2011 WINNER: Nest, Nook & Cranny

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2011:

Susan Blackaby. Nest, Nook & Cranny. Ill. by Jamie Hogan. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2010.

2011 HONOR BOOK: Weekend Mischief

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2011:

Rob Jackson. Weekend Mischief. Ill. by Mark Beech. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2010.

Here is a Digital Trailer created for the book by Ashley Cooper.

2011 HONOR BOOK: City Kids

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2011:

X.J. Kennedy. City Kids: Street & Skyscraper Rhymes. Ill. by Philippe Béha. Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2010.

Here is a Readers' Guide by Brienna Ayers.

Bibliography: Kennedy, X. J. (2010). City Kids: Street and Skyscraper Rhymes. Ill. by Philippe Béha. Toronto, Ontario: Trade Wind books.

Recommended Age Levels 8-12

Summary of Book: City Kids is a collection of poems focused on the places, people and experiences one may encounter in a city. Kennedy creates poems about the places one may visit in a big city like the San Diego Zoo, a Laundromat or a deli. There are many poems about people one would experience like a man passing out leaflets, a man at a chestnut cart, street performers, fireman and even the perspective of a dog. This collection of Kennedy’s poetry focuses on the diversity of life in a city. There is even a poem specifically about the importance of diversity in life.

Review Excerpts:
"There is plenty of child-appeal and perspective, as well as end rhymes, internal rhymes, and alliteration to catch the fancy of young listeners. The layout sets each poem opposite boldly outlined images that channel the animated whimsy and unexpected colors of Chagall.... Recommended." (Library Media Connection)

"

Kennedy is thought-provoking without being obscure. Although much of his work is light and whimsical, he shows a willingness to take on more serious subject matter...The book also benefits considerably from Montrealer Philippe Béha's colourful, stylized illustrations, which interpret the work sensitively and creatively." (Quill & Quire)



"Captures the scenes and experience of urban life, via a series of evocative poems and illustrations...It is well written and expressed and invites children to understand the urban environment through a wide variety of images...A great anthology for the urban classroom, as it celebrates the life and culture of city kids." (Resource Links)



"The urban world is examined from every angle in this lively collection of verse about city life Béha's illustrations have a naïf, crayon-scrawled exuberance, and most match the upbeat tone of Kennedy's verse." (Publishers Weekly )


Awards/ Honors Received:
X.J. Kennedy is the winner of the 2009 Robert Frost Medal awarded by the Poetry Society of American for a distinguished lifetime of service to American Poetry.

Phillippe Béha is the two time Governor-General’s Award-winning illustrator of many children’s books.

*Both have received many other awards for their work in Children’s Literature.

Questions to Ask Before Reading:
• Ask students what makes up a city-what kinds of things are needed (taxis? skyscrapers? etc.)
• Ask students to name some of the big cities they can think remember.
• Ask students to share about a time they lived in or visited a big city.
• Ask students to identify what makes a poem? (layout, rhyme scheme, etc.)
• Ask students what kind of things would they write about in a book of poetry about the city? Is there anything they think has to be included in a poetry book about a city?

Suggestions for Reading Poems Aloud:
• Allow students to volunteer to read the shorter poems (“hoop haiku” or “Where Will We Run To” would be good choices) or do a round robin with students reading every other line. This keeps the student’s attention on the material and provides practice with their oral reading skills.
• Read a title (“Aquarium” would be a good choice) from the collection and have students guess what the poem will be about or read the poem aloud and have the students try and guess what the poem is titled/ about.
• Separate the titles, poems and images (use some of the simpler poems like “Leaflet man” or Subway trip”) and divide the students into groups. Each group is given several of these divided poems and are tasked to match the correct title, poem and image.

Follow Activities:
Writing:
• Have students create poems about things in their neighborhoods and people in their lives. Poems could also be about other areas of town and people they have observed.
• Have students select 2-3 poems from X.J Kennedy’s collection and create a story that includes both concepts. For example, if they chose a poem about school and a poem about diversity they could write about diversity in a school.

Art:
• Have students create a collage of the images found in the City Kids collection of poetry.
• Have students divide into small groups. Have them interview each other and create poster sized diagrams featuring the similarities and differences (a Venn diagram would work well)
• Have students illustrate their poems about things in their neighborhoods and people in their lives.

Social Studies:
• Have students find the locations of the cities mentioned in the collection of poetry or other similar big cities they can think imagine. These cities can be marked on the map and the class can discuss the growth of cities as well.

Relate Websites:
X. J. Kennedy’s website:
http://xjanddorothymkennedy.com/

Poems about :City
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/city/

Diversity and Multi Cultural Kid Activities for Childcare Professionals & Teachers
http://www.kidactivities.net/category/DiversityMulti-Cultural.aspx

Diversity Activities for Elementary School
http://www.diversitycouncil.org/elActivities.shtml

Printables for Social Studies project: Cities
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/tvsearch.php?keywords=social+studies+city&go.x=0&go.y=0&sitesearch=1

Related Books:
Children’s Poetry/ Fiction about Diversity & People:
Kates, B. (1992). We’re Different, We’re the Same. Ill. by Joe Mathieu. New York, NY: Random House Books. ISBN: 067983220
Smith, C. Jr. (2003). I Am American. New York, NY: Cartwheel Books. ISBN: 0439431798

Children’s Poetry/ Fiction about City Life:
Hopkins, L. B. (2009). City I Love. Ill. by Marcellus Hall. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 0810983274
Teachers Writers Collaborative. (2012). A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple. Ill. by Mash D’Yans. New York, NY: Universe. ISBN: 0789320835
Yolen, J. (1996). Sky Scrape/ City Scape: Poems of City Life. Ills. by Ken Condon. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press. ISBN: 1563971798
Weatherford, C. B. (2001). Sidewalk Chalk: Poems of the City. Ills. by Dimitrea Tokunbo. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press. ISBN: 1563970848

Children’s Nonfiction about Cities/ City Life:
Flatt, L. (2010). Life in an Industrial City. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company. ISBN: 0778774023
Brown, T. (1998). City by the Bay: A Magical Journey Around San Francisco. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN: 0811820122
Flatt, L. (2010). Life in a Suburban City. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company. ISBN: 0778774044
Romanek, T. (2010). Life in a Commercial City. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company. ISBN: 0778774015
Grumbach, E. S. (2005). We’re There! New York City. Boston, MA: KidQuest LLC. ISBN: 0975487518
Grumbach, E. S. (2004). We’re There! Boston. Boston, MA: KidQuest LLC. ISBN: 0975487501

2009 WINNER: A Voweller's Bestiary

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2009:

JonArno Lawson. A Voweller’s Bestiary, from Aardvark to Guineafowl (and H). Erin, Ontario: Porcupine’s Quill, 2008.

2009 HONOR BOOK: Diamond Willow

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2009:

Helen Frost. Diamond Willow. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008.

2009 HONOR BOOK: The Year I Was Grounded

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2009:

William H. New. The Year I Was Grounded. Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2008.

2008 WINNER: Tap Dancing on the Roof

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2008:

Linda Sue Park. Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems). Ill. by Istvan Banyai. New York: Clarion, 2007.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Margaret Eubanks.

2008 HONOR BOOK: The Moon Is La Luna

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2008:

Jay M. Harris. The Moon Is La Luna: Silly Rhymes in English & Spanish. Ill. by Matthew Cordell. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

2008 HONOR BOOK: Birmingham, 1963

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2008:

Carole Boston Weatherford. Birmingham, 1963. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2007.

2007 WINNER: Black Stars in a White Night Sky

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2007:

JonArno Lawson. Black Stars in a White Night Sky. Ill. by Sherwin Tjia. Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2006.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Laura Mahony.

2007 HONOR BOOK: Talking with Mother Earth

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2007:

Jorge Argueta. Talking with Mother Earth/Hablando con Madre Tierra. Ill. by Lucía Angela Pérez. Toronto: Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2006.

2007 HONOR BOOK: The Braid

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2007:

Helen Frost. The Braid. New York: Frances Foster/Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2006.

Here is a Digital Trailer created for the book by Erin Diaz.

2007 HONOR BOOK: Jazz

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2007:

Walter Dean Myers. Jazz. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House, 2006.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Nancy Shields. Click here to watch it now.

2007 HONOR BOOK: Street Love

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2007:

Walter Dean Myers. Street Love. New York: Amistad/HarperTempest, 2006.

Here is a Digital Trailer created by Andrea Brown.

2006 WINNER: Jazz A-B-Z

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2006:

Wynton Marsalis. Jazz A·B·Z: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits. Ill. by Paul Rogers. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2005.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Jerusha Hunt.

2006 HONOR BOOK: A Wreath for Emmett Till

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2006:

Marilyn Nelson. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Ill. by Philippe Lardy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

2006 HONOR BOOK: A Maze Me

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2006:

Naomi Shihab Nye. A Maze Me: Poems for Girls. Ill. by Terre Maher. New York: Greenwillow, 2005.

Here is a Digital Trailer created by Katherine Brandeland.

2006 HONOR BOOK: Runny Babbit

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2006:

Shel Silverstein. Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Sarah Rowden.

2005 WINNER: Fortune's Bones

This is the winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2005:

Marilyn Nelson. Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem. Asheville, NC: Front Street Books, 2004.

Here is a Readers' Guide created by Lori Walters Barbara.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marilyn Nelson Author Biography: Marilyn Nelson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and the daughter to a U.S. serviceman in the Air Force and teacher. Marilyn’s love for writing began while in elementary school. Her love for words lead her to earn her BA from the University of California, Davis. Nelson also holds postgraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (MA, 1970) and the University of Minnesota (PhD, 1979). Dr. Nelson is a three-time National Book Award Finalist. She has won the Annisfield-Wolf Award and the 1999 Poets' Prize.

Dr. Nelson’s Carver: A Life In Poems won the 2001 Boston Globe/Hornbook Award and the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award, a Newbery Honor Book, and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.

Fortune’s Bones The Manumission Requiem, is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and won the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry. A Wreath For Emmett Till won the 2005 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and was a 2006 Coretta Scott King Honor Book, a 2006 Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and a 2006 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book. The Cachoiera Tales And Other Poems won the L.E. Phillabaum Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Sweethearts of Rhythm, released in 2009 from Dial and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Dr. Nelson served as the Poet Laureate of Connecticut from 2001 through 2006. Since 1978 she has taught at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where she is a professor of English.

Notes and Annotations
by Pamela Espeland
Pamela Espeland is a published author, editor, and an illustrator of 43 children's books and young adult books. Some of her published credits include: Feelings to Share from a to Z, See You Later, Procrastinator! (Get It Done) (Laugh & Learn series) and Dude and That's Rude!: (Get Some Manners) (Laugh and Learn).

Ms. Espeland’s detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader’s appreciation of the historical poetry comprised in Fortune's Bones, The Manumission Requiem.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nelson, Marilyn, 2004, Fortune’s Bones The Manumission Requiem, Asheville,
North Carolina, Front Street, ISBN 1932425128 BOOK SUMMARY (Poetry, young adult, ages 12 and up)

A Newbery and Coretta Scott King honoree, Fortune’s Bones, The Manumission Requiem, delivers poems that commemorates the life of an 18th-century Connecticut man who was a husband, a father, a baptized Christian, and a slave. This historical collection of poems, includes detailed notes and archival photographs of skeletal bones that are found and have been located in the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut since 1798. Over several centuries, the bones became the subject and speculation in Waterbury, and in 1996 a group of community-based volunteers, working in collaboration with the museum staff, discovered the bones were those of a slave named Fortune who had been owned by a local doctor. Dr. Porter, preserved Fortune’s skeleton to further his study in anatomy.

Written as a manumission requiem, the collection of poems merges the sadness of a requiem, a traditional mass for the dead, with the celebration of freedom, or a manumission. This collection of poems captures the historical hardships of Fortune’s life and eloquently reveals the internal beauty within his historical bones.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
School Library Journal
Gr 6 Up- This requiem honors a slave who died in Connecticut in 1798. His owner, a doctor, dissected his body, boiling down his bones to preserve them for anatomy studies. The skeleton was lost and rediscovered, then hung in a local museum until 1970, when it was removed from display. The museum began a project in the 1990s that uncovered the skeleton's provenance, created a new exhibit, and led to the commissioning of these six poems. The selections, which incorporate elements of a traditional requiem as well a New Orleans jazz funeral, arc from grief to triumph. A preface lays out the facts of Fortune's life, followed by "Dinah's Lament," in which his wife mourns the husband whose bones she is ordered to dust. Other pieces are in the voices of Fortune's owner, his descendants, workers, and museum visitors. The penultimate "Not My Bones," sung by Fortune, states, "What's essential about you/is what can't be owned." Each page of verse faces a green page containing text and full-color archival graphics that lay out the facts of Fortune's story. This volume sets history and poetry side by side and, combined with the author's personal note on inspirations, creates a unique amalgam that can be confusing at first. Subsequently, however, the facts inform the verse and open up a full appreciation of its rich imagery and rhythmic, lyrical language. The book brings the past to life and could make for a terrific choral reading.
-Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews
In 1798, Fortune, a slave owned by Dr. Preserved Porter, a bonesetter, died; rather than bury him, Dr. Porter rendered his corpse and preserved his bones for anatomical study. Nelson remembers and celebrates Fortune in this slim funeral mass, moving from grief to joy, envisioning Fortune's moment of death as his deliverance from slavery to the ultimate freedom. As in Carver (2001), the poems of the cycle have multiple voices, from the doctor who owned the body but not the man within it, to Fortune himself and the enslaved wife who is forced to clean her husband's bones. The central question-where does humanity reside?-receives thoughtful, fervent consideration: it's a glorious reclamation of a man whose identity had been assailed from the moment of his birth to beyond his death. The poems are printed on the recto; facing them is an ongoing prose narrative of Fortune's life and afterlife, punctuated by photos, illustrations, and archival materials. While at times these can distract, they cannot dim the incandescence of the poetry, or the keen-eyed glimpse into one small moment in the American "Peculiar Institution" it provides.
(bibliography) (Poetry. 12+)

AWARDS AND HONORS
•Coretta Scott King Honor Book - 2005
•Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry

ANTICIPATORY QUESTIONS
Before Reading the Book
1- Have students look at the book cover. Ask them to consider the illustrations, book title, etc. Ask students to predict what the book is about. Initiate a group discussion on the student’s observations.
2- Ask the students if they know the definition of manumission. In addition, ask them to define requiem. Provide students with definitions for both. After defining these key terms, ask students to read the inside book jacket. Explain that Dr. Nelson’s book is a collection of poems that commemorate a slaves life more than 200 years after his death.
3- Ask students, “What do you know about slavery in U.S. history?” Provide a KWL organizer to obtain what students know, what they want to know and to also provide a review for what the students learn.
4- Ask students, “What is a biography? How do poets write and capture historical biographies?” Ask students which they think would be easier, writing a traditional biography or a collection of biographical poems?

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING POEMS ALOUD
1- Think Aloud - Select one of the poems from Fortune’s Bones, to read aloud. Perform a think aloud, verbalizing your thoughts while reading aloud to the students. Discuss with students that this is a process experienced readers actually do to ensure their comprehension. List the five strategies that poor comprehenders appear to lack: predicting, forming mental images while reading, using what they already know about the topic (prior knowledge), monitoring how well they are comprehending during reading, and fixing problems as they occur when reading. Highlight these strategies as you read aloud to the class. Once, you have read the poem, pair up students and have them select a different poem from the book. Have students practice the procedure with one another. Each can take turns reading and responding to the other.

2- Choral Reading - Model the reading of a poem for the class, then have students read aloud together (whole class or smaller groups). This provides weaker students a chance to practice without embarrassment.

3- Fluent Oral Reading - “Perform” poems for students by reading aloud with appropriate tone, inflection, gestures and movement. Practice the above think aloud strategies. If your poem or collection of poems has audio/video readings available, use these for additional models of fluent oral reading. Encourage students to read aloud poems they choose and have practiced. Include discussion of their choice of poem .

4-Reader’s Theatre - Use a reader’s theatre format for small groups to write, script and perform poetry. Use subjects such as historical events, politics/government and cultural diversity to initiate dialogue on these subjects.

5-Technology Poetry - Have students coordinate their recitation with a PowerPoint presentation of the text. Use transitions and imagery to enhance the listener’s appreciation of the poem.

6- I-Poetry - Using the IMovie Apple application, record students’ recitations of poetry and create a mini-movie with text, imagery and music. Show movies during class and post to a blog for parents to view.

FOLLOW UP EXTENSIONS
Language Arts/Literature 1- Have the class research famous historical slaves. Have students write a profile of themselves as a slave. This would include:
•Their name
•What kind of a household they live in
•What kind of a person or family owns them
•What kind of work they are expected to do
•Any relatives they may have--do they live with those relatives?
•Anything else that might be important

2- Once the students have established their slave identity, have students:
•Write a poem about their life.
•Write an expository composition about the hardships of slavery from their point of view.

History/Geography
1- Have students select and research a famous historical slave. Once they have completed their research, have the students: Pretend they are that person and think about what their life would be like.
•Write a letter to a friend or family member describing their life. (Include information about how they became a slave.
•Write a letter to your governor to petition for their freedom. Why do they want to be free and why should they be freed?

2- Place students in small groups, have each group research different aspects of a slave’s life. This could include, diet, plantation life, music, clothing, religion, etc. Have each group present a report/project about the topic and present it to the class.

3- View the show: Slavery and the Making of America: Seeds of Destruction. After watching, discuss: What was surprising in the video? Did the students learn anything they didn't know before? Is there something the students want to know more about?

4- Have students research slave journals and diary entries at: http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/resources/resources_gateway.html. Give students a slave journal which they will record entries into for two weeks. Remind students to include elements such as mood, emotion, etc., and to discuss areas of their lives such as family, food, traditions, etc. At the end of the two weeks, have the students read aloud, in character, their favorite diary entry. In addition, have students create an illustration/painting that depicts the entry and display both pieces throughout the classroom.

5- Have students timeline slavery in America . Use http://www.innercity.org/holt/chron_1790_1829.html to find the chronology of U.S. slavery.

Art/Drama
1- Have students view paintings by Steele Burden, and Johnnie Mae Maberry-Gilbert. Discuss how Burden and Maberry-Gilbert created brilliant images as visual memorials to life on plantations and to the lives of slaves.

2- Have students paint or use mixed media to portray life on a plantation or as a slave. Have students present their art work and pose the following questions to the class critics:
•How does the image make you feel?
•As a result of viewing the art, what did you learn about life as a slave?

3- Reader’s Theatre-
Have students divide into 3-4 groups and research slavery in Connecticut in late 1700s. Have students reference http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/whatis.html for a thorough understanding of all aspects of a reader’s theatre. Have each group write and script a scene that portrays an aspect of slavery assigned by the teacher (culture, family, hardships, etc.). Have each group, construct their own props, set and costumes.

4- Host the reader’s theatre and invite parents to attend.

RELATED WEB SITES
Timeline of Slavery in Connecticut
http://www.fortunestory.org/resources/timeline.asp
The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University
http://www.yale.edu/glc/indes.htm
African American Resources at The Connecticut Historical Society
http://www.chs.org/catalogs
The Connecticut State Library
http://www.cslib.org/
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Curriculum Unit: Slavery in Connecticut 1640-1848 by David L. Parsons
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/6/80.06.09.x.html
Africans in America (PBS Online)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
Slavery in 18th Century New England: Stanley-Whitman House, Farmington
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amistad/whi.HTMl
National Slavery Museum
http://www.usnationalslaverymuseum.org/
Afrolumens Project: African American History in Central Pennsylvania http://www.afrolumens.org/
World History Archives
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/index-h.html
Slavery in the North
http://www.slavenorth.com/
Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
Colonial Newspapers
http://earlyamerica.com
Religion in Early America
http://loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel02.html
Farming in the Thirteen Colonies
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13coloniesfarm.html
A Colonial Family in Connecticut
http://hfmgov.org/education/smartfun/colonial/intro/index.html 18th
Century Resources
http://www.c18.org/li/history.html http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th/history.html
Slave Movement During the 18th and19th Centuries
http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu?slavedata/index.html
Chronology on the History of Slavery
http://www.innercity.org/holt/slavechron.html
Slave Narratives
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/slave_images.html
Connecticut and Slavery
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/northeast/hc-slavery.special

OTHER RELATED READING
Raymond Bial, The Strength of These Arms: Life in the Slave Quarters. Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
Tom Feelings, The Middle Passage: White Ships, Black Cargo. Dial Books, 1995.
Barbara Greenwood, The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad. Kids Can Press, 1998.
James Haskins, Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World. HarperCollins, 1999.
James Haskins, Building a New Land: African Americans in Colonial America. Amistad Press, 2001.
Deborah Kent, African-Americans in the Thirteen Colonies. Children's Press, 1996.
Alice McGill, Molly Bannacky. Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Almost to Freedom. Carolrhoda Books, 2003.
Shelley Pearsall, Trouble Don't Last. Yearling, 2003.
Doreen Rappaport, No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance. Candlewick Press, 2002.
Mary Stolz, Cezanne Pinto. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1994.
Israel P. Warren, Chauncey Judd, or The Stolen Boy: A Story of the Revolution. Naugatuck, CT: The Perry Press, 1906 (originally published 1874)
Jeanette Winter, Follow the Drinking Gourd. Dragonfly Books, 1992.

2005 HONOR BOOK: Spinning Through the Universe

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2005:

Helen Frost. Spinning Through the Universe: A Novel in Poems from Room 214. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004.

Here is a Digital Trailer for the book created by Marie Irwin.

2005 HONOR BOOK: The Man in the Moon-Fixer's Mask

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2005:

JonArno Lawson. The Man in the Moon-Fixer’s Mask. Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2004.

2005 HONOR BOOK: Here in Harlem

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2005:

Walter Dean Myers. Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices. New York: Holiday House, 2004.

2005 HONOR BOOK: New Found Land

This is an honor book for the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry in 2005:

Allan Wolf. New Found Land: Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2004.