Check out the archives and read about those children literature’s jewels and hidden gems chosen in 2009.
Vanguard authors are in bold
Illustrators are in italics

YOUNG ADULT FEATURES
Sharon Draper – November Blues (Atheneum, 2007)
Tia Williams – Sixteen Candles (Hyperion, 2008)
Julius Lester – Guardian (Amistad, 2008)
Tanita S. Davis – A La Carte (Knopf, 2008)
Deborah Gregory – Catwalk (Delacorte, 2008)
Jacqueline Woodson – Peace, Locomotion (Putnam, 2009)
Feb 25: Sherri Winston – The Kayla Chronicles (Little, Brown, 2008)
Monica McKayhan – Jaded (Kimani, 2008); The Pact (Kimani, 2008)

PICTURE BOOK FEATURES
Crystal Hubbard - The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby: The Story of Jimmy Winkfield (Lee & Low Books, 2008)
Nicole Tadgell (Ill.) – No Mush Today (Lee & Low Books, 2008)
Zetta Elliott – Bird (Lee & Low Books, 2008)
Angela Johnson – Lily Brown’s Paintings (Orchard Books, 2007)
Pat Cummings – Harvey Moon, Museum Boy (HarperCollins, 2008)
Floyd Cooper (Ill.) – Becoming Billie Holiday ( Wordsong, 2008 ); Willie and the All-Stars (Philomel, 2008)
Virginia Hamilton
Joyce Hansen – African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa’s Royal Women (Hyperion, 2004)
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson – Juneteenth (Millbrook Press, 2005)
London Ladd (Ill.) – March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World (Scholastic, 2008)
Lesa Cline-Ransome – Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart (HarperCollins, 2008)
Cornelius Van Wright (Ill.) – Princess Grace (Dial, 2008)

MIDDLE GRADE FEATURES
Philana Marie Boles – Little Divas (Amistad, 2006)
Derrick Barnes - Ruby and the Booker Boys #4: Ruby Flips for Attention (Scholastic, 2009)
Brenda Woods – My Name is Sally Little Song (Putnam, 2006)
Marilyn Nelson – Freedom Business: Including a Narrative of the Life & Adventures of Venture (Front Street, 2008)
Andrea Davis Pinkney- Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation (Amistad, 2008)
Evelyn Coleman – Freedom Train (Margaret K. McElderry, 2008)
Shelia P. Moses – Joseph (Margaret K. McElderry, 2008)
Monalisa DeGross – Donovan’s Double Trouble (Amistad, 2007)