Ezra Jack Keats Award and Honor Books

Created on March 21, 2023, 11:18 am

Last Updated February 24, 2025, 3:55 pm

The Ezra Jack Keats Award was created to nurture illustrators and writers, early in their careers, who create extraordinary books that reflect our diverse population, the universal experience of childhood and the strength of family and community. The award is given annually to an outstanding new writer and new illustrator by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation in partnership with the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). For more information and lists containing all the award and honor books see www.ejkf.org/ezra-jack-keats-award.

1) Alma and how she got her name

Author

Martinez-Neal, Juana

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

How did Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela end up with such a long name? As Daddy tells the story of her many names, Alma can almost feel herself grow into them.

2) Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre

Author

Martinez-Neal, Juana

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Alma quiere saber por qué su nombre es tan largo, así que Papi le cuenta a su pequeña la gran historia.

3) And then it's spring

Author

Fogliano, Julie

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Simple text reveals the anticipation of a boy who, having planted seeds while everything around is brown, fears that something has gone wrong until, at last, the world turns green.

4) The apple pie that Papa baked

Author

Thompson, Lauren

Description

A cumulative tale, in the style of "The house that Jack built," about the chain of events that culminate in Papa baking an apple pie.

Author

Description

Bo Lu's picture book Bao's Doll is a moving story of empathy, forgiveness, and connection about an immigrant mother and her daughter who discover they have more in common than they ever knew. Whenever Mama says, "when I was a little girl in Taiwan, we had nothing," Bao stops listening. Mama does not understand Bao, and Bao certainly does not understand Mama. So when Bao desperately wants a doll-specifically, the beautiful, blonde All-American...

6) The bear ate your sandwich

Author

Sarcone-Roach, Julia

Description

"When a sandwich goes missing, it seems that a bear is the unlikely culprit"-- Provided by publisher.

7) Bird

Author

Description

Bird, an artistic young African American boy, expresses himself through drawing as he struggles to understand his older brother's drug addiction and death, while a family friend, Uncle Son, provides guidance and understanding.

8) A boy and a jaguar

Author

Rabinowitz, Alan

Formats:

Book, eBook, eAudiobook

Description

As a child, Alan Rabinowitz stuttered uncontrollably--except when he spoke to animals, then he was fluent. Follow the world-renowned wild cat conservationist Dr. Rabinowitz's remarkable life as he finds a voice to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.

9) Brick by brick

Author

Sheffield, Heidi Woodward

Description

As a little boy watches his father, a bricklayer, work hard to build the city, both dream of building a house of their own.

Author

Description

As a pair of busy goats inadvertently cause trouble for six bunnies, their neighbor Bear comes to the rescue.

11) Calling the doves =: el canto de las palomas

Author

Herrera, Juan Felipe

Description

The author recalls his childhood in the mountains and valleys of California with his farmworker parents who inspired him with poetry and song.

12) Can bears ski?

Author

Antrobus, Raymond

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Is Little Bear ignoring his friends when they say hi, or is something else going on? A discovery opens new doors in a tale that will delight kids with deafness and all children learning to navigate their world."-- Publisher's marketing.

13) Cinnamon baby

Author

Winstanley, Nicola

Description

Miriam, a baker, and her husband have a baby who's a delight in all ways, until the infant begins to cry and will not stop.

Author

Description

As they take a nighttime walk around their neighborhood looking for the elusive moon, a little boy asks his mother simple questions about it, and she patiently answers every one.

15) comenoches

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

16) A crow of his own

Author

Lambert, Megan Dowd

Formats:

Description

Clyde the rooster is a little scrawny, so he is having a hard time trying to measure up to his predecessor on the farm--but with a little help from a friendly goose he may find a crow of his own.

17) Crown: an ode to the fresh cut

Author

Barnes, Derrick

Formats:

Book, eBook, eAudiobook

Description

Celebrates the feeling that comes from walking out of a barber shop with newly-cut hair.

18) Dancing hands: a story of friendship in Filipino sign language

Author

Formats:

Description

Sam is fascinated by her new neighbors and their ability to talk with their hands, and when she meets Mai, she starts to learn Filipino sign language so they can communicate. Includes dictionary of Philippine signs.

19) Daniel finds a poem

Author

Description

A little boy's animal friends help him discover the poetry to be found in nature.

Author

Description

Although Juno, a Korean American boy, cannot read the letter he receives from his grandmother in Seoul, he understands what it means from the photograph and dried flower that are enclosed and decides to send a similar letter back to her.