NBAF applauds the 2012 Coretta Scott King Book Award Recipients.

Author Award Winner

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator of “Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans” (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers). “Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans” is an extensive volume focusing on American history as it intertwines with the lives of African Americans. The story is told from the viewpoint of an elderly woman who shares her life story while highlighting pivotal historical events including abolition, the Great Migration, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement.

Illustrator Award Winner

Shane W. Evans, illustrator of “Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom” (A Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership). Effective interplay of dark and light—dark blues and greens that represent fear and oppression; bright golds that signal the joy of freedom—characterizes this portrayal of a band of slaves’ nighttime escape. They run, rest, get help from others, and finally celebrate their hard-won liberation.

Author Honor

Eloise Greenfield, “The Great Migration: Journey to the North,” illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Patricia C. McKissack, “Never Forgotten,” illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon and published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Illustrator Honor

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator of “Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans,” published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

Ashley Bryan, storyteller, artist, author, poet, and musician whose numerous awards include the Coretta Scott King Book Award for “Let it Shine” and “Beautiful Blackbird.”