Washington, DC - Sharon Robinson is the daughter of baseball great Jackie Robinson. She is also the author of Child of the Dream: A Memoir of 1963 (Scholastic), which reveals her tempestuous 13th year, living the fluctuating fortunes of the Civil Rights movement.

Now, she will receive the Grateful American Book Prize for the work.

“Her father’s fame provided Ms. Robinson with a privileged and sometimes prejudiced life in Connecticut, but his commitment to the Civil Rights movement provided her with an understanding of the importance of embracing the cause of justice.  Ms. Robinson’s chronicle is not just captivating; it also transfers a historical perspective for adolescents and adults,” says David Bruce Smith, co-founder of the Prize.

Allies (Scholastic), an arresting book of fact and fiction about D-Day from Alan Gratz, and Larry Dane Brimner’s equally spellbinding Accused!: The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice and the Fourteenth Amendment (Calkins Creek), have been selected to receive Honorable Mention awards.

The Grateful American Book Prize was established to honor authors and their works; to encourage them and their publishers to produce more accurate books about the personalities and events of America’s past.

 “Our aim is to provide children with a new, more exciting view of history at a time when much of nation’s youth is bored with it,” according to Smith, who co-founded the award with the late Dr. Bruce Cole.  Smith is an education advocate, an author, and publisher.  Dr. Cole was the longest-serving chairman of National Endowment for the Humanities.  His tenure was from 2001 to 2009.

The Prize consists of a $13,000 cash award in commemoration of the 13 original Colonies, a lifetime membership at the New York Historical Society and a medallion created by Smith’s mother, the renowned artist, Clarice Smith.  Honorable Mention recipients receive a cash award of $500 each, and the medallion.