AWARDS/HONORS

  • 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
  • 2017 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books – Clayton Byrd Goes Underground and One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance 
  • 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Nomination – Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
  • 2017 NYPL’s Best Books for Kids – One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance 
  • 2015 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2005 Coretta Scott King, John Steptoe Award, New Talent – Jazzy Miz Mozetta
  • 2017 Bank Street’s Best Children Books of the Year – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • 2017 CCBC Choices – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • 2017 CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • Spring 2016 Junior Library Guild Selection – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • 2016-17 Nominated for North Carolina’s Children’s Book Award – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • 2016 Bold and Fearless’s 28 Books Every Black Girl Should Read This Black History Month – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • Amazon’s Best Books of the Month: Ages 6-8 for February – The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
  • NYC Reads 365 Recommended Reading List for Grade 4 – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 NAACP Image Award Nomination, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 CCBC Choice – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 CL/R SIG Notable Book for a Global Society – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 Bank Street College of Education, Best Books of the Year – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 Bank Street College of Education, Best Books of the Year – I Got the Rhythm
  • 2015 Anti-Defamation League’s February Book of the Month – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2015 Books All Georgians Should Read – I Got the Rhythm 
  • 2014 CSMCL Best Multicultural Books – Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
  • 2012-1013 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee – Play,Louis,Play
  • USA Today 4.5 star review of Stars in the Shadows
  • 2010 NAACP Image Award for Our Children can Soar