Carole Michele Weatherford ( Boston; born February 13, 1956) is an American author, critic, and poet. She has published over 50 children's books, primarily non-fiction and poetry. The music of poetry has fascinated Weatherford and motivated her literary career. She has won multiple awards for her books, including the 2022 Coretta Scott King Award for Author for her book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre and the Children's Literature Legacy Award in 2025. As a critic, she is best known for her controversial criticism of Pokémon character Jynx and Dragon Ball character Mr. Popo.
Early life and education
Carole Michele Boston was born February 13, 1956, in Baltimore to Joseph Alexander "Joe" Boston and Carolyn Virginia (Whitten) Boston. She began writing in first grade by dictating poems to her mother. Her father taught printing at a local high school and published his daughter's early works. As a child, she enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss and Langston Hughes.
Weatherford earned a Bachelor of Arts from American University in 1977, a Master of Arts publication design from the University of Baltimore in 1982, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Career
Boston Weatherford has held many positions before beginning her writing career, including as an English teacher (1978); a field representative for the American Red Cross (1978–79); creator, producer, and host of the Black Arts Review radio show (1979); Art Litho Co. account executive (1981); National Bar Association communications director (1981–85); B & C Associates, Inc. vice president and creative director (1985–88).
Weatherford published her first picture book, Juneteenth Jamboree, with Lee & Low Books in 1995; the book discusses a summer celebration in memory of the Texas Emancipation. The book won the 2001 Carter G. Woodson Book Award. The novel was also a finalist for the Caldecott Medal and the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award.
In 2025, Weatherford won the Children's Literature Legacy Award for her substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature.
As an author, Weatherford acknowledges her calling "to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles." The books she writes, in poetry and prose, explore African-American history from a children's perspective and relate the past to new generations. Her works are often inspired by true events, many of which took place in the areas where she has lived. In her Author's Notes for each book, she includes a portion of the historical research from which her fiction or poetry emerged. In describing her purpose for writing to School Library Journal, in a 2008 interview: "I want the books that I write that are set during the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights era to nudge today's kids toward justice. We've gone a long way, but we still have a long way to go."
Weatherford eventually became a writer-in-residence at Fayetteville State University. In 2007, she received the position of associate professor teaching composition and children's literature.
Critical articles
Weatherford has written multiple articles attacking what she identifies as stereotyped caricatures of black people in East Asian popular culture, with two of the more prominent ones being geared toward anime, and another aimed at the name of a toothpaste brand.
Pokémon
In January 2000, Weatherford wrote an op-ed piece that ran in newspapers across Alabama. "Politically Incorrect Pokémon" explained how she believed that Pokémon #124, Jynx, was a negative stereotype of African Americans:
In response to the controversy, Jynx's in-game sprites were given a purple skin color in the American versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver, released in late 2000. By 2002, Nintendo officially redesigned Jynx, changing its skin color from black to purple; this change was not reflected in the animated series until Jynx's purple skin appearance debuted in the episode "Mean With Envy!" (混戦、混乱！ポケモンコンテスト・キナギ大会！ （前編）), which originally aired in 2005, with the Amazon Prime release of "Holiday Hi-Jynx" recoloring Jynx accordingly, although it is still black on the thumbnail.
Dragon Ball
In an article published in The Christian Science Monitor in May 2000, Weatherford reiterated and expanded on her argument. Jynx had looked like "an obese drag queen" and she also offered Mr. Popo, a character from the Dragon Ball franchise, up for critique:
The Dragon Ball manga later released by Viz in 2003 had reduced the size of Mr. Popo's lips. Furthermore, media related to the series' sequel Dragon Ball Super showed an increase of black characters that strayed away from racist stereotypes, such as that of Goten and Trunks' classmates Rulah and Chok, and fewer references made to Mr. Popo (with the latest release Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero only indicating the character being off-screen).
Selected awards and honors
Sixteen of Weatherford's books are Junior Library Guild selections: Before John Was a Jazz Giant (2008), Freedom in Congo Square (2016), Voice of Freedom (2016), In Your Hands (2017), Schomburg (2017), How Sweet the Sound (2018), The Roots of Rap (2019), Beauty Mark (2020), Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom (2020), By and By (2020), Unspeakable (2021), Call Me Miss Hamilton (2022), How Do You Spell Unfair? (2023), Kin (2023), Bros (2024), and Outspoken (2024).
Awards
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" |
|-
| rowspan="2" |2001
| rowspan="2" |The Sound that Jazz Makes
|Carter G. Woodson Book Award (Elementary Level)
|
|
|-
|NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children
|
|
|-
|2002
|Remember the Bridge
|North Carolina AAUW Award for Juvenile Literature
|
|
|-
|2005
|Freedom on the Menu
|North Carolina AAUW Award for Juvenile Literature
|
|
|-
|NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2008
| rowspan="3" |Birmingham, 1963
|Jane Addams Children's Book Award for Book for Older Children
|
|
|-
|Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
|
|
|-
|Jefferson Cup Award
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2009
|Becoming Billie Holiday
|Coretta Scott King Award for Author
|
|
|-
|Before John Was a Jazz Giant
|Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |2016
|Gordon Parks
|NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |Voice of Freedom
|Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Non-fiction
|
|
|-
|Caldecott Medal
|
|
|-
|Sibert Medal
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2017
| rowspan="2" |Freedom in Congo Square
|Caldecott Medal
|
|
|-
|Charlotte Zolotow Award
|
|
|-
|Voice of Freedom
|Audie Award for Young Listeners' Title
|
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |2018
| rowspan="6" |Schomburg
|AAUW NC Award for Young People's Literature
|
|
|-
|Carter G. Woodson Book Award (Middle Level)
|
|
|-
|Jefferson Cup Award
|
|
|-
|Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Readers
|
|
|-
|YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |2021
|Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
|Newbery Medal
|
|
|-
| rowspan="8" |Unspeakable
|Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction
|
|
|-
|National Book Award for Young People's Literature
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |2022
|Caldecott Medal
|
|
|-
|Carter G. Woodson Book Award (Middle Level)
|
|
|-
|Sibert Medal
|
|
|-
|
|Lambda Literary Award for Children's Literature
|
|
|-
|Standing in the Need of Prayer
|Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Picture Book
|
|
|-
|Jane Addams Children's Book Award
|
|
|-
|Kin: Rooted in Hope
|Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry (Older Readers) from Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|
|
|}
Selected best "of" lists
{| class="wikitable"
|+"Best of" Lists for Weatherford's Books
!Title
!Year
!Organization
!List
!
|-
|All Rise
|2024
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
|Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
|2020
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|Dreams for a Daughter
|2022
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |'
|2022
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|2023
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
| rowspan="7" |Freedom in Congo Square
| rowspan="4" |2016
| rowspan="2" |Booklist
|Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth
|
|-
|Top 10 Multicultural Nonfiction for Youth
|
|-
|'
|Fanfare for Picture Book
|
|-
|The New York Times Book Review
|Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2017
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
|Capitol Choices
|Noteworthy Books for Children (7–10)
|
|-
|International Literacy Association (CL/R SIG)
|Notable Books for a Global Society
|
|-
|Freedom on the Menu
|2005
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books
|
|-
|Gordon Parks
|2016
|Capitol Choices
|Noteworthy Books for Children (Up to 7)
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |How Do You Spell Unfair?
| rowspan="2" |2023
|Booklist
|Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth
|
|-
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Pictures Books of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |2024
|Association for Library Service to Children
|Notable Children's Books
|
|-
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
|International Literacy Association (CL/R SIG)
|Notable Books for a Global Society
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |In Your Hands
| rowspan="2" |2017
|Booklist
|Top 10 Religion & Spirituality Books for Youth
|
|-
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|2018
|Booklist
|Top 10 Diverse Picture Books
|
|-
|Kin: Rooted in Hope
|2023
|Shelf Awareness
|Best Middle Grade Books of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |'
|2017
|Booklist
|Top 10 Biographies for Youth
|
|-
|2018
|Capitol Choices
|Noteworthy Books for Children (7–10)
|
|-
|Booklist
|Top 10 Arts Books for Yout
|
|-
|Madam Speaker
|2022
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |'
| rowspan="4" |2019
|Booklist
|Top 10 Arts Books for Youth
|
|-
|Chicago Public Library
|Best Informational Books for Younger Readers
|
|-
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|New York Public Library
|Best Books for Kids
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |Schomburg
| rowspan="2" |2017
|Shelf Awareness
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|Kirkus Reviews
|Best Picture Books of the Year
|
|-
|Top 10 Diverse Nonfiction for Older and Middle Readers
|
|-
|Capitol Choices
|Noteworthy Books for Children (7–10)
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |Standing in the Need of Prayer
| rowspan="2" |2022
|'
|Fanfare for Poetry
|
|-
|Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education
|Best Children's Books of the Year (5–9)
|
|-
|CPL
|Best Informational Books for Older Readers
|
|-
|'
|Fanfare for Nonfiction
|
|-
|'
|Best Illustrated Children's Books
|
|-
|New York Public Library
|Best Books for Kids
|
|-
|NPR
|Books We Love
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |2022
|Association for Library Service to Children
|Notable Children's Books
|
|-
|Booklist
|Top 10 History for Youth
|
|-
|Capitol Choices
|Noteworthy Books for Children (7–10)
|
|-
|'
|Fanfare for Nonfiction
|
|-
|Association for Library Service to Children
|Notable Children's Books
|
|-
|Booklist
|Top 10 Biographies for Youth
|
|-
|You Can Fly
|2017
|Association for Library Service to Children
|Notable Children's Books
|
|}
Personal life
On February 2, 1985, Boston married writer Ronald Jeffrey Weatherford. She has two children.
- Princeville: The 500-Year Flood, 2001, Coastal Carolina Press,
- Jazz Baby, with Laura Freeman (illustrator), 2002, Lee & Low Books,
- Stormy Blues, 2002, Xavier Review Press,
- Great African-American Lawyers: Raising the Bar of Freedom, 2003, Enslow Publishers,
- A Negro League Scrapbook, 2005, Boyds Mills Press,
- The Carolina Parakeet: America's Lost Parrot in Art and Memory, 2005, Avian Publications,
- Celebremos Juneteenth, with Yvonne Buchanan (illustrator), 2007, Lee & Low Books,
2010s
2020s
- '
- '
Notes
References
External links
- All articles about racist Pokémon by Carole Boston Weatherford — See "Articles/ Information" section
- 2007 Audio Interview of Carole Boston Weatherford
- Weatherford reads from Dear Mr. Rosenwald and answers questions from her 3rd grade readers
- Weatherford performs her works at Vanderbilt University