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Children's & Young Adult Literature Collections

Overview

The Brooks Library includes several award winning children's books in the collection. Use the tabs below to browse recent award winners according to category.

Notable Children's Book Awards

Browse through the tabs above to explore notable award winning books. 

The Amelia Bloomer Project  compiles an annual list of well written and illustrated books for young readers featuring significant feminist content. You can find a list of recent Top Ten Amelia Bloomer Book List winners below: 

Recent award winners in the Early - Readers Fiction category include: 

2020 A Boy Like You  by  Frank Murphy; Kayla Harren (Illustrator)
2020 At the Mountain's Base  by  Traci Sorell; Weshoyot Alvitre (Illustrator)
2020 The Proudest Blue : A Story of Hijab and Family  by  Ibtihaj Muhammad; Hatem Aly (Illustrator); S. K. Ali (As told to)
2019 Sugar and Snails  by  Sarah Tsiang; Sonja Wimmer (Illustrator)
2018 Hand over Hand  by  Alma Fullerton; Renne Benoit (Illustrator)
2016 Drum Dream Girl  by  Margarita Engle; Rafael López (Illustrator)


Recent award winners in the Early Readers - Non-Fiction category include: 

2020 Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou  by  Bethany Hegedus; Tonya Engel (Illustrator)
2020 What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan  by  Chris Barton; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
2018 Malala's Magic Pencil  by  Malala Yousafzai; Kerascoët (Illustrator)
2018 Shark Lady  by  Jess Keating; Marta Alvarez Miguens (Illustrator)
2017 Ada Lovelace: The Poet of Science  by  Diane Stanley; Jessie Hartland (Illustrator)
2017 I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark  by  Debbie Levy; Elizabeth Baddeley (Illustrator)

 

Recent award winners in the Middle Grade - Fiction category include: 

2019 Crush  by  Svetlana Chmakova
2019 Amal Unbound  by  Aisha Saeed
2018 Ahimsa  by  Supriya Kelkar

 

Recent award winners in the Middle Grade - Non-Fiction category include: 

2016 Voice of Freedom  by  Carole Boston Weatherford; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
2015 I Am Malala  by  Malala Yousafzai; Patricia McCormick (As told to)

Recent award winners in the Young Adult Fiction category include: 

2020 Surviving the City  by  Natasha Donovan (Illustrator); Tasha Spillett-Sumner
2020 Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All  by  Laura Ruby
2019 As the Crow Flies  by  Melanie Gillman
2019 Learning to Breathe  by  Janice Lynn Mather
2019 Naondel  by  Maria Turtschaninoff
2019 Blood Water Paint  by  Joy McCullough
2019 Damsel  by  Elana K. Arnold
2019 The Poet X  by  Elizabeth Acevedo
2018 Noteworthy  by  Riley Redgate
2018 Piecing Me Together  by  Renée Watson
2018 Saints, Misfits, Monsters, and Mayhem  by  S. K. Ali
2017 Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
2015 Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal  by  Marvel Comics (Text by); Adrian Alphona (Artist); G. Willow Wilson; Jacob Wyatt (Artist)

 

Recent award winners in the Young Adult - Non-Fiction category include: 

2018 Girl Rising  by  Tanya Lee Stone
2018 #Notyourprincess  by  Lisa Charleyboy (Editor); Mary Beth Leatherdale (Editor)
2017 Becoming Unbecoming  by  Una
2017 We Believe You  by  Annie E. Clark; Andrea L. Pino; Josh Hurley (Read by)
2016

African American Women  by  Natasha Trethewey (Contribution by); Lonnie G. Bunch (Foreword by); Kinshasha Holman Conwill (Contribution by); Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Staff; National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.) Staff (Photographer)

2016 Notorious RBG  by  Irin Carmon; Shana Knizhnik
2016 We Should All Be Feminists  by  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The American Indian Youth Literature Awards (AILA) are presented biennially to honor the best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. The awards are honored for several categories including author and illustrator awards for picture books, and awards for different age groups. 

Recent award winners in the picture book category include: 

Recent award winners in the Middle School book category include: 

Every year the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association honors the literary and artistic work of Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, with the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.

Recent Award winners of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature include:

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award is presented annually by the American Library Association to honor the "most outstanding" children's book that has been translated into English and published in the U.S. This award is given to the publisher of the book in order to encourage and recognize American publishers that translate exceptional foreign language children's books into English. 

Recent Award winners include: 

The Children's Literature Legacy Award (formally the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal) is presented annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) to honor authors and illustrators of children's books who have made meaningful and lasting contributions to children's literature. 

Books authored by recent award winners include: 

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually to honor African American authors and illustrators of children's books who demonstrate an appreciation for African American culture in their work. The award is named after Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors her for her courage and commitment to peace and racial justice.  

Recent award winners in the author category include: 

2021 Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
2020 New Kid  by  Jerry Craft
2019 A Few Red Drops  by  Claire Hartfield
2018 Piecing Me Together  by  Renée Watson
2017 March Book: Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
2016 Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia
2015 Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

 

Recent award winners in the illustrator category include: 

2021 R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford
2020 The Undefeated  by  Kwame Alexander; Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)
2019 The Stuff of Stars  by  Marion Dane Bauer; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
2018 Out of Wonder  by  Kwame Alexander; Chris Colderley; Marjory Wentworth; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
2017 Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe
2016 Trombone Shorty” by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and Bill Taylor, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)
2015 Firebird by Misty Copeland and Christopher Myers, illustrator 

 

Recent award winners in the new talent author category include: 

2021 Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
2020 Genesis Begins Again  by  Alicia D. Williams
2019 Monday's Not Coming  by  Tiffany D. Jackson
2018 The Stars Beneath Our Feet  by  David Barclay Moore
2017 The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
2016 Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes, illustrator
2016 Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith
2015 When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is presented annually by the American Library Association to honor the author and illustrator of the "most distinguished book for beginning readers" that is published in the United States. This award is named for Theodor Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, a prominent children's book author. 

Recent Award winners include: 

The Michael L. Printz Award is presented annually by the American Library Association to honor the best book written for young-adults, according to literary  merit. This award is named after Mike Printz, a school librarian and long time member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. 

Recent award winners include: 

The John Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the most distinguished American children's book of the previous year. The award is named after John Newbery, an 18th century English bookseller, and the purpose of the Medal, as stated by Frederic Melcher in 1921 is:

"To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."

Recent Newbery Medal Winners include: 

 

2021:     When You Trap a Tiger  by Tae Keller
      2020: New Kid  by  Jerry Craft
  2019: Merci Suárez Changes Gears  by  Meg Medina
  2018: Hello, Universe  by  Erin Entrada Kelly; Isabel Roxas (Illustrator)
  2017: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
  2016: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, Christian Robinson (Illustrator)
  2015: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

 

The Notable  Books for a Global Society (NBGS) is a list of 25 outstanding books for students in grades K-12, which help enhance students' understanding of people and culture across the world.  To be nominated the books must have been published within the United States during the prior year. 

Books Recognized in 2022 Include: 

Sakamoto’s Swim Club: How a Teacher Led an Unlikely Team to Victory by Julie Abery
Indivisible by Daniel Aleman
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Your Heart My Sky by Margarita Engle
Star Fish by Lisa Fipps
I am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story by Martha Brockenbrough with Grace Lin
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes
Born on the Water: The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art by Cynthia Levinson
Escucha Mi Voz/ Hear My Voice: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States by Compiled by Warren Binford
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch by Heidi Tyline King
Black Boy Joy by Kwame Mbalia 
Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson
Unbound: The Life + Art of Judith Scott by Joyce Scott
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd
World in Between by Kenan Trebincevic and Susan Shapiro
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford
Wishes by Mượn Thị Văn
Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young
In My Mosque by M. O. Yuksel

 

Books Recognized in 2021 Include: 

​Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello by Monica Brown Illus. Elisa Chavarri
Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood Illus. Theodore Taylor III
Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles Illus. Bryan Collier
We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros
The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne by Lesa Cline-Ransome Illus. John Parra
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard Illus. Oge Mora
The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (Eds.)
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
This is My America by Kim Johnson
The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph
The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story by Aya Khalil
The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull Illus. Alexandra Bye
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte Scholastic/Scholastic Press
We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom Illus. Michaela Goade
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl who Soared beyond Expectations by Aisholpan Nurgiav with Liz Welch Hachette
Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney Illus. Brian Pinkney
She was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown Illus. Eric Velasquez
Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar
The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham Illus. Yuko Shimizu
Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon by Simran Jeet Singh Illus. Baljinder Kaur
The Teachers March!: How Selma's Teachers Changed History by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Books Recognized in 2020 Include: 

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander 
Orange for the Sunsets by Tina Athaide
Feed Your Mind:  A Story of August Wilson by Jen Bryant 
Martin & Anne, The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank by Nancy Churnin 
New Kid by Jerry Craft 
Planting Stories:  The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré  by Anika Aldamuy Denise
Dreams from Many Rivers by Margarita Engle 
Todos Iquales / All Equal: Un corridor de Lemon Grove/ A Ballad of Lemon Grove by Christy Hale 
Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist  by Julie Leung
The Book Rescuer:  How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come by Sue Macy 
Fry Bread:  A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard
Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell
Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour 
Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai 
Thanku:  Poems of Gratitude by Miranda Paul
Mario and the Hole in the Sky:  How a Chemist Saved Our Planet by Elizabeth Rusch  
The Moon Within  by Aida Salazar 
At the Mountain’s Base  by Traci Sorell 
Room on Our Rock  by Kate and Jol Temple
Soldier for Equality:  JosÄ— de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War by By Duncan Tonatiuh  
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
The Other Side:  Stories of Central American Teen  by Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border
Other Words for Home  by Jasmine Warga 

The Pura Belpré Award is presented annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) to honor a Latinx children's book author and illustrator for notable work that portrays the Latino cultural experience. The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian in the New York Public Library, who is remembered for her work to enrich the lives of Latino children through her work disseminating Puerto Rican folklore. 

Recent Award winners in the author category include: 

Recent award winners in the illustrator category include: 

The Rainbow Book List compiles an annual list of LGBTQIA + books for young readers. You can find a list of recent Top Ten Rainbow Book List winners below: 

Recent award winners in the Young Adults category include: 

2021 The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith
2021 The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
2021 Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
2021 Camp by L. C. Rosen
2021 War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi
2021 Elatsoe by Darcie  Little Badger and Rovina Cai (Illustrator)
2021 I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee
2021 When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
2021 Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell
2021 Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
2021 All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M Johnson
2020 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Xu Wendy
2020 On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
2020 We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
2020 The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg
2020 The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
2020 Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
2019 DeadEndia: The Watcher’s Test by Hamish Steele
2019 Odd One Out by Nic Stone
2019 Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by L. C. Rosen
2019 Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
2019 Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
2019 Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
2018 The Backstagers Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV  and Rian Sygh
2018 Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens
2018 Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
2018 They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
2018 We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
2018 The ABCs of LGBT+ by Ash Hardell [a]
2018 The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
2017 Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill
2017 The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun
2017 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
2017 When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

The Schneider Family Book Award is presented annually by the American Library Association to honor authors and illustrators of youth literature  for excellent an portrayal of of the disability experience. The award is given out for children's books, middle school book, and young adult readers. This award is named after Dr. Kathrine Schneider, the first blind student to graduate from the Kalamazoo Public School system. 

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is presented annually by the Association for Library Service to Children to honor a writer and illustrator of the best informational book published in the United States in English. The award is named after Robert F. Sibert, the President of Bound to Stay Bond Books Inc. 

Recent medal winners include: 

2021 Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming (Author), Eric Rohmann (Illustrator)
2020 Fry Bread  by  Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator); Kevin Noble Maillard
2019 The Girl Who Drew Butterflies  by  Joyce Sidman (Contribution by)
2018 Twelve Days in May  by  Larry Dane Brimner
2017 March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (Illustrator)
2016 The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
2015 Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

The Stonewall Book Award is presented annually by the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association to honor "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in book published in the U.S. The award includes a category for distinguished children's and young adults (the Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children's & Young Adult Literature Award)

Recent award winners include: 

2021 We Are Little Feminists: Families by  Designor: Lindsey Blakely, written by Archaa Shrivastav 
2020 When Aidan Became a Brother  by  Kyle Lukoff; Kaylani Juanita (Illustrator)
2019 Julián Is a Mermaid  by  Jessica Love (Illustrator)
2018 Little and Lion  by  Brandy Colbert
2017 Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
2016 George by Alex Gino
2015 This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman

The We Reads book lists, created by We Here, aim to highlight BIPOC voices in literature. A list of recently recognized  young reader books is listed below. 

*** If you click on the link to a book and OneSearch returns the message No Records Found we do not currently own the book, but are in the process of acquiring it. *** 

Award Winner Search Database

Looking for something specific? The Database of Award Winning Children's Literature allows you to search for specific award winners by filtering through categories of interest such as the ethnicity or gender of the protagonist, publication year, genre, and age of the reader.