2008 Belpre Award

2008 Belpre Award for Text

The Poet Slave of Cuba
by Margarita Engle

This book depicts the life of a nineteenth century young man, Juan Franscico Manzano in Cuba. He is born into slavery and secretly learns how to read and write. He becomes an amazing poet, during a time he is not even supposed to be literate. Juan's story is incredibly sad and hard to believe. He suffered so much under his cruel masters. The author of this book does a great job of conveying his story in a manner that is appealing to the reader. It is also important for students to view slavery in a country other than the United States. This book is able to give them perspective on slavery.

2008 Belpre for Illustrations

Los Gatos Black on Halloween

by Marisa Montes and Yuyi Morales

This colorful little book of verse allows the readers to be immersed in a moonlit Halloween Night. The book has pictures of rattling bones, ghost, and other things that go bump in the night. This book has Spanish embedded in the text, which is perfect for most students down here in the valley. But, those who need clarification are able to look up the words in a glossary found in back of the book. I know that a lot of the young children at my school would really enjoy this book. I can see why it won the Belpre Award for illustrations.

2008 Coretta Scott King Award for Text

Elijah of Buxton

by Christopher Paul Curtis

The cover of this book actually caught my attention because I just was intrigued by the little boy. he looks sad and happy all at the same time. I had to find out more about Elijah. He is the first freedom black born in his settlement, Buxton, Canada. He seems to be just like a normal kid, who loves to laugh and must endure embarrassing stories told by his family. As the plot progresses, I am able to understand Elijah's face, because he tries to help a group of slaves escape. This book is the winner of not only the Coretta Scott King Award, but the Newbery Award as well. I will definitely purchase a class set of this novel for my library.

2008 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrations

Let it Shine
by Ashley Bryan

I just adored this little book of traditional spiritual songs. The illustrations are very inviting and vibrant. They add a lot of excitement to the spirituals. I liked that Ashley Bryan adds the orgins and importance of these spirituals. This would be really fun to introduce to elementary students, especially in a music class. There so much a person can do with this book. You can explain imagery, alliteration, rhyming and so much more.