Carole Boston Weatherford
2019 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award Winner

The Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C., has selected Carole Boston Weatherford as its 2019 Nonfiction Award Winner. The award, given annually since 1977, honors authors or illustrators whose total work has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children.

Weatherford’s books introduce individuals and subjects through careful research, often using different poetic styles to engage young readers. While some of her books tell the stories of famous figures such as Lena Horne and Billie Holiday, she also brings lesser known people such as photographer Gordon Parks and race car driver Wendell Scott to a wider audience. Though she writes on many topics, Weatherford’s work often showcases the breadth and depth of African-American history, from the 1700’s to the present day.

Weatherford has won numerous honors for her individual books. Freedom in Congo Square won a Charlotte Zolotow Award for best picture book text. Weatherford also won a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement and the 2018 Walter Dean Myers Award for Schomberg: The Man Who Built a Library.

Nonfiction Award Committee member Cecilia Cackley was particularly impressed by the text in Weatherford’s picture books. “Whether she is writing in rhyming poetry, free verse or rhythmic prose, she has great respect for the child audience and doesn’t talk down to the reader, even when writing about difficult topics.”

Weatherford will be honored at a Children’s Book Guild Award Luncheon on May 11, 2019, in Washington, D.C.   Luncheon details will be available online at childrensbookguild.org.