2018 Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Authors
by Renee Watson
A powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it's trying to break her.
Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn't really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She's tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix.
Though not recognized as an association award by the ALA until 1982, the Coretta Scott King Award had its inception in the late sixties. The award, commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and honoring his widow, Coretta Scott King, honors African American writers and illustrators and celebrates the African-American experience through artistic expression. It is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table.