Coretta Scott King Award winners & Honor books
Distinguished books by African American authors and illustrators.
Included: Winners and Honor books, 2016–2025; main Author and Illustrator awards only
Independent guide by DIBuyIt. Not affiliated with or endorsed by American Library Association.
72 books
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2025 · Illustrator · Winner
My Daddy is a Cowboy
By Stephanie Seales
Illustrated by CG Esperanza
Buy on Amazon2025 · Illustrator · Honor
Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King
By Coretta Scott King with the Reverend Dr. Barbara Reynolds
Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Buy on Amazon2025 · Illustrator · Honor
Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava
By Gary Golio
Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Buy on Amazon2025 · Illustrator · Honor
Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
By Breanna J. McDaniel
Illustrated by April Harrison
Buy on Amazon2024 · Illustrator · Winner
An American Story
By Kwame Alexander
Illustrated by Dare Coulter
Buy on Amazon2024 · Author · Honor
How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Frank Morrison
Buy on Amazon2024 · Author · Honor
Kin: Rooted in Hope
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford
Buy on Amazon2024 · Illustrator · Honor
Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
By Traci N. Todd
Illustrated by Shannon Wright
Buy on Amazon2024 · Illustrator · Honor
There Was a Party for Langston
By Jason Reynolds
Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey
Buy on Amazon2023 · Illustrator · Winner
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Frank Morrison
Buy on Amazon2023 · Author · Honor
The Talk
By Alicia D. Williams
Illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu
Buy on Amazon2023 · Author · Honor; 2023 · Illustrator · Honor
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
By Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes
Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
Buy on Amazon2023 · Illustrator · Honor
Me and the Boss: A Story about Mending and Love
By Michelle Edwards
Illustrated by April Harrison
Buy on Amazon2022 · Author · Winner; 2022 · Illustrator · Winner
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Buy on Amazon2022 · Author · Honor
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People
By Kekla Magoon
Buy on Amazon2022 · Illustrator · Honor
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
By Traci N. Todd
Illustrated by Christian Robinson
Buy on Amazon2022 · Illustrator · Honor
We Wait for the Sun
By Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe
Illustrated by Raissa Figueroa
Buy on Amazon2022 · Illustrator · Honor
Soul Food Sunday
By Winsome Bingham
Illustrated by C.G. Esperanza
Buy on Amazon2021 · Illustrator · Winner
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Frank Morrison
Buy on Amazon2021 · Author · Honor
Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box
By Evette Dionne
Buy on Amazon2021 · Illustrator · Honor
Magnificent Homespun Brown
By Samara Cole Doyon
Illustrated by Kaylani Juanita
Buy on Amazon2021 · Illustrator · Honor
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
By Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Buy on Amazon2020 · Illustrator · Honor
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace
By Ashley Bryan
Buy on Amazon2019 · Author · Winner
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919
By Claire Hartfield
Buy on Amazon2019 · Illustrator · Winner
The Stuff of Stars
By Marion Dane Bauer
Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Buy on AmazonShowing 48 of 72 books
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Lists and sources
Browse the included records below. Award years refer to the award, not the publication date.
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
- Gone Crazy in Alabama — Rita Williams-Garcia (2016) · Author · winner · Source
- Trombone Shorty — Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Bill Taylor (2016) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- All American Boys — Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (2016) · Author · honor · Source
- The Boy in the Black Suit — Jason Reynolds (2016) · Author · honor · Source
- X: A Novel — Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon (2016) · Author · honor · Source
- The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore — Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (2016) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Last Stop on Market Street — Matt de la Peña (2016) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- March: Book Three — John Lewis and Andrew Aydin (2017) · Author · winner · Source
- Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat — Javaka Steptoe (2017) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life — Ashley Bryan (2017) · Author · honor · Source
- As Brave as You — Jason Reynolds (2017) · Author · honor · Source
- Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life — Ashley Bryan (2017) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Freedom in Congo Square — Carole Boston Weatherford (2017) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- In Plain Sight — Richard Jackson (2017) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Piecing Me Together — Renée Watson (2018) · Author · winner · Source
- Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets — Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth (2018) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut — Derrick Barnes (2018) · Author · honor · Source
- Long Way Down — Jason Reynolds (2018) · Author · honor · Source
- The Hate U Give — Angie Thomas (2018) · Author · honor · Source
- Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut — Derrick Barnes (2018) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Before She Was Harriet: The Story of Harriet Tubman — Lesa Cline-Ransome (2018) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 — Claire Hartfield (2019) · Author · winner · Source
- The Stuff of Stars — Marion Dane Bauer (2019) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Finding Langston — Lesa Cline-Ransome (2019) · Author · honor · Source
- The Parker Inheritance — Varian Johnson (2019) · Author · honor · Source
- The Season of Styx Malone — Kekla Magoon (2019) · Author · honor · Source
- Hidden Figures — Margot Lee Shetterly with Winifred Conkling (2019) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Let the Children March — Monica Clark-Robinson (2019) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop — Alice Faye Duncan (2019) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- New Kid — Jerry Craft (2020) · Author · winner · Source
- The Undefeated — Kwame Alexander (2020) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Look Both Ways — Jason Reynolds (2020) · Author · honor · Source
- The Stars and the Blackness Between Them — Junauda Petrus (2020) · Author · honor · Source
- Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky — Kwame Mbalia (2020) · Author · honor · Source
- The Bell Rang — James E. Ransome (2020) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace — Ashley Bryan (2020) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Sulwe — Lupita Nyong'o (2020) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Before the Ever After — Jacqueline Woodson (2021) · Author · winner · Source
- R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul — Carole Boston Weatherford (2021) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- All the Days Past, All the Days to Come — Mildred D. Taylor (2021) · Author · honor · Source
- King and the Dragonflies — Kacen Callender (2021) · Author · honor · Source
- Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box — Evette Dionne (2021) · Author · honor · Source
- Magnificent Homespun Brown — Samara Cole Doyon (2021) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks — Suzanne Slade (2021) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Me & Mama — Cozbi A. Cabrera (2021) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre — Carole Boston Weatherford (2022) · Author · winner · Source
- Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre — Carole Boston Weatherford (2022) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Home Is Not A Country — Safia Elhillo (2022) · Author · honor · Source
- Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People — Kekla Magoon (2022) · Author · honor · Source
- The People Remember — Ibi Zoboi (2022) · Author · honor · Source
- Nina: A Story of Nina Simone — Traci N. Todd (2022) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- We Wait for the Sun — Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe (2022) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Soul Food Sunday — Winsome Bingham (2022) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Freewater — Amina Luqman-Dawson (2023) · Author · winner · Source
- Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual — Carole Boston Weatherford (2023) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Star Child — Ibi Zoboi (2023) · Author · honor · Source
- The Talk — Alicia D. Williams (2023) · Author · honor · Source
- Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice — Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes (2023) · Author · honor · Source
- Me and the Boss: A Story about Mending and Love — Michelle Edwards (2023) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Swim Team — Johnnie Christmas (2023) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice — Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes (2023) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Nigeria Jones — Ibi Zoboi (2024) · Author · winner · Source
- An American Story — Kwame Alexander (2024) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Big — Vashti Harrison (2024) · Author · honor · Source
- How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee — Carole Boston Weatherford (2024) · Author · honor · Source
- Kin: Rooted in Hope — Carole Boston Weatherford (2024) · Author · honor · Source
- Big — Vashti Harrison (2024) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes — Traci N. Todd (2024) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- There Was a Party for Langston — Jason Reynolds (2024) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Twenty-Four Seconds from Now... — Jason Reynolds (2025) · Author · winner · Source
- My Daddy is a Cowboy — Stephanie Seales (2025) · Illustrator · winner · Source
- Black Girl You Are Atlas — Renée Watson (2025) · Author · honor · Source
- Black Star — Kwame Alexander (2025) · Author · honor · Source
- One Big Open Sky — Lesa Cline-Ransome (2025) · Author · honor · Source
- Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King — Coretta Scott King with the Reverend Dr. Barbara Reynolds (2025) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava — Gary Golio (2025) · Illustrator · honor · Source
- Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller — Breanna J. McDaniel (2025) · Illustrator · honor · Source