Carter G. Woodson Book Awards, 2011

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The Carter G. Woodson Book Award was created in 1974 to promote cultural literacy of America’s greatest social movements. in children and young adults. The idea emerged from the NCSS Committee on Racism The book includes an informative civil and Social Justice in honor of African American scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. rights timeline and an author’s note on Woodson earned his Ph.D. in history from Harvard in 1912, one of the first African what happened following the lunch coun- Americans to do so, and dedicated his life to promoting the study of African American ter protest. The book’s website www. history in schools and increasing the availability of related literary resources. He hachettebookgroup.com/features/sitin/ established “Negro History Week” in 1926, a forerunner of the present day “Black index.html displays photos and artifacts History Month,” and is often described as the “father of black history.” that offer further insight into this historic period as well as an educator’s guide. The book award, which identifies Time, Continuity, and Change; Individuals, authors, illustrators, and publishers of Groups, and Institutions; Power, Authority, and exceptional books that advance under- Governance; Civic Ideals and Practices. standing of ethnicity in the United States, is presented annually. Elementary Honor NCSS and the Carter G. Woodson Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, by Award Committee are pleased to pres- Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan ent reviews of the elementary (K-6) and Collier. Little, Brown and Company, a secondary (7-12) level books for 2011. Division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. These award and honor books are exam- ples of exceptional books that focus on Reviewed by Michele Horne, third individual or collective experiences of grade teacher, Rosewood Elementary ethnic minorities in the United States. International School, Rock Hill School The reviews provide a synopsis of each District 3, Rock Hill, South Carolina. book and include relevant NCSS the- Andrea Davis Pinkney created a cap- matic strands. tivating book based on the February 1, This book introduces the reader to Dave, 1960, sit-in by four college students who an artist, poet, and potter, who was a slave Elementary Winner wanted to be served “A doughnut and in the 1800s in South Carolina. Dave Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up coffee, with cream on the side” at the created large pots, varying in size from by Sitting Down, by Andrea Davis segregated Greensboro, North Carolina, 25–40 gallons in capacity. As if the sheer Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Woolworth’s lunch counter. The reac- size and number of pots he created were Little, Brown and Company, a Division tion and subsequent events related to not enough to warrant interest in him as of Hachette Book Group, Inc. this simple request allows young readers an artist, the fact that he inscribed poetry to grasp the depth of injustice during on many of his pots is what makes his Reviewed by Dean Cristol, associate this difficult period in American his- story truly remarkable. Slaves were not professor at The Ohio State University tory. The beautifully illustrated pages supposed to be taught to read or write and chair of the 2011 Carter G. Woodson by Brian Pinkney offer a sense of what during this time, so the fact that Dave Awards Committee. it may have been like to be part of one was not only literate, but an able poet,

May/June 2012 135 has generated much interest. He wrote on his pots and signed them during a point in history when he would have risked death for doing so. In fact, during a period following a slave uprising near where Dave lived, his pots suddenly bear no inscriptions, indicating that he knew the great risks.

celebration later, she was found murdered Reviewed by Marilyn J. Ward, professor in in the factory. The murder of Mary, a the Department of Education at Carthage Caucasian, and the subsequent lynching College, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. of a Jewish man, led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League and a reawak- This account of 14-year-old Emmett ening of the Ku Klux Klan. An African Till’s kidnapping and subsequent mur- Laban Carrick Hill’s sparse text seems American watchman found Mary’s body, der, in 1955, while visiting relatives in appropriately reflective of what is doc- and was the initial suspect. But police Mississippi is told by his cousin, Simeon umented about Dave. As a slave, Dave soon made the building superintendent, Wright. Wright was there when Emmett was not a man about whom voluminous Leo Frank, their prime suspect. Frank, a whistled at a white female store clerk narratives were kept. As such, his own college-educated Jewish man from the and the next morning when two white verses are, perhaps, the clearest glimpses North, was arrested, tried, and found men forcefully dragged Emmett from into his character; therefore, Hill tells guilty; while in prison custody, he was the Wright’s home. Several days later, his Dave’s story in verse as well. As a teach- lynched by an angry white mob. Alphin body, beaten beyond recognition, was ing tool, the book touches students and alerts readers to the premise that Frank found in the Tallahatchie River. This makes them eager to learn more about was always innocent, although public terrible crime became a catalyst for the this person, inspiring a wealth of con- sentiment, at the time, thought otherwise. civil rights movement. versation, questioning, and research Actual photographs and other documenta- Wright confronts the distortions, mis- opportunities. tion point to symbols of the time that help information, and misconceptions sur- Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; readers develop a framework for what rounding the event, providing additional Individual Development and Identity; Power, happened and possibly why. This book details and keen observation about the Authority, and Governance. is unusual in that it shows anti-Semitism case. He also sets the scene as to what working in conjunction with continued ill life was like for blacks in the Jim Crow Secondary Winner will toward Yankees who were still viewed South. Wright focuses on the crime with An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution as interloping carpetbaggers. Alphin is clarity and strong emotion, helping read- and Persecution of Leo Frank, by Elaine successful in causing readers to pause ers to understand Emmett’s story and its Marie Alphin. Carolrhoda Books, a and think about how institutional dis- place in the modern civil rights move- Division of Lerner Publishing Group, crimination was viewed as a valid form ment. He further explains the efforts to Inc. of “keeping the law.” The author’s notes open the case in 2005 and the passing of will be of particular interest. the 2008 Emmett Till Unresolved Civil Reviewed by Dee Storey, professor of Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; Rights Crime Act, which allows unre- teacher education at Saginaw Valley State Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; and solved civil rights murders before 1970 University, Saginaw, Michigan. Civic Ideals and Practices. to be reinvestigated. This well-written memoir offers advice What happened in Atlanta, Georgia, in Secondary Honor to aspiring writers, journalists, and future the spring of 1913 would unleash the Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of lawyers. “If you want an accurate account mighty powers of public opinion, yel- the Kidnapping of Emmett Till, by Simeon of any story, go to the primary sources. low journalism, and political subterfuge. Wright with Herb Boyd. Lawrence Hill They know what really happened.” On April 26, 13-year-old Mary Phagan Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; went to the National Pencil Company to Press. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; and collect her wages. Instead of joining her Civic Ideals and Practices. family at a Confederate Memorial Day

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