Below is my latest blog post for FacesofYou.Net, a website created by fellow Howard Alumna Shari Logan that is dedicated to the uplifting and empowerment of young female girls.

You can read part of the post here.  Click the link in the title for the full story.

Tis the Season for Good Reads

Blog written by Courtney Zellars

Looking for a good book or two to read during the holiday break? Look no further than the list of recent recipients and honors of the Coretta Scott King Book Award!

Works by famed authors such as Sharon M. Draper, Sharon G. Flake, and Walter Dean Myers have all received the award over the years. According to the American Library Association, the Coretta Scott King Book Award was founded in 1969 by Mabel McKissick and Glyndon Greer at the annual American Library Association conference. The award is given annually to “African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African-American culture and universal human rights.”

Over the years, the award has grown to include honors as well as the John Steptoe Award for New Talent for both authors and illustrators.

Below are seven works of young adult fiction that recently made the list.

1.Title: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Published: January 2010 by Amistad (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

2011 Recipient of the Coretta Scott King Book Award

Synopsis: In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
 

2. Title: Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri; illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Published: July 2010 by Lee & Low Books

2011 Author Honor of the Coretta Scott King Book Award

 Synopsis: In August of 1994, 11-year-old Robert “Yummy” Sandifer — nicknamed for his love of sweets — fired a gun at a group of rival gang members, accidentally killing a neighborhood girl, Shavon Dean. Yummy relives the confusion of these traumatic days from the point of view of Roger, a neighborhood boy who struggles to understand the senseless violence swirling through the streets around him. Awakened by the tragedy, Roger seeks out answers to difficult questions — was Yummy a killer or a victim?

3. Title: Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T. R. Martin

Published: October 2010 by Candlewick Press

2011 Winner of the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award for New Talent

Synopsis: Whether she’s telling the truth or stretching it, Zora Neale Hurston is a riveting storyteller. Her latest creation is a shape-shifting gator man who lurks in the marshes, waiting to steal human souls. But when boastful Sonny Wrapped loses a wrestling match with an elusive alligator named Ghost — and a man is found murdered by the railroad tracks soon after — young Zora’s tales of a mythical evil creature take on an ominous and far more complicated complexion. The peace and security of the town is jeopardized and three children are forced to come to terms with the dual-edged power of pretending. Zora’s best friend, Carrie, narrates this coming-of-age story set in the Eden-like town of Eatonville, Florida, where justice isn’t merely an exercise in retribution, but a testimony to the power of community, love, and pride. A fictionalization of the early years of a literary giant, this astonishing novel is the first project ever to be endorsed by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust that was not authored by Hurston herself.