Hi Kyra: Thanks for sharing this great batch of books. I also suggest I Have a Dream, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. I look forward to reading more of the books shown in your post.

Laurie -<br /><br />Thank you! Yes, that is a wonderfully illustrated book. Can&#39;t believe I left it off.<br /><br />Best, Kyra

I posted a comment but it did not show??<br /><br />Books for Kids - Manuscript Critiques<br />http://www.margotfinke.com11219

Aha, the box did not open wide enough to see the sign in notice.<br /><br />This looks like a terrific series in the making! Books that show children different cultures are a great addition to their education. Kids all around the world need to grow up knowing about other cultures. This leads to far more tolerance, and knowledge about the wisdom and art each country brings to world culture.<br />

Nice one,Kyra!!

This is such a wonderful idea and project.<br /><br />Kadeja

Kyra,<br />Thank you so much for your support!

Excellent work! I love that study of data. <br /><br />I&#39;d like to see the pool of Native authors grow. There&#39;s been a couple of new names in recent years. <br /><br />Joseph Bruchac has done outstanding work for years. <br /><br />Cynthia Leitich Smith&#39;s books are terrific.<br /><br />Of late, Tim Tingle&#39;s books are gaining traction. <br /><br />(Oh, came here from a tweet by Don

Kyra, I love that you track this. <br /><br />Debbie, I love Tim Tingle.

I think you are right about all of them he he he! This is wonderful. I loved,&quot;The Place Where Hurricanes Happen&quot; The illustrations done by Sharda Strickland are fabulous. I think Sharda is in for another award for best illustrator. She is so talented. i now have a list of great books to add to the library as well. Happy New Year to you.

This is a great list of children&#39;s books. I love to read children&#39;s lit and share with others. They all seem like great titles.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it.

What a terrific list. I especially hope you&#39;re right about 8th Grade Superzero. Books don&#39;t get much better than that one!

Loved Ninth Ward! I have to read some more on your list!

I too hope 8th Grade Superzero is the start of a series (more Ruthie! And Reggie :) oh and Joe C, haha) and I really really really want Olgubemisola to win the new author award. <br /><br />I&#39;m predicting One Crazy Summer to win as well but I would be thrilled if Ninth Ward won. I like them both (but I lean more towards Ninth Ward). Yummy deserves to be at least honored as well. This was a

Love the speculative posts you create Kyra.<br />I have read (&amp; own at least one) other p.b. on Wangaari Mathai, plus the bio of her for adults so I&#39;m a shoo-in for her story.<br /> <br />What about ZORA AND ME, which invents a likely childhood companion in Eatonville for a young Zora Neale Hurston. <br /><br />And, here is my favorite line in the brilliant recipe theme, from SIT-IN&#39;s

They&#39;re both lovely. The purple seems more true/specific to the character, and the green has a strong sense of movement and adventure. For me, those would be the competing considerations.

The green. There&#39;s a lot more going on and it opens the imagination to what might be inside. :)

I like the green cover because it gives Martha some context to the story. I like the purple, too. But the green offers more story.<br /><br />Don, Devas T.

I like the sense of the coming adventure in the first. You can get a sense of the journey she is about to undertake.

I love the second one.<br /><br />Maybe because it&#39;s already part of our home.<br /><br />Maybe because it&#39;s more gentle and creative and feminine and personal and unique.<br /><br />But both are fabulous!

Kyra. What an interactive post. Tough but beautiful choices. The ship suggests the theme of journey. <br />The seated sewer allows us to see the quilt pattern .<br />And also to see Martha Ann in close up - her beautiful spirit shines through. Many thanks for sharing!

OOOh This is next to impossible!!! I can&#39;t make a decision on this one. I love both covers!!! It&#39;s like asking me to choose which of my children I love more he hehe he he! I can&#39;t wait till the book is out. It&#39;s a very important book. Best to you and Congrats as well.

OOOh This is next to impossible!!! I can&#39;t make a decision on this one. I love both covers!!! It&#39;s like asking me to choose which of my children I love more he hehe he he! I can&#39;t wait till the book is out. It&#39;s a very important book. Best to you and Congrats as well.

The purple one is too subdued and quiet. The green one looks more inviting as it speaks like &quot;come on the adventure with me&quot; - E :) <br /><br />Elysabeth Eldering<br />Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series<br /><br />Where will the adventure take you next?<br /><br />http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com<br />http://

I like the green one because it is more detailed, people will wonder what is inside the book.<br /><br />Nicole Weaver<br />http://www.melangeofcultures.wordpress.com<br />http:outskirtspress.com/nicoleweaver

I like both but I&#39;d have to agree with the others about the green cover though.<br /><br />And I got a second opinion from my 3 yr old, who, when asked which picture she liked, pointed to green one and said &quot;that&#39;s so cool.&quot;<br /><br />She likes anything to do with water and I think the ship caught her attention.<br /><br />Hope that helps.

Hi Kyra,<br /><br />I think both covers are great. But as someone who works with youth, I think the blue cover would be more non-gender specific. They&#39;re both beautiful. I think the lavendar/pink cover is so sweet, nice and soothing to the eye. But perhaps the blue would stand out more on the internet, as well as be more welcoming for boys who may want to read the title. Just my opinions

I like the green one, too, for the same reasons others have mentioned -- sense of adventure, historical context. Second one is lovely, but doesn&#39;t suggest a journey of any kind.

Hi Kyra,<br /><br />I love the second one but decided to ask my 13 yr old daughter. She says if she saw the book in the library, she would chose the first one because...&quot;the girl is leaving behind her family and it makes me curious to find out what adventure she is going on alone and the second one is sort of boring.&quot;(her words)

She is planning to go see the queen and the purple cover gives you no indication of this adventure. I think kids would respond more to the green cover and wonder what she is going to do. It gives you a better overall indication of what is going to happen. Just the quilting alone, only says &quot;She is sewing.&quot; My vote is for the green.

Congratulations, Kyra! I love the first one with the boat. It looks like she is starting a journey.

The second cover (lilac) strikes me the most. The color is very soothing and calming and &quot;patient&quot;, which Martha Ann would have to be to spend 50 years trying to meet the Queen of England. (Even though my favorite colors are blues and greens.) I also think the second graphic better reflects the story as well.

It is a welcome development. We expect more of such to stroll into our world. Better on a cold night when our neighbors will be snoring hard under the spell of sleep!

Wow! These are fascinating statistics ... sobering in fact. It is both surprising and disappointing to see that the award is not as inclusive as it might be.

Very informative and insightful. Thank you.

Fascinating analysis... I can see you&#39;re right on top of the situation. I hope someday your books will win.

Thanks for sharing this informative email with me. I especially enjoyed the links in this email. Good luck with your books.<br />CLewis

You are truly a researcher par excellence, Kyra. It is apparent that members of the CSK committee are not aware of the varied sources of new African-American illustrators and authors.<br /><br />Your stats are certainly enlighten-ing, and something the CSK committee should investigate. Hopefully they will this blog and be encourage to &quot;reach beyond&quot;.

I am thrilled that our kidlitosphere friend, Tanita Davis, won an CSK honor for Mare&#39;s War!

Important information, Kyra. Thanks so much for compiling the stats and sharing them. I support and appreciate the CSK Awards. But I love when I see a new name on the list.

I was just going to chime in with the word &#39;fascinating,&#39; but I see I&#39;ve been beaten to the punch. Still, I *did* find the nubmers fascinating and thought-provoking.<br /><br />In terms of whether the committee is looking at too small a pool of potential winners, it might be interesting to go back to the starred books in years where there were repeat winners and see if standouts got