Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor Winners
Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor Winners
NCSS established the Carter G. Woodson Book Awards for the most distinguished books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States. First presented in 1974, this award is intended to “encourage the writing, publishing, and dissemination of outstanding social studies books for young readers that treat topics related to ethnic minorities and race relations sensitively and accurately.” Books relating to ethnic minorities and the authors of such books rarely receive the recognition they merit from professional organizations. By sponsoring the Carter G. Woodson Awards, NCSS gives wide recognition to and encourages these authors and publishers.
2023 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Winners and Honorees
Elementary Level Winner
Where We Come From, by Diane Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney, and John Coy, illustrated by Dion MBD. Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group.
Elementary Level Honorees
I Color Myself Different, by Colin Kaepernick, illustrated by Eric Wilkerson. Scholastic.
Until Someone Listens: A Story About Borders, Family, and One Girl’s Mission, by Estela Juarez and Lissette Norman, illustrated by Teresa Martínez. Roaring Brook Press.
Middle Level Winner
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and The Roots of Black Travel in America (The Young Adult Adaptation), by Candacy Taylor. Abrams Books.
Middle Level Honoree
Because of You, John Lewis: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Keith Henry Brown. Scholastic Press.
Secondary Level Winner
Days of Infamy: How a Century of Bigotry Led to Japanese American Internment, by Lawrence Goldstone. Scholastic Focus.
Previous Award Winners
Elementary Level Winner
William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad
by Don Tate
Peachtree Publishing
Elementary Level Honoree
The Power of Her Pen
by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by John Parra
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Middle Level Winner
Black Heroes of the Wild West: Featuring Stagecoach Mary, Bass Reeves, and Bob Lemmons
by James Otis Smith
TOON Graphics
Middle Level Honoree
Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon
by Kelly Starling Lyons
Lee & Low Books
Secondary Level Winner
Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box
by Evette Dionne
Viking Books for Young Readers
Secondary Level Honoree
Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press
Elementary Level Winner
The Undefeated
by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Elementary Level Honorees
Todos Iguales / All Equal: Un Corrido de Lemon Grove / A Ballad of Lemon Grove
by Christy Hale
Children's Book Press
Carter Reads the Newspaper
by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Don Tate
Peachtree Publishers
Middle/Secondary Level Winner
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World II to Peace
by Ashley Bryan
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Middle/Secondary Level Honorees
This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality
by Joann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Bloomsbury Children's Books
Accused! The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice, and the Fourteenth Amendment
by Larry Dane Brimner
Calkins Creek
Elementary Level Winner
The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just
by Mélina Mangal, Illustrations by Luisa Uribe
Millbrook Press
Elementary Level Honoree
Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School
by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by London Ladd
Lee & Low Books, Inc.
Middle Level Winner
America Border Culture Dreamer: The Young Immigrant Experience From A to Z
by Wendy Ewald
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Middle Level Honoree
So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom
by Gary D. Schmidt, illustrated by Daniel Minter
Roaring Brook Press
Secondary Level Winner
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riots of 1919
by Claire Hartfield
Clarion Books
Secondary Level Honoree
Attucks! Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened A City
by Phillip Hoose
Farrar Straus Giroux
Elementary Level Winner
The Youngest Marcher—The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
by Cynthia Levinson
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Elementary Level Honoree
Martin’s Dream Day
by Kitty Kelley
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Middle Level Winner
Fighting for Justice—Fred Korematsu Speaks Up
Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi
Heyday
Middle Level Honoree
Schomberg—The Man Who Built A Library
Carole Boston Weatherford
Candlewick Press
Secondary Level Winner
Twelve Days in May—Freedom Ride 1961
Larry Dane Brimner
Calkins Creek, An Imprint of Highlights
Secondary Level Honoree
Now or Never!—54th Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery
Ray Anthony Shepard
Calkins Creek, An Imprint of Highlights
Elementary Winner (Grades K–6)
Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service
by Annette Bay Pimentel
Charlesbridge Publishing
Elementary Honorees
The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial
by Susan E. Goodman
Bloomsbury, USA Children’s Books
Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness
by Donna Janell Bowmen
Lee and Low Books, Inc.
Secondary Winner
March (Trilogy)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
Top Shelf
Secondary Honorees
This Land is Our Land: A History of American Immigration
by Linda Barrett Osborne
Abram Books for Young Readers
Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the
American Revolution
by Gretchen Woelfle
Calkins Creek
Elementary Winners (Grades K–6)
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
by Don Tate.
Peachtree Publishers
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
by Chris Barton
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Elementary Honoree
Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama
by Hester Bass
Candlewick Press
Secondary Winner
Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson’s Flight from Slavery
by Winifred Conkling
Algonquin Young Reader
ShadowCatcher.jpgSecondary Honors
Shadow Catcher: How Edward S. Curtis Documented American Indian Dignity and Beauty
by Michael Burgan
Compass Point Books
SittingBull.jpgSitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People
by S. D. Nelson
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Elementary Winners (Grades K–6)
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
by Don Tate.
Peachtree Publishers
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
by Chris Barton
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Elementary Honor
Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama
by Hester Bass
Candlewick Press
Secondary Winner
Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson’s Flight from Slavery
by Winifred Conkling
Algonquin Young Reader
Secondary Honors
Shadow Catcher: How Edward S. Curtis Documented American Indian Dignity and Beauty
by Michael Burgan
Compass Point Books
Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People
by S. D. Nelson
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Elementary Winner
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh.
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Note: There was no Elementary Level Honor book selected this year.
Middle Level Winner
The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement
by Teri Kanefield.
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Middle Level Honor
Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America
by Tonya Bolden
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Secondary Level Winner
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
by Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Brook Press
Secondary Level Honor
Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi
by Susan Goldman
Rubin Holiday House, Inc.
Elementary Level Winner
Hey Charleston!: The True Story of the Jenkins Orphanage Band
by Anne Rockwell with Illustrations by Colin Bootman
Published by Carolrhoda Books
Middle Level Winner
Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty
by Tonya Bolden
Published by Harry N. Abrams
Elementary Level Winner
Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington
by Jabari Asim, Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Published by Little, Brown and Company
Elementary Level Honoree
Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills Words
by Renée Watson Pictures by Christian Robinson
Published by Random House
Middle Level Winner
Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights, and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Hours
by Ann Bausum
Published by National Geographic Children's Books
Secondary Level Winner
Stolen into Slavery the True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man
by Judith Fradin and Dennis Fradin
Published by National Geographic Children's Books
There were no Middle or Secondary Level Honor books selected in 2013.
Elementary Level (Grades K–6)
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist
Adapted by Gina Capaldi and Q. L. Pearce
Published by Carolrhoda Books
Elementary Level Honoree
A Nation’s Hope The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis
by De La Peña, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Published by Dial Books for Young Readers
Middle Level Winner
Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein
by Susan Goldman Rubin
Published by Charlesbridge
Middle Level Honoree
Saga of the Sioux An adaptation from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Dwight Jon Zimmerman
Published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Secondary Level Winner
Black and White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connors
by Larry Dane Brimmer
Published by Calkins Creek
(No Honor Award for secondary level book was chosen in 2012)
Elementary Winner
Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down
Andrea Davis Pinkney and Illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Published by Little, Brown and Company (A Division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.), New York, NY.
Elementary Honor
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
by Laban Carrick Hill and Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Published by Little, Brown and Company (A Division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.), New York, NY.
Secondary Winner
An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
by Elaine Marie Alphin
Published by Carolrhoda Books (A Division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.), Minneapolis, MN
Secondary Honor
Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till
by Simeon Wright with Herb Boyd
Published by Lawrence Hill Books (An imprint of Chicago Review Press).
There were no awards given for Middle Level books in 2011.
Elementary Winner
Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story
by Paula Yoo and illustrated by Lin Wang
Published by Lee & Low Books Inc.
Elementary Honor
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrations by R. Gregory Christie
Published by Carolrhoda Books, a Division of Lerner
Middle Level Winner
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
by Phillip Hoose
Published by Melanie Kroupa Books
Middle Honor
With One Sky Above Us: The Story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians
by Nancy Plain
Published by Mondo Publishing
Secondary Winner
Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories From the Dark Side of American Immigration
by Ann Bausum
Published by the National Geographic Society
Secondary Honor
Ang Lee
by Clifford W. Mills
Published by Chelsea House Publishers
Elementary Winner
Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship by Nikki Giovanni and Illustrated by Bryan Collier. Published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Elementary Honor
A Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero adapted and illustrated by Gina Capaldi. Published by Carolrhoda Books (A Division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.)
Middle Level Winner
Drama of African-American History: The Rise of Jim Crow by James Haskins and Kathleen Benson with Virginia Schomp. Published by Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
Middle Honor
Booker T. Washington and Education (Lucent Library of Black History) by John F. Wukovits. Published by Lucent Books.
Secondary Winner
Reaching Out by Francisco Jiménez. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Secondary Honor
When the Children Marched: The Birmingham Civil Rights Movement by Robert H. Mayer. Published by Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Elementary Level Award Winner
Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer by Bill Wise, illustration by Bill Farnsworth (Lee & Low Books Inc.)
Elementary Level Honor Book
Surfer of the Century by Ellie Crowe, illustration by Richard Waldrep (Lee & Low Books Inc.)
Middle Level Award Winner
Black and White Airmen: Their True History by John Fleischman (Houghton Mifflin Company)
Middle Level Honor Book
Sophisticated Ladies:The Great Women of Jazz Leslie Gourse, illustration by Martin French (Dutton Children’s Books)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Don’t Throw Away Your Stick Till You Cross the River: The Journey of an Ordinary Man by Vincent Collin Beach with Anni Beach (Five Star Publications, Inc.)
Secondary Level Honor Book
United States v. Amistad: Slave Ship Mutiny by Susan Dudley Gold (Marshall Cavendish Benchmark)
Elementary Level Award Winner
John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, illustrated by Benny Andrews (Lee & Low books, Inc., New York, NY)
Elementary Level Honor Book
Gordon Parks: No Excuses by Ann Parr, Photographs by Gordon Parks (Pelican Publishing Col, Gretna, LA)
Middle Level Award Winner
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman (Holiday House Publishers, New York, NY)
Middle Level Honor Book
Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic, Inc., New York, NY)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference by Joanne Oppenheim (Scholastic, Inc., New York, NY)
Secondary Level Honor Book
Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community Photographs by Gary Harwood, Text by David Hassler (The Kent State University Press, Kent, OH)
Elementary Level Award Winner
Let Them Play by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Chris Ellison (Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, MI)
Elementary Level Honor Book
Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Raúl Colón (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, NY)
Middle Level Award Winner
César Chávez: A Voice for Farmworkers by Bárbara Cruz (Enslow Publishers, Inc., Berkeley Heights, NJ)
Middle Level Honor Book
_
Roberto Clemente: Baseball’s Humanitarian Hero by Herón Márquez (Carolrhoda Books, Inc., Minneapolis, MN)
Secondary Level Award Winner
No Easy Answers: Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement by Calvin Craig Miller (Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Inc., Greensboro, NC)
Secondary Level Honor Book
Uh Huh! The Story of Ray Charles by John Duggleby (Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Inc., Greensboro, NC
Elementary Level Award Winner Book
Jim Thorpe’s Bright Path by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by S.D.Nelson (Lee and Low Books)
Elementary Level Honor Book
Alec’s Primer by Mildred Pitts Walter, illustrated by Larry Johnson (The Vermont Folklife Center)
Middle Level Award Winner Book
_The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman (Clarion Books)
Middle Level Honor Book
The Power of One: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nineby Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin (Clarion Books)
Secondary Level AwardBook
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Editedby Rober H. Mayer (Greenhaven Press, an imprint of Thomson Gale)
Secondary Level Honor Book
Alvin Ailey: Celebrating African-American Culture in Dance by Barbara C. Cruz (Enslow Publishers)
Elementary Level Award Winner
Sacagawea by Liselotte Erdrich, illustrated
by Julie Buffalohead (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Elementary Level Honor Book
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Harcourt, Inc.)
Middle Level Award Winner
In America’s Shadow
by Kimberly Komatsu and Kaleigh Komatsu, Forword by Kevin Starr and Essay by Mitchell T. Maki (Thomas George Books)
Middle Level Honor Book
Sojourner Truth: From Slave to Activist for Freedom
by Mary G. Butler (The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Early Black Reformers by James Tackach (Greenhaven Press)
Secondary Level Honor Book
Gwendolyn Brooks: Poet from Chicago
by Martha E. Rhynes (Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Inc.)
Elementary Level Award Winner
Cesar Chavez: The Struggle for Justice / Cesar Chavez: La lucha por la justicia, by Richard Griswold del Castillo, illustrations by Anthony Accardo (Pinata Books, Arte Publico Press)
Elementary Level Honor Book
The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft, by Cathy Moore, illustrations by Mary O’Keefe Young (Carolrhoda Books, Inc., Lerner Publishing)
Middle Level Award Winner
Remembering Manzanar: Life in a Japanese Relocation Camp, by Michael L. Cooper (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin)
Middle Level Honor Book
Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, by Michelle Y. Green (Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
The “Mississippi Burning” Civil Rights Murder Conspiracy Trial: a Headline Court Case, by Harvey Fireside (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)
Secondary Level Honor Book
Atlas of Asian-American History, by Monique Avakian and Media Projects, Inc. (Facts On File, Inc.)
Elementary Level Award Winner
Coming Home: A Story of Josh Gibson, Baseball’s Greatest Home Run Hitter by Nanette Mellage, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Troll BridgeWater Books)
Honor Book
Children of the Civil Rights Era by Catherine A. Welch (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Middle Level Award Winner
Prince Estabrook: Slave and Soldier by Alice Hinkel (Pleasant Mountain Press)
Honor Book
Matthew Henson: Co-Discoverer of the North Pole by Laura Baskes Litwin (Enslow Publishers Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Multiethnic Teens and Cultural Identity by Barbara C. Cruz (Enslow Publishers Inc.)
Honor Book
Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song by Katherine Krohn (Lerner Publications Co.)
Elementary Level Award Winner
The Sound that Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Walker & Co.)
Honor Book
Children of the Relocation Camps by Catherine A. Welch (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Middle Level Award Winner
Let it Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn (Gulliver Books, Harcourt, Inc.)
Honor Book
Carter G. Woodson: The Man Who Put “Black” in American History by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, illustrated by Melanie Reim (The Millbrook Press)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Tatan’ka Iyota’ke: Sitting Bull and His World by Albert Marrin (Dutton Children’s Books)
Honor Book
Issues in Racism by Mary E. Williams (Lucent Books)
2000
Elementary Level Award Winner
Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges (Scholastic Press)
Honor Books
Magic Windows/Ventanas Magicas written and illustrated by Carmen Lomas Garza (Children’s Book Press)
Children of the Tlingit written and photographed by Frank Staub (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Princess Ka’iulani: Hope of a Nation, Heart of a People by Sharon Linnea (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers)
Honor Books
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: The African-American Struggle Against Discrimination, 1865-1954 by Richard Wormser (Franklin Watts)
Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack (Scholastic Press)
1999
Elementary Level Award Winner
Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence by John Duggleby, (with art by Jacob Lawrence) (Chronicle Books)
Honor Books
Celebrating Chinese New Year by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, photos by Lawrence Migdale (Holiday House)
The Riches of Oseola McCarty by Evelyn Coleman, illustrated by Daniel Minter (Albert Whitman & Co.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Edmonia Lewis: Wildfire in Marble by Rinna Evelyn Wolfe (Dillon Press)
Honor Books
Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp by Diane Yancey (Lucent Books) Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made a Difference by Joyce Hansen (Scholastic Press)
1998
Elementary Level Award Winner
Leon’s Story by Leon Walter Tillage, illustrated by Susan L. Roth (Farrar Straus Giroux)
Honor Books
Buffalo Days by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, photographs by Lawrence Migdale (Holiday House)
I Am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins, illustrated by Wil Clay (Dial Books/Penguin Putnam)
Princess of the Press: The Story of Ida B. Wells-Barnett by Angela Shelf Medearis (Penguin Putnam)
Secondary Level Award Winner Langston Hughes by Milton Meltzer, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn (Millbrook Press)
Honor Books
The Flight of Red Bird: The Life of Zitkala-Sa by Doreen Rappaport (Dial Books/Penguin USA)
Slavery Time: When I Was Chillun by Belinda Hurmence (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Putnam & Grosset)
1997
Elementary Level Award Winner
Ramadan by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi (Holiday House)
Honor Books The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman (Holiday House)
Celebrating Hanukkah by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith (Holiday House)
Maya Angelou: More Than a Poet by Elaine Slivinski Lisandrelli (Enslow Pubilshers, Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
The Harlem Renaissance by Jim Haskins (The Millbrook Press)
Honor Books
The Tuskegee Airmen: Heroes of World War II by Jacqueline Harris (Dillon Press)
The Japanese American Family Album by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler (Oxford University Press)
The Children of Topaz: The Story of a Japanese-American Internment Camp by Michael O. Tunnell and George W. Chilcoat (Holiday House)
1996
Elementary Level Award Winner
Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave by Monty Roessel (Lerner Publications Co.)
Outstanding Merit Book
Konnichiwa! I am a Japanese-American Girl by Tricia Brown (Henry Holt & Co.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
A Fence Away from Freedom: Japanese Americans and World War II by Ellen Levine (G P Putnam’s Sons)
Outstanding Merit Book
Red-Tail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II by Patricia and Frederick McKissack
1995
Elementary Level Award Winner
What I Had Was Singing: The Story of Marian Anderson by Jeri Ferris (Carolrhoda Books)
Outstanding Merit Books
Master of Mahogany: Tom Day, Free Black Cabinetmaker by Mary E. Lyons (Charles Scribener’s Sons)
Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Gulliver Books, Harcourt Brace & Company)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Till Victory is Won: Black Soldiers in the Civil War by Zak Mettger (Lodestar Books)
Outstanding Merit Books
Harriet: The Life and World of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Norma Johnston (Four Winds Press, Macmillan)
Battlefields and Burial Grounds: The Indian Struggle to Protect Ancestral Graves in the United States by Roger C. Echo-Hawk and Walter R. Echo-Hawk (Lerner Publications)
1994
Elementary Level Award Winner
Starting Home: The Story of Horace Pippin, Painter by Mary Lyons (Charles Scribner’s Sons)
Outstanding Merit Books
Celebrating Kwanzaa by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith (Holiday House)
The Great Migration by Paintings by Jacob Lawrence, Museum of Modern Art, The Phillips Collection
Secondary Level Award Winner
The March on Washington by James Haskins (Harper Collins Publishers)
Outstanding Merit Books
Sequoyah’s Gift: A Portrait of the Cherokee Leader by Janet Klausner (Harper Collins Publishers)
Many Thousand Gone: African Americans From Slavery to Freedom by Virginia Hamilton (Alfred A. Knopf)
1993
Elementary Level Award Winner
Madam C.J. Walker by Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Enslow Publishers)
Outstanding Merit Books
How My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin (Bradbury Press)
Hoang Anh: A Vietnamese-American Boy by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith (Holiday House)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Mississippi Challenge by Mildred Pitts Walter (Bradbury Press)
Outstanding Merit Books
Thurgood Marshall: A Life for Justice by James Haskins (Henry Holt)
The Year They Walked by Beatrice Siegel (Four Winds Press)
1992
Elementary Level Award Winner
The Last Princess: The Story of Princess Ka’Iolani of Hawai’i by Fay Stanley, illustrations by Diane Stanley (Macmillan Publishing Company)
Outstanding Merit Books
Pueblo Storyteller by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith with photographs by Lawrence Migdale (Holiday House)
Carter G. Woodson: The Father of Black History by Patricia and Frederick McKissack, illustrated by Ned O. (Enslow Publishers)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan LaFlesche Picotte by Jeri Ferris (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Outstanding Merit Books
_Now is Your Time: The African-American Struggle for Freedom by Walter Dean Myers (Harper Collins)
Outward Dreams: Black Inventors and their Inventions by James Haskins (Walker Publishing Group)
1991
Elementary Level Award Winner
Shirley Chisolm by Catherine Scheader (Enslow Publishing)
Outstanding Merit Books
Teammates by Peter Golenback (Guillver/Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich)
Hector Live in the U.S. Now by Joan Hewett (Lippincott)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Sorrow’s Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neal Hurston by Mary Lyons (Scribner’s Books for Young Readers/Macmillan Publishing Company)
Outstanding Merit Books
W.E.B. DuBois by Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Franklin Watts)
Breaking the Chains by William Katz (Atheneum)
1990
Elementary Level Award Winner
In Two Worlds: A Yup’ik Eskimo Family by Aylette Jenness and Alice Rivers (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
Outstanding Merit Books
Vilma Martinez by Corrin Codye (Raintree Publishers)
Artic Explorers by Jeri Ferris (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Paul Robeson by Rebecca Larsen (Franklin Watts)
Outstanding Merit Books
New Kids on the Block by Janet Bode (Franklin Watts)
A Long Hard Journey by Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Walker and Co.)
1989
Elementary Level Award Winner
Walking the Road to Freedom by Jeri Ferris (Carolrhoda Books, Inc.)
Outstanding Merit Book
Buffalo Hunt by Russel Freedman (Holiday House)
Secondary Level Award Winner
Marian Anderson by Charles Patterson (Franklin Watts)
Outstanding Merit Books
Hispanic Voters by Judith Harlan (Franklin Watts)
Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby by Joseph Moore (Praeger)
1988
Award Winner
Black Music in America: A History Through Its People by James Haskins (Harper and Row)
Outstanding Merit Books
Into a Strange Land by Brent Ashabranner and Melissa Ashabranner (Dodd Mead)
American Indians Today by Judith Harlan (Lerner)
You May Plow Here by Thorids Simonsen (Simon and Schuster)
1987
Award Winner
Happily May I Walk by Arlene Hirschfelder (Charles Scribner’s Sons)
Outstanding Merit Books
Children of the Maya by Brent Ashabranner (Dodd Mead)
Living in Two Worlds by Maxine B. Rosenberg (Lothrop)
1986
Award Winner
Dark Harvest: Migrant Farmworkers in America by Brent Ashabranner (Dodd, Mead and Company)
Outstanding Merit Book
Issues in American History: Racial Prejudice by Elaine Pasco (Franklin Watts, Inc.)
1985
Award Winner
To Live in Two Worlds: American Indian Youth Today by Brent Ashabranner (Dodd, Mead and Company)
Outstanding Merit Book
Our Golda: The Story of Golda Meir by David Adler (Viking Press)
1984
Award Winner
Mexico and the United States by E.B. Fincher (Crowell)
1983
Award Winner
Morning Star, Black Sun by Brent Ashabranner (Dodd Mead)
1982
Award Winner
Coming to North America from Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico by Susan Carver and Paula McGuire (Delacorte Press)
1981
Award Winner
The Chinese Americans by Milton Meltzer (Crowell)
Outstanding Merit Book
The Hardest Lesson: Personal Accounts of a School Desegregation Crisis by Pamela Bullar and Judith Stoia (Little, Brown and Company)
1980
Award Winner
War Cry on a Prayer Feather: Prose and Poetry of the Ute by Nancy Wood (Doubleday)
Outstanding Merit Books
A Cry From the Earth: Music of the North American Indians by John Bierhorst (Four Winds Press)
James Van Derzee: The Picture Takin’ Man by Jim Haskins (Dodd, Mead and Company)
1979
Award Winner
Native American Testimony: An Anthology of Indian and White Relations edited by Peter Nabokov (Crowell)
1978
Award Winner
The Biography of Daniel Inouye by Jan Goodsell (Crowell)
1977
Award Winner
The Trouble They Seen by Dorothy Sterling (Doubleday)
1976
Award Winner
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (Crowell)
1975
Award Winner
Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord: The Life of Mahalia Jackson, Queen of the Gospel Singers by Jesse Jackson (Crowell)
1974
Award Winner Rosa Parks by Eloise Greenfield (Crowell)
* At its 1996 November meeting, the Carter G. Woodson Book Award Subcommittee changed the designation “Outstanding Merit” to “Honor Book.”
** In 1989, the committee began to distinguish between books for young (elementary) and young adolescent (secondary) readers.
* * * In 2001, the committee began to recognize an award winner and an honor book for each of three book categories: elementary, middle, and secondary grade level books.
Elementary Level Winner
I Am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story, by Martha Brockenbrough with Grace Lin, illustrated by Julia Kuo. Little, Brown and Company.
Elementary Level Honoree
Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch, by Heidi Tyline King, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Putnam: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Middle Level Winner
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Carolrhoda Books
Middle Level Honoree
A Man Called Horse: John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad, Glenette Tilley Turner. Harry N. Abrams/Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Secondary Level Winner
Race Against Time, by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace. Calkins Creek.
Viking Books for Young Readers
Secondary Level Honoree
We are not Broken: A Memoir, by George M. Johnson. Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers.