National Book Award: Young People's Literature

Phillip Hoose has won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

The National Book Award is given "to authors by authors." Unlike the Caldecott and Newbery, which are awarded by librarians -- or the Texas Bluebonnet Award, which is awarded by young readers -- the National Book Award judges are writers themselves.

Claudette Colvin is an unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's. Although she was only a teenager at the time, her acts of courage in the face of racism and segregation affected the course of American History.