Unspoken

In Henry Cole’s brilliant picture book story, a young girl growing up on a farm risks everything helping someone she never meets escape slavery by using the Underground Railroad. This wordless picture book tells a story of camaraderie and bravery using beautiful pencil drawings. Unspoken was published in the United States in 2012 by Scholastic, Inc.

Henry Cole was born on a dairy farm near Purcellville, Virginia, and was an adored elementary-school science teacher for sixteen years. He has since illustrated over eighty popular picture books. Mr. Cole has always loved art and science, which has made him a keen observer of details in nature. He now lives in both Florida and Virginia.

Ghetto Cowboy

When Cole’s mom dumps him in mean streets of Philly to live with the dad he’s never met, the last thing Cole expects to see is a horse—let alone a stable full of them. He may not know much about cowboys, but what he knows for sure is that cowboys ain’t black and they don’t live in the inner city! But on Chester Avenue, horses are a way of life, and soon Cole’s days of goofing off and skipping school in Detroit have been replaced by shoveling muck and trying not to get stomped on.

Crazy as it may seem, the lifestyle grows on Cole, and he starts to think that maybe life as a ghetto cowboy isn’t so bad. But when the City threatens to shut down the stables—and take away the horse that Cole has come to think of as his own—he knows that he has to fight back.

Inspired by the real-life inner-city horsemen of Philadelphia and Brooklyn, Ghetto Cowboy is an timeless urban western about learning to stand up for what’s right—the Cowboy Way.

Greg Neri

G. Neri is the 2011 Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author of Yummy, and a two-time American Library Association Notable Book honoree. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins/ International Reading Association Promising Poet Award for Chess Rumble. He has been a filmmaker, animator and new media producer and one of the founding members of The Truth anti-smoking campaign for teens. He lives on the Gulf coast of Florida with his wife and daughter and likes to troll for alligators.

Almost Zero: a Dyamonde Daniel Book

Dyamonde really wants red high-top sneakers. Too bad they’re so expensive! A classmate tells her it’s her mom’s job to give her what she needs, but when Dyamonde tries that argument, her mom teaches her a lesson by literally only giving her what she needs. Now Dyamonde is down to almost zero outfits! But then she finds out one of her friends has it much worse, and she’s determined to do what she can to help.

In this third book in the Dyamonde Daniel series, Nikki Grimes tackles big issues in a sensitive, kid-friendly way. Dymonde’s can-do attitude and lively spirit will endear her to readers.

Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes, a New York Times bestselling author, is the recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include ALA Notable book, What is Goodbye?, the novels Jazmin’s Notebook, Dark Sons, and The Road to Paris (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books).Creator of the popular Meet Danitra Brown, Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

About the award: I am really tickled to have won this award for Almost Zero: the new Dyamonde Daniel book. I’ll be accepting the award at their conference in Culver City, California, on June 12, 2011. Antioch University, which bestows the Horace Mann Upstanders Award in honor of its first college president, defines an Upstander as “a person who recognizes injustice and acts in a way to right the wrong. The goal of this award is to provide children with examples of Upstander behavior and to encourage them to be one themselves. Being an Upstander is a foundational skill necessary in the support of a democracy.” Previous winners include Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice by Frank Asch, Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen, and The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman.

Read Almost Zero. I think you’ll agree that she’s an Upstander. Although I didn’t write the book with this in mind, I believe in Dyamonde’s decisions to pursue right over wrong.
Thanks to the committee for recognizing this quality in my fictional character.

The Dunderheads

Miss Breakbone hates kids. Especially the time-squandering, mindwandering, doodling, dozing dunderheads in her class. But when she confiscates Junkyard’s crucial find, she finally goes too far. Enter Wheels, Pencil, Spider, and their fellow misfits in a spectacular display of teamwork aimed at teaching Miss Breakbone a lesson she won’t soon forget. From the incomparable Newbery Award winner Paul Fleischman comes a winning cast of underdogs — and one of the most terrifying teachers you’ll ever meet — brought to vivid life in David Roberts’s quirky, hilarious illustrations. Dunderheads, unite!

Paul Fleischman

Paul Fleischman (born 1952) is an American children’s author, and an author of books of all sorts. He grew up in Santa Monica, California, hearing his father, the children’s author Sid Fleischman, read his books aloud chapter by chapter, as they were written. Both have won the Newbery Medal, Sid for The Whipping Boy in 1987, and Paul for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices in 1989.

At 19, after two years of college in Berkeley, Fleischman took a cross-country bicycle and train trip, ending up living in a 200-year-old house in New Hampshire. The years there, living a modified 18th century lifestyle–wood heating, no electricity or phone–kindled an interest in the past and led to his historical fiction dealing with the Puritans’ Indian wars, colonial peddlers, Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic, and other topics.

His musical interests are reflected in his collections of poems for two and four speakers. Multiple points of view and a bridging of plays and prose have been hallmarks of his work, beginning with Bull Run, an account of the battle through the eyes of 16 different characters, continuing through Seedfolks, the 50-voice aural collage Seek, and Zap, which combines seven plays into one.

Violet the Pilot

By the time she’s two years old, Violet Van Winkle can fix nearly any appliance in the house. And by eight she’s building elaborate flying machines from scratch—mind-boggling contraptions such as the Tubbubbler, the Bicycopter, and the Wing-a-ma-jig. The kids at school tease her, but they have no idea what she’s capable of. Maybe she could earn their respect by winning the blue ribbon in the upcoming Air Show. Or maybe something even better will happen—something involving her bestever invention, a Boy Scout troop in peril, and even the mayor himself!

A classic underdog story full of humor and sweetness and retro pizzazz, Violet the Pilot is both endearing and adorable. It’ll fly right into your heart.

Steve Breen

Born in 1970 in Los Angeles, Steve Breen grew up in neighboring Orange County as the second oldest of eight children.

He graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1988 and attended the University of California at Riverside, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. It was at the university that he started drawing editorial cartoons for his school paper, The Highlander. In 1991, Steve won the Scripps Howard Charles M. Schulz Award as the top college cartoonist and the John Locher award for Outstanding College Editorial Cartoonist. He was influenced by cartoonists such as Jeff MacNelly, Paul Conrad, Pat Oliphant and Don Wright.

Breen was about to become a high school history teacher when the Asbury Park Press offered him a job in the art department in July 1994. He became the full-time editorial cartoonist there in 1996. In April 1998, Breen won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

In July 2001, he returned to his home state to join the staff of The San Diego Union-Tribune. His editorial cartoons are nationally syndicated by Copley News Service and regularly appear in The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek and US News and World Report. His comic strip “Grand Avenue” appears in more than 150 newspapers across the country.

Breen; his wife, Cathy; and their two young sons live in the San Diego area. He enjoys reading, running, playing the guitar and watching old movies on cable.

Mrs Marlowe’s Mice

Meet Mrs. Eleanor Marlowe, a young widow who lives in an apartment by herself — not counting the extended family of mice who secretly live with her. Harboring mice is a very serious offense in Cat City. Why would a mild-mannered widow run such a risk? The neighbors wonder why Mrs. Marlowe never invites anyone over for catnip tea. Her secret little friends are beginning to wonder about their host, too. So fine is the cheese she serves that some of Mrs. Marlowe’s mice wonder if she’s fattening them up for the kill.

One day, officers from the Department of Catland Security show up at Mrs. Marlowe’s door, demanding to search the premises. Can this crafty feline outwit the police and save her mice from certain doom? Is Mrs. Marlowe the mouse-sympathizer she appears to be? Or is she really a mouse-hungry monster stocking her larder with fresh mice?

Frank Asch

Frank Asch was born and raised in rural New Jersey. His earliest interests were in science, specifically physics and astronomy, yet by the time he entered college he was determined to pursue a career in the Arts. Even before graduating from The Cooper Union with a degree in Fine Art, he published his first children’s book, George’s Store in 1968.

Since then he has written over 70 children’s books, including Star Jumper: Journal of a Cardboard Genius, the IRA Children’s Choice Award-winning Mr. Maxwell’s Mouse and its follow-up, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice.

He has traveled widely, married and raised a son who has also pursued writing and illustrating as a career. Mr. Asch currently divides his time between Vermont and Hawaii.