SHARON M. DRAPER
Sharon M. Draper is a professional educator as well as an accomplished writer. She has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year, is a three-time winner of the Coretta Scot King Literary Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author. She was selected as Ohio’s Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, Ohio Teacher of the Year, and was chosen as a NCNW Excellence in Teaching Award winner. She received the Excellence in Education Award, is a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award winner, and was the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence for the Taft Museum. She is a YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, and is the recipient of the Dean’s Award from Howard University School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence Award, and the Governor’s Educational Leadership Award. Last year she was named Ohio Pioneer in Education by the Ohio State Department of Education.
After becoming one of the first teachers in the nation to achieve National Board Certification in English/Language Arts, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She is currently on the Board of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. Her award-winning essay on education, "The Touch of a Teacher," was published by the National Governor’s Association in What Governors Need to know about Education.
Actively involved in encouraging and motivating all teachers and their students as well, she has worked all over the United States, as well as in Russia, Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Bermuda, and Guam, spreading the word about the power of accomplished teaching and excellence in education.
Her literary recognition began when, as a challenge from one of her students, she entered and won first prize in a literary contest, for which she was awarded $5000 and the publication of her short story, "One Small Torch." She has published numerous poems, articles, and short stories in a variety of literary journals. She is the published author of
Tears of a Tiger (Simon and Schuster, 1994)
Forged by Fire (Simon and Schuster, 1997)
Darkness Before Dawn (Simon and Schuster, 2001)
Romiette and Julio (Simon and Schuster, 1999)
Double Dutch (Simon and Schuster, 2002)
The Battle of Jericho (Simon and Schuster, 2003)
Copper Sun (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
We Beat the Street (Dutton, 2005)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: The Buried Bones Mystery (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: Lost in the Tunnel of Time (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: Shadows of Caesar's Creek (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: The Space Mission Adventure (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: The Backyard Zoo Adventure (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: TheTalent Show Adventure (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Teaching from the Heart (Heinemann, 1999)
Not Quite Burned Out, But Crispy around the Edges (Heinemann, 2001) and many others….
Tears of a Tiger has received numerous awards, including the American Library Association/Coretta Scott King Genesis Award for an outstanding new book, and was also honored as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It has been recognized as one of the best of the year by the Children’s Book Council, the New York City Library, Bank Street College, and the National Council for Social Studies. It was also named as Best of the Best by VOYA and the American Library Association as one of the top 100 books for young adults. Forged by Fire , the sequel to Tears of a Tiger, is the 1997 Coretta Scott King Award winner, as well as the winner of the ALA BEST Book Award and the Parent's Choice Award. Darkness Before Dawn, the third book in the trilogy, is an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick, and has received the Children's Choice Award from the International Reading Association. Romiette and Julio is also listed as an ALA Best Book and has been selected by the International Reading Association as a 2000 Notable Book for a Global Society, and by the New York Public Library in their 2000 Books for the Teen Age. Darkness Before Dawn was named an IRA Young Adult Choice for 2003, and received the Buckeye Book Award for 2005. Double Dutch was honored as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the Children's Book Council as well as one of the top ten sports books for young adults for 2003 by the ALA, and Best of the Best for 2004, and received the Sunshine State Young Reader's Award for 2006. The Battle of Jericho is the 2004 Coretta Scott King Honor Book, one of the New York Public Library's Book for the Teen Age, and is one of the 2005 Young Adult Choice Books named by the International Reading Association. We Beat the Street is listed on the New York Times Bestseller List and is on VOYA's Non-Fiction Honor List for 2006. COPPER SUN was named as one of the Top Ten Historical Fiction Books for Youth by Booklist.
Sharon Draper spent more than thirty years teaching junior high and high school students how to appreciate the beauty of literature and how to communicate their ideas effectively. Each year her students received their own rewards in donning the class-designed "I Survived the Draper Paper" tee shirt commemorating the legendary research project that all her seniors had to complete to graduate.
She is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association, Top Ladies of Distinction, and Links, Incorporated. Ms. Draper travels extensively and has been a guest on television and radio programs throughout the country, discussing issues of literature, reading, and education. She is an accomplished public speaker who addresses educational and literary groups of all ages, both nationally and internationally, with entertaining readings of her poetry and novels, as well as enlightening instructional presentations. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and a golden retriever named Honey.