This Coretta Scott King Awards Discussion Guide was prepared by members of the 2006 CSK Book Awards Jury: Yolanda Foster Bolden, Dorothy Guthrie, Brenda M. Hunter, Claudette S. McLinn, Kimberly A. Patton, and Lila B. Wisotzki. Edited by Darwin L. Henderson, CSK Book Awards Jury Chair, and Fran Ware, CSK Book Awards Committee Chair
The activities and discussion topics are developed to encompass state school standards. These standards equally apply to students from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Students will demonstrate their proficiency, skills and knowledge of subject matter in accordance to national and state standards. Please refer to the website, www.edu.gov, for detailed information.
American Library Association, Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
2006 Discussion Guide
Illustrator Award 2006
ROSA
By Nikki Giovanni – Illustrated by Bryan CollierHenry Holt and Company
In Rosa, Bryan Collier uses uniquely bold illustrations depicting Rosa Parks as an inspirational and unwavering force. Intricate profiles hidden in the details of the background gives the reader a sense of collective community spirit.
Collier portrays the legendary seamstress known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement in a vivid mix of watercolor and collage. Illuminated with golden light he creates an image of a weary and determined Mrs. Parks. Her frustration with the status quo of the Jim Crow South is palpable.
Activities and Discussion Topics:
- Who was Rosa Parks, what was her career, and what was her role in the civil rights movement?
- On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat on the city bus. Check your local newspaper to find out what events were taking place, in your town or city, on that date.
- If you were a news anchor, how would you cover this as a news breaking story? Use a camcorder and record your own interpretation of the story as it happened.
- It has often been said, “Rosa Parks sat down so that we could stand up.” Write a paragraph about what that means to you.
- Recreate the day, December 1,1955 by re-enacting the bus scene. Have someone to play the role of Rosa Parks, the bus driver, and the other bus passengers. After the exercise, discuss how Rosa must have felt during this incident occurred.
Related CSK Titles:
- Coretta Scott King; Lillie Patterson, Garrard
- Mary McLeod Bethune; Eloise Greenfield, Crowell
- Barbara Jordan; James Haskins, Dial
- Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman; Patricia and Fred McKissack, Scholastic
- Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman; Alan Schroeder, Dial
- Goin’ Someplace Special; Patricia McKissack, Atheneum Books
Illustrator Honor Award
BROTHERS IN HOPE: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan
By Mary Williams – Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie Lee and Low BooksThis is the story of an eight-year-old boy’s courage to lead a group of orphans safely out of the Sudan, their war-torn homeland. R. Gregory Christie uses a combination of muted earth tones and bold colors as a backdrop to tell the story of young men who have persevered through hard times. Their courage and beliefs allow them to overcome insurmountable circumstances of survival.
Activities and Discussion Topics:
- What does the word “Hope” mean to you?
- Write to the Lost Boys Foundation in Atlanta, and find out if one of the young men who participated in this would be willing to write to you and tell you about his experience. Share it with your classmates and teachers.
- If you were stranded in the desert, what would you do?
- Visit the website, www.thelbf.org, to find out more information.
- Contact one of these agencies: The American Red Cross, The United Way, or the Boys and Girls Club of America to find out how you can volunteer and help make a difference in your community.
Related CSK Titles:
Freedom Summer; Deborah Wiles, Simon & Schuster
Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts; Frederick and Patricia McKissack, Scholastic
New Talent Award 2006
JIMI & ME
By Jaime Adoff - Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for ChildrenJimi & Me is a poignant novel written in free verse describing the tumultuous experience of Keith James, a thirteen year-old, bi-racial teen who must cope with the unexpected murder of his father. Left destitute, Keith and his mother must leave their comfortable life in Brooklyn to live in a small town in Ohio, to share a home with his paternal aunt. Faced with loss, change, and betrayal, Keith finds solace in his music and his idol Jimi Hendrix.
Activities and Discussion Topics- Research Jimi Hendrix. Who was he?
- What type of music did Jimi Hendrix play? What made his style of music unique?
- Research the history of the guitar, using resources online from your media center or public library.
- Select a poem. Match it to a recorded instrumental selection that best fits the mood of the poem.
- Imagine you are a friend of Keith James. You have observed that he is depressed – what would you suggest to him about grieving the loss of a loved one or a life changing situation. What community resources are available in your city or town for grief counseling?
- How do you feel about Jimi’s father’s decision about having a second family?
Somewhere in the Darkness; Walter Dean Myers, Scholastic
The Way a Door Closes; Anita Hope Smith, Henry Holt
The First Part Last; Angela Johnson, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Author Award
DAY OF TEARS: A NOVEL IN DIALOGUE
Julius Lester - Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for ChildrenDay of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue is a masterful fictionalized account of the largest slave auction in U.S. history, held 1859 in Savannah, Georgia. In a powerfully dramatic format, the voices of enslaved Africans and their masters move between monologues and conversations. This is an accessible novel that allows the reader to understand the moral dilemmas faced by the characters, and their challenge to affirm humanity in the midst of slavery.
Activities and Discussion Topics
- This story took place in Savannah GA. Locate a map and find out how far this is from your school and home etc.
- Research the series of events that led to slavery. List which states were confederate and which were not, and why?
- Imagine that you are Pierce Butler, the slave owner. You must decide either to sell your slaves to settle a gambling debt or keep them and risk going to jail. What would you do?
- Using the computer at your media center or public library make a list of the name and location of four plantations in the south. What were the major crops harvested from these plantations?
- Research and find notes on the Underground Railroad that led to freedom in Canada.
- Find the music and the lyrics to the freedom song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” What is a drinking gourd? Why does the song refer to the drinking gourd? What was its purpose?
- Visit the National Underground Freedom website: www.freedomcenter.org. Explore routes used by escaping slaves.
Escape to Freedom: A Play About Young Frederick Douglass; Ossie Davis, Viking
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman; Alan Schroeder illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, Dial
Author Honor Award
A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL
By Marilyn Nelson Illustrated by Philippe Lardy - Houghton Mifflin CompanyMarilyn Nelson has memorialized the life of Emmett Till in a crown of sonnets that is heart wrenchingly beautiful. An innocent fourteen year old whose “stuttering whistle” at a white woman leads to his brutal beating and drowning death, Till’s story is one of several incidents that sparked the Civil Rights Movement.
Activities and Discussion Topics
- Research the life and death of Emmett Till using Ebony, Jet, Amsterdam News and Chicago Defender. Compare and contrast these perspectives with information you find from articles in the New York Times.
- Interview your grandparents about their memories of where they were, what they were doing when Emmett Till was killed or when the Civil rights movement began.
- Research the laws that pertained to the rights or non-rights of Blacks prior to the Civil Rights Amendment.
- What is a “crown of sonnets”? Explore other styles of poetry. Compare and contrast three types of poetry. Write an original poem.
- Compose an obituary for your pet, friend, family member or even yourself. Explore published obituaries in your local newspapers or research them in your media center or public library.
Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem by Marilyn Nelson Front Street Press
Author Honor Award
MARITCHA: A NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN GIRL
Tonya Bolden - Harry N. Abrams“Aim high! Stand tall! Be Strong! and do” are the opening words of Tonya Bolden’s ‘Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl.” Embellishing on Maritcha Remond Lyons’ eighty-one page memoir, this beautifully crafted book, describes the life of the daughter of a well established free black family living in New York City in the mid 1800’s. Racial riots causing the flight of the Lyons family does not prevent Maritcha from graduating as the first black student from the local high school in her new home state of Connecticut. She truly stood tall!
Activities and Discussion Topics
- Visit your local library and find the newspaper accounts of the riots that caused Maritcha and her family to leave New York City.
- Ask family members for photos of ancestors and create a scrapbook of memoirs.
- Write a story describing how you imagine it would feel if you were the first black student in your local school.
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir, Eloise Greenfield, Harper
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly:The Diary of Patsy, A Freed Girl, Joyce Hansen Scholastic
Author Honor Award
DARK SONS
Nikki Grimes - Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for ChildrenTwo first-born sons, one from Biblical times, one contemporary are heartbroken when their beloved fathers each shift their devotion to the second born son. The parallel stories of Ishmael and Sam reveal the deep anger and hurt they both feel from their father’s betrayals. Nikki Grimes’ powerful novel in free verse closes with both young men finding forgiveness for their earthly fathers through the guidance from the Father they “could count on.”
Activities and Discussion Topics
- Using an online Bible commentary. Locate the book in the Bible where the character, Ishmael can be found. Compare and contrast the story of Ishmael and the characters in Dark Sons?
- Using your school media center or your public library, look in The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands by Barry J. Beitzel, and other online resources to find some of following locations: Egypt, Niger, Mamre, Chaldea, Gerar and Canaan. Select two locations and compare their geographical differences and similarities. Use www.questpilgrimage.com for assistance.
- Start a journal where you write about a person in your life that has hurt you and how you might go about forgiving them.
The First Part Last, Angela Johnson, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
The Way A Door Closes, Anita Hope Smith, Henry Holt The Creation, James Weldon Johnson, Holiday House
Rebels Against Slavery, Patricia McKissack and Frederick McKissack, Scholastic