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Coretta Scott King Book Awards

The awards were founded in 1969 in order to promote minority writers, with the first author awarded the prize in 1970. Awards for illustrators were added in 1974.

Author Winners & Honor Books 1980-1989

Winner

Honor Books

Childtimes : a three-generation memoir by Eloise Greenfield; Lessie J. Little; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-920 GRE (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780690038750
Publication Date: 1979-10-01
Childhood memoirs of three black women--grandmother, mother, and daughter-who grew up between the 1880's and the 1950's.

Winner

Honor Books

Winner

Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor
Call Number: Juv F TAY L5 (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780803747487
Publication Date: 1981-01-01
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.

Honor Books

Winner

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton
Call Number: J-Fiction HA (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780399208942
Publication Date: 1982-08-13
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.

Honor Books

Winner

Honor Books

Winner

Motown and Didi by Walter Dean Myers
Call Number: YA F MYE (Young adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780440957621
Publication Date: 1987-09-01
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.

Honor Books

Winner

The People Could Fly : American black folktales by Virginia Hamilton; Leo Dillon (Illustrator); Diane Dillon (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv 398.2 HAM (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780394969251
Publication Date: 1985-10-12
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.
The People Could Fly [CD] : American black folktales by Virginia Hamilton (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction HA (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780974171180
Publication Date: 2005-01-01

Honor Books

Winner

Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World by Mildred Pitts Walter; Catherine Stock (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction WA (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780688066451
Publication Date: 1986-10-10
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.

Honor Books

Winner

The Friendship by Mildred D. Taylor; Max Ginsburg (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv F TAY L5.5 (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780803704176
Publication Date: 1987-09-30
Four children witness a confrontation between an elderly black man and a white storekeeper in rural Mississippi in the 1930's.

Honor Books

The Tales of Uncle Remus by Julius Lester; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction LE (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780803702714
Publication Date: 1987-04-20
Retells the antics and tricks of Brer Rabbit and the other animals.

Winner

Illustrator Winners & Honor Books 1980-1989

Winner

No Honor Books were given in 1980

Winner

Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv 398.2 BRY (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780689313561
Publication Date: 1987-06-30
A collection of folktales from Nigeria.

Honor Books

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Honor Books

Winner

Honor Books

Winner

No Honor Books were given in 1984

No illustrator award was given in 1985

Winner

Honor Books

The People Could Fly : American black folktales by Virginia Hamilton; Leo Dillon (Illustrator); Diane Dillon (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv 398.2 HAM (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780394969251
Publication Date: 1985-10-12
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.
The People Could Fly [CD] : American black folktales by Virginia Hamilton (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction HA (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780974171180
Publication Date: 2005-01-01

Winner

Honor Books

Winner

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy STE (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780688040468
Publication Date: 1987-03-31
Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife.

Honor Books

Winner

Honor Books

Under the Sunday Tree by Eloise Greenfield; Amos Ferguson (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-811.54 GRE (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780060222543
Publication Date: 1988-09-01
A collection of poems and paintings evoke life in the Bahamas.