NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children


This page lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the children's literature category.

1990s

YearBookAuthorRef
1996---
1996Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales and True Tales by Virginia HamiltonVirginia Hamilton
1999--
1999Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of ColorPatricia McKissack
---

2000s

YearWorkAuthorRef
2000---
2000If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa ParksFaith Ringgold
2000God Inside of MeDella Reese
2000Happy to Be NappyBell Hooks
2000The Day I Was RichBill Cosby
2000Through My EyesRuby Bridges
2001---
2001Shades of BlackSandra Pinkney
2001Dancing in the WingsDebbie Allen
2001Nikki Giovanni, Poet of the PeopleJudith Pinkerton Josephson
2001Teens Can Make It HappenStedman Graham
2001The Sound That Jazz MakesCarole Boston Weatherford
2002---
2002Just the Two of UsWill Smith and Kadir Nelson
2003---
2003Nelson Mandela's Favorite African FolktalesNelson Mandela
2004---
2004My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Christine King Farris
2004The Montgomery Bus Boycott Sabrina Crewe and Frank Walsh
2004God CreatedMark Bozzuti-Jones
2004Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War StoryRomare Bearden
2004Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper?Slade Morrison
2005---
2005The 1963 Civil Rights MarchScott Ingram
2005African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal WomenJoyce Hanson
2005Ellington Was Not a StreetNtozake Shange
2005Langston's Train RideRobert Burleigh
2005Maya's World: Angelina of ItalyMaya Angelou
2006---
2006Girls Hold Up This WorldJada Pinkett Smith
2006I Can Make a DifferenceMarian Wright Edelman
2006The School Is Not White! A True Story of the Civil Rights MovementDoreen Rappaport
2006Honey Baby Sugar ChildAlice Faye Duncan
2006Please, Puppy, PleaseSpike Lee
2007---
2007Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to FreedomCarole Boston Weatherford
2007Dear Mr. RosenwaldCarole Boston Weatherford
2007I Like You But I Love MeCommon
2007Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'RoundDoreen Rappaport
2007Whoopi's Big Book of MannersWhoopi Goldberg
2008---
2008Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea GibsonSue Stauffacher
2008Friendship for TodayPatricia McKissack
2008Elijah of BuxtonChristopher Paul Curtis
2008Let It ShineAshley Bryan
2008Young PeleLesa Cline-Ransome
2009---
2009Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of HopeNikki Grimes
2009Amazing Peace: A Christmas PoemMaya Angelou
2009Say a Little PrayerDionne Warwick
2009We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League BaseballKadir Nelson
2009You Can Do It!Tony Dungy
2010---
2010Our Children Can SoarMichelle Cook
2010The Negro Speaks of RiversLangston Hughes
2010Peeny Butter FudgeToni Morrison
2010Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Toeshoe TroubleWhoopi Goldberg
2010Child of the Civil Rights MovementPaula Young Shelton

2010s

YearWorkAuthorRef
2011---
2011My Brother CharlieHolly Robinson Peete
2011Grandma’s GiftEric Velasquez
2011Mama Miti: Wangai Maathai and the Tree of KenyaDonna Jo Napoli
2011Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Delores Huerta and Cesar ChavezMonica Brown
2011The Great Migration: Journey to the NorthEloise Greenfield
2012---
2012You Can Be a FriendTony Dungy
2012Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard BandKwame Alexander
2012Before There Was MozartLesa Cline-Ransome
2012Heart and SoulKadir Nelson
2012White WaterMichael S. Bandy
2013---
2013What Color is My WorldKareem Abdul-Jabbar
2013Fifty Cents and a DreamJabari Asim
2013Harlem's Little BlackbirdRenee Watson
2013In the Land of Milk and HoneyJoyce Carol Thomas
2013Indigo Blume and the Garden CityKwame Alexander
2014---
2014Nelson MandelaKadir Nelson
2014I'm A Pretty Little Black Girl!Betty K. Bynum
2014Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for MeDaniel Beaty
2014Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her SongAndrea Davis Pinkney
2014You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!Jonah Winter
2015---
2015Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever AfterRachel Renee Russell, Nikki Russell, and Erin Russell
2015Beautiful MoonTonya Bolden
2015Little Melba and Her Big TromboneKatheryn Russell-Brown
2015Malcolm LittleIlyasah Shabazz
2015Searching for Sarah RectorTonya Bolden
2016---
2016Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White AmericaCarole Boston Weatherford
2016Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, Inspired by Historical FactsNikki Grimes
2016Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot BoxMichael S. Bandy
2016If You Plant a SeedKadir Nelson
2016New ShoesSusan Lynn Meyer
2017---
2017Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien ThomasGwendolyn Hooks
2017A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy DayAndrea Davis Pinkney
2017Daddy’s Little GirlKarissa Culbreath
2017Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel BasquiatJavaka Steptoe
2017The Golden Girls of RioNikkolas Smith
2018---
2018Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black HistoryVashti Harrison
2018Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the CourtKareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
2018Before She Was HarrietLesa Cline-Ransome, James E. Ransome
2018Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee!Andrea J. Loney, Keith Mallett
2018The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights ActivistCynthia Levinson, Vanessa Brantley-Newton
2019---
2019Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space RaceMargot Lee Shetterly, Laura Freeman
2019Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, A Monumental American ManTonya Bolden
2019I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can'tDiane Dillon
2019The 5 O'Clock BandTroy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Bryan Collier
2019The Word CollectorPeter H. Reynolds
2020--
2020SulweLupita Nyong'o, Vashti Harrison
2020A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a NationBarry Wittenstein, Jerry Pinkney
2020Hair LoveMatthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison
2020Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary MomentParker Curry, Jessica Curry, Brittany Jackson
2020Ruby Finds a WorryTom Percival

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Outstanding Literary Work, Children's Awards:
WinsAuthor
2Carole Boston Weatherford
2Vashti Harrison

The following individuals received two or more Outstanding Literary Work, Children's nominations:
NominationsAuthor
4Kadir Nelson
4Carole Boston Weatherford
3Vashti Harrison
2Kwame Alexander
2Maya Angelou
2Michael S. Bandy
2Tonya Bolden
2Tony Dungy
2Whoopi Goldberg
2Nikki Grimes
2Patricia McKissack
2Andrea Davis Pinkney
2Lesa Cline-Ransome
2Doreen Rappaport