…at last!
It’s MLK Day here in the US, and I suspect others across the globe are also celebrating his achievements and legacy. I had to go out this morning and as I crossed the street, a brother in a huge black SUV nearly ran me over—the usual “force a woman to look at you by nearly hitting her with your vehicle.” I dodged the truck, looked him, and started cursing when he waved as if to say, “Go ahead, sweetheart.” Then I remembered it was MLK Day, and I tried to let it go (which clearly didn’t work since I’m writing about it here). There’s a fair bit of rancor
online as well b/c of the Magic Under Glass cover controversy and the response of *some* white bloggers who feel we’re making a big deal out of a small matter. I don’t have time to respond to all the ignorant remarks—we’ve gotten a LOT of support from other conscious bloggers, and there are follow-up posts at Reading in Color and Black-Eyed Susan’s. Besides, today the ALA announced the winners of the Youth Media Awards! The ALA site seems to be
down right now, but the winners include Jerry Pinkney for The Lion and the Mouse—bear in mind that the prestigious Caldecott Medal has only gone to two black artists in over 70 years, so this is a really big deal. As Nikki Grimes pointed out in a Horn Book op-ed, “The Caldecott has been around since 1938, which makes it seventy-one years old. In all that time, no individual African American artist has been honored with the medal. Note, I specified individual. Interracial couple Leo and Diane Dillon (he’s black, she’s white) twice won the Caldecott as a pair of artists working as one. When it comes to single, individual African American artists, however, the win column is still blank.” The Coretta Scott King awards went to Bad News for Outlaws, written by Vaunda Micheaux 
Nelson and illustrated by Greg Christie (see Doret’s review here); the honor award went to Tanita S. Davis for Mare’s War, which is a story that still 
lingers in my mind. Fellow WAGW panelist Kekla Magoon won the John Steptoe New Talent Award for The Rock and the River (read Ari’s review here); Charles R. Smith, Jr. won the Illustrator award for My People, and EB Lewis won the Honor award for The Negro Speaks of Rivers. Congratulations to everyone!
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