Books in Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent series

A John Steptoe New Talent Award WinnerBefore there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc. On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks―the musical interludes between verses―longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

In this “taut, eloquent first novel” (Booklist starred review) and winner of the Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award, a young Black boy wrestles with conflicting notions of revolution and family loyalty as he becomes involved with the Black Panthers in 1968 Chicago. The Time: 1968 The Place: Chicago For thirteen-year-old Sam it’s not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no apparent reason. And then it happens: Sam finds something that changes everything forever. Sam has always had faith in his father, but when he finds literature about the Black Panthers under Stick’s bed, he’s not sure who to believe: his father or his best friend. Suddenly, nothing feels certain anymore. Sam wants to believe that his father is right: You can effect change without using violence. But as time goes on, Sam grows weary of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer at the hands of racism in their own community. Sam beings to explore the Panthers with Stick, but soon he’s involved in something far more serious—and more dangerous—than he could have ever predicted. Sam is faced with a difficult decision. Will he follow his father or his brother? His mind or his heart? The rock or the river?

"Okay, young cats, let the beat hit your feet."One fine evening, Miz Mozetta puts on her firecracker-red dress and heads outside to enjoy the moonlight. When she hears the neighborhood kids' music, she's inspired to dance, but her old friends have too many aches and pains to join her. The kids doubt that Miz Mozetta would be able to keep up with them. So she retreats to her parlor, where she dreams about the old days at the Blue Pearl Ballroom. Just when her feet are itching to get out there and do the jitterbug -- friends or no friends -- a knock comes on the door, and Miz Mozetta gets some welcome company.Lively, colorful illustrations and a rhythmic text make for a jazzy dance party that readers will delight in attending again and again. Jazzy Miz Mozetta is the winner of the 2005 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe New Talent Award.

Ping! Ping! Cha-cha-cha! In this lively introduction to different kinds of music, a little girl tries out lots of instruments so she can play with her whole family! She rings a triangle with her dad's string quartet, jingles a cowbell with her brother's rock band, and hits a woodblock with her aunt's jazz group! Festive and animated cut paper art helps the sounds of music to leap off the page in this award-winning primer on musical genres.

The summer that Viney is eleven years old is extraordinary. It takes her out of school and puts her under the wing of Missy Violet, a well-loved midwife whose wise and warm ways help teach Viney about the business of catchin’ babies. Suddenly, Viney must learn about roots and herbs and their medicinal purpose, understand the contents of Missy Violet’s “birthin’ bag,” and contend with a snooty peer and wild, irrepressible cousin—Charles Elister Paxton Nehemiah Windbush. And all this before she actually helps to deliver a single baby! At turns scary, funny, and exhilarating, the rhythm of Viney’s rural life in the South quickens as she embraces her apprenticeship and finds her own special place as Missy Violet’s “best helper girl.” Hot jiggetty!

Patrice Williams was happy living in Georgia with her grandmother, who called her “cocoa grandbaby.” Then her mother lured her to Chicago and ended up in jail. Now Patrice lives with her Auntie Mae, and her new nickname is “Puffy” – thanks to her giant poof of hair. But Patrice’s hair isn’t the only reason she sticks out: she cares about her grades and strives for the best. That’s why Monty Freeman, another eighth grader who lives in the building, asks Patrice to tutor his little brother. Even though Monty’s friends make Patrice uneasy, Monty himself is friendly, confident, and surprisingly smart. When he becomes her guardian angel, Patrice begins to think something stronger than friendship might be growing between them. Still, nothing will stop her from applying for a scholarship at prestigious Dogwood Academy – her ticket out of the project and a school populated by gangs and drug runners. In her debut novel, Traci L. Jones presents a girl with grit she never knew she had, and a boy so inspired by her that he begins to take pride in his own abilities.

The summer that Viney is eleven years old is extraordinary. It takes her out of school and puts her under the wing of Missy Violet, a well-loved midwife whose wise and warm ways help teach Viney about the business of catchin' babies. Suddenly, Viney must learn about roots and herbs and their medicinal purpose, understand the contents of Missy Violet's "birthin' bag," and contend with a snooty peer and wild, irrepressible cousin—Charles Elister Paxton Nehemiah Windbush. And all this before she actually helps to deliver a single baby! At turns scary, funny, and exhilarating, the rhythm of Viney's rural life in the South quickens as she embraces her apprenticeship and finds her own special place as Missy Violet's "best helper girl." Hot jiggetty!