wildfire in the California woods, a close encounter with a hungry polar bear in Canada, and a massive hurricane in Florida–they emerge from their experiences committed to changing the world.
Fourteen-year-old Andrea Hernandez-Baldoquin hails from a family of spies working for the factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. Andrea has dreamed about getting her first solo mission, but she never imagined that she would have to straighten her hair and go undercover as a white girl to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In order to gain the boy’s trust, Andrea finds herself doing a deep dive into the world of comic books and fantasy gaming, all while trying to keep her true identity a secret from her targets adorable Latino best friend. Can Andrea keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist?