Congratulations, Coretta Scott King Award Winners!

The Coretta Scott King Book Award is awarded by the American Library Association is presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table. Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., this award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience.

Below you’ll find the covers of the 2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award medalist and honor winners.

congratulations, all! From Guides by deb.

Guides by Deb – Keeping your books in the hearts of young readers and in the hands of those who care for them.

This blog post was created by Debbie Gonzales, MFA. Deb is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator and adjunct professor, and once served as a SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter. She's the author of six “transitional” readers for a New Zealand publisher and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Girls with Guts: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). Deb earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Click here to access a website - Guides By Deb - which is jam-packed full of premier educators guides for all genres, all ages, and all kinds of fun.

Are you interested in discussing a reader’s guide project? If so, click here. Deb’s eager to hear from you!

Deb also hosts The Debcast - a podcast dedicated to the courageous female athletes of the past and present who demonstrate that playing like a girl means to approach sports – and life – with confidence, commitment, and drive in order to achieve any worthy goal. It means being aware that, when you excel in your sport, it’s a win for all girls – everywhere. The Debcast explores what it means to be an athletic girl with guts by talking with female athletes of all ages and walks of life, as well as authors who have written about them.

Guide Review for Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance

To be completely honest, as a teen, historical studies were not my cup of tea. I’d gloss right over as teachers would yammer on about the geographical locations of historical battles. And, then, to have to pair that information with the dates they occurred…well, look for me hiding out in the janitor’s closet.

That being said, if I would have had a book like Charles Novacek’s memoir Border Crossing: Coming of Age in the Czech Republic (published by Ten21 Press) to connect with me on emotional level from the start, maybe studying WWII as a teen might have been a more palatable experience.  I do know that I’m richer for the experience of creating an Educator’s Guide for this incredible book.

Synopsis: Charles Novacek’s free-roaming childhood came to an end in 1939, as war raged across the continent and the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. Charles and his sister were inducted into the Czech Resistance. At an age most children were learning how to diagram sentences, they were learning how to resist torture, handle phobias, and to control pain, hunger and thirst. Reflecting the desperation of the times, they were warned to trust no one.

The Educator's Guide has been crafted with the overall intent to connect readers with Charles’ emotional journey as a young man growing up in a time of historical turmoil. The lessons and activities presented in the guide are creative, intuitive, and informative, thus allowing students to consider Charles’ plight as if it were their own. All aspects of the guide have been aligned with the Common Core Anchor Standards of Reading Informational Texts, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and History/Social Studies for grades 6 to 12.

Timeline activity

The structure of the guide is defined by the use of personal bookmarks which establish four sections of study, each beginning with discussion questions inspired by quotations cited from the text and followed by carefully crafted, interactive activities. For instance, as a young man, Charles was inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If.” In the guide, students are encouraged to analyze the poem, through citation and interpretation, in light of character traits demonstrated by Charles throughout his life. Also, being that poetry and art helped define Charles’ inner character, students are guided to craft a free verse poem based on their perception of what life in a Bavarian displaced person’s camp might be like.

The final activity is a hands-on, manipulative timeline through which young people can compare and contrast historical events with those of Charles’ personal life. Students are directed to use scissors and tape to craft the timeline and then lay out tabs labeled with intriguing information in a sequential manner using the dates printed on the timeline as guides. Lastly, they are instructed to write an essay interpreting the correlations between the historical tabs and those that represent Charles’ life.

This unforgettable book distills history down to a person level, one that young people can connect with emotionally. Students will identify with Charles and his initial desires to be a regular kid, engaging in activities and interests much like their own. As the incredible story progresses, students will be shocked by the unbelievable trials Charles was forced to endure – trials that are documented through letters, documents, and pictures. In short, Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance transcends a factual study of war and geography into an experience and appreciation of a man’s soulful journey of heartfelt love for his country and her people.

Survival Colony 9 (YA)

Click on image to purchase bookAuthor: Joshua David Bellin

Genre: YA

Publisher: Margaret K. Elderry Books

ISBN: 978-1-4814-0354-2

Click here to download the Common Core State Standards aligned Discussion & Project guide create for ages 14 & up.

Overview: Querry Genn is in trouble. He can’t remember anything before the last six months. And Querry needs to remember. Otherwise he is dead weight to the other members of Survival Colony 9, one of the groups formed after a brutal war ravaged the earth. And now the Skaldi have come to scavenge what is left of humanity. No one knows what the Skaldi are, or why they are here, just that they impersonate humans, taking their form before shedding the corpse like a skin.

In a futuristic landscape ravaged by war, a colony’s hopes for survival hinge on one teenage boy.

Devin Rhodes is Dead (YA)

Click on image for publisher's information. Author: Jennifer Wolf Kam

Genre: YA

Publisher: Charlesbridge

ISBN: 978-1-934133-59-0

Awards: Winner of the NAESP Chapter Book Award 

Click here to download the Common Core State Standards aligned Discussion & Writing Prompt guide create for Grades 6 to 12.

Overview: High school freshman Cass is conflicted about her love/hate relationship with her best friend, Devin, and about her death. How did Devin's body end up at the bottom of Woodacre Ravine? Was Cass really responsible? Is concealing the truth haunting Cass or is it the ghost-like spirit of her dead friend?

Told in alternating before-and-after chapters, Cass details life leading up to the mysterious events that led to Devin’s “wrongful death.” The turbulent adolescent changes that challenge Cass and Devin’s friendship will seem familiar and real to middle-grade and young-adult readers. The mystery about what happened to Devin and if she is really reaching out from beyond the grave will have readers on the edge of their seats.