Review of The Wedding Portrait, by Innosanto Nagara

Children's Nonfiction Review, Current Issues, History 0

The Wedding Portrait

The Story of a Photograph and Why Sometimes We Break the Rules

by Innosanto Nagara

Triangle Square, 2017. 36 pages.
Review written August 5, 2020, from a library book

The Wedding Portrait is a picture book about activism for kids. It’s all framed by the author’s wedding portrait, which was clipped from a newspaper and features armed guards beyond the happy couple.

The author explains things in a way a child can understand:

We usually follow the rules. But sometimes, when you see something wrong – more wrong than breaking the rules, and by breaking the rules you could stop it – you may decide that you should break the rules.

Then he talks about various people in history who have broken rules to stand up for what’s right. He covers Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks fighting segregation; Indian people making salt in defiance of the British empire; the U’wa people in Colombia standing up against oil drilling on their land; a boycott by farm workers of tomatoes; and other forms of Civil Disobedience.

Eventually, he comes to himself and his wife, who met at a protest and decided to get married at a protest against nuclear weapons.

The author defines terms along the way and provides a wide variety of examples. It’s all framed with that wedding portrait, and there’s an epilogue following up by talking about different ways of taking action.

In current times, children may have a lot of questions about protests, and this book beautifully explains why people sometimes think it’s right to break the rules.

I do like the inclusion of this paragraph in the middle of the book:

Now. I’ll bet all this is giving you some ideas, isn’t it? Do you think some of the things that you do when you’re not following the rules should be considered civil disobedience? Do you think hiding under the bed to avoid taking a bath is a kind of sit-in? Is refusing to eat your dinner a kind of boycott?

Maybe. (Maybe not.)

As you can see, this book gives you lots to talk about.

AisforActivist.com
sevenstories.com

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Review of A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger

Award Winners, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Snake Falls to Earth

by Darcie Little Badger

Levine Querido, 2021. 372 pages.
Review written February 14, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
2021 National Book Award Longlist
2022 Newbery Honor Book

Because Darcie Little Badger’s debut novel, Elatsoe, was one of my favorite books I read in 2021, I had this book all checked out ready to read as soon as I finished reading for the Cybils Awards. So I felt like I’d won the jackpot when it won Newbery Honor, and I already had it checked out.

Like Elatsoe, this book features an older teen protagonist and is on the Young Adult shelves at my library, but has no sex or graphic violence and will appeal to middle school readers as well as older teens. Also like Elatsoe, A Snake Falls to Earth is steeped in Native American tales from the author’s Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas.

This book follows two stories. One is the story of Nina, a sixteen-year-old Lipan girl who lives in Texas and is worrying about a hurricane headed for her Grandma’s house. That house is on land that has long been in their family, and Grandma gets sick if she leaves it. The story her dying great-grandmother told Nina might shed some light on the reasons why, if Nina can manage to translate it.

The other story is about one of the animal people in the Reflecting World. In his true form, Oli is a cottonmouth snake. In his false form, he’s a boy with scales in place of eyebrows. When we first meet Oli, his mother has sent him away from home, and Oli has adventures looking for a place of his own. He makes friends along the way, and when one of those friends gets in trouble, Oli is willing even to make the dangerous journey to Earth to help.

And of course those stories come together in unexpected and delightful ways when Oli makes it to Earth.

Something I loved about Elatsoe was that kids didn’t hide magical events from the adults in their lives, and that’s true in this book, too. There’s a strong sense of community, including parents and elders. Altogether, this is a magical adventure that feels like a yarn you could hear at a storyteller’s feet.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Phantom Twin, by Lisa Brown

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Historical 0

The Phantom Twin

by Lisa Brown

First Second, 2020. 206 pages.
Review written August 5, 2020, from a library book

You’ve probably heard of amputees experiencing a phantom limb where their limb was removed. This graphic novel tells the story of a conjoined twin, who after separation experiences a phantom twin.

Isabel and Jane were conjoined twins and had been sold by their parents to a carnival freak show when they were small. They had three arms and legs between them, with the shared limbs mostly controlled by Jane, who also had the most forceful personality.

Jane decided to trust the promises of a doctor who said he could separate them and give them separate lives, but after the operation, Isabel is alive with only one arm and one leg, and Jane has died.

This graphic novel is about Isabel finding her place on her own. Except she’s never fully alone because her twin, now a phantom, stays with her. She tries to stay with the carnival freak show, which has its own problems. And there are many questions about who she can trust.

I will say that the author achieves a happy and satisfying ending, with a message of being yourself and finding people who care.

firstsecondbooks.com

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Review of Mel Fell, by Corey R. Tabor

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Picture Book Review 0

Mel Fell

by Corey R. Tabor

Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2021. 40 pages.
Review written July 10, 2021, from a library book
2022 Caldecott Honor Book

Mel Fell is a simple picture book with pizzazz. I love the way it plays with the format of the picture book to catch interest.

The book begins in an unusual position. You open the book with the spine up. Then we get a tale of a baby kingfisher named Mel who decides it’s time to fly. But when she stepped off the branch, instead of flying, Mel fell.

We’re zoomed in on Mel and see various creatures try to catch her – squirrels, bees, a spider – all to no avail. Then there’s a big “Oh no!” and Mel’s eyes that were serenely closed pop open.

But on the next page, there’s a big splash. Then we see underwater, where Mel catches a fish in her beak, and we’re cleverly asked to turn the book.

The rest of the book has Mel flying triumphantly out of the water (now with the spine of the book below the pages we’re turning) and up and up, past the creatures we saw on the way down, back to her nest.

It’s all fun and simple, with only a little text on each page, but a dramatic and easy-to-follow story.

An author’s note at the back explains that kingfishers dive into the water from trees. “A young kingfisher probably doesn’t catch a fish the first time they leave the nest. But then, Mel is a very special bird.”

coreyrtabor.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Line Tender, by Kate Allen

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

The Line Tender

by Kate Allen

Dutton Children’s Books, 2019. 373 pages.
Review written August 28, 2019, from a library book

Fair warning: The Line Tender is very sad.

I’d heard that about it, and I thought it was because Lucy’s mother died five years before the book starts. Lucy’s mother was a biologist who loved to swim with sharks, and swimming with sharks wasn’t what killed her. Lucy’s reminded of her mother when one of their friends, a fisherman, has a great white shark swim into his net and brings it to the shore.

Lucy and her friend Fred get a good look at the shark. They’re going to put it into the Field Guide they are doing this summer for extra credit. Fred wants to be a biologist. He writes the words for the Field Guide. Lucy is an artist, she draws the pictures. She needs to get understand that shark in order to draw it well.

Lucy’s father is a diver for the police department and often works to rescue people. When a team is diving to search and rescue someone, the line tender holds the line above the surface and directs the search.

The great white shark disappears in the night, during a storm. So Fred and Lucy use her mother’s books to get more information about sharks.

All this happens, and then something terribly sad happens, too.

And it’s all handled well and written well. And the sadness is acknowledged, and people struggle with coping and healing. And there are setbacks and there is progress. It is realistic but hopeful, showing how people can continue on with resilience.

It’s all a beautiful book – and might be especially enjoyable for someone interested in marine biology and sharks – but I’m not sure if I’d ever want to recommend it to a child. I admit that I closed the book with a smile. But I would warn any reader – don’t read this book unless you’re prepared to be sad.

penguin.com/middle-grade

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Review of Classified, by Traci Sorell, illustrations by Natasha Donovan

Award Winners, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Classified

The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer

by Traci Sorell
illustrations by Natasha Donovan

Millbrook Press, 2021. 32 pages.
Review written January 5, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
2022 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Grades 3-5
2022 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Picture Books

I’m so happy about a recent burst of picture book biographies of distinguished women mathematicians and engineers! They would have inspired me as a child, and they inspire me as an adult.

This book tells the story of Mary Golda Ross, a member of the Cherokee nation, who excelled in math, even though she was surrounded by boys in her classes. The book portrays her as always learning. She became a teacher after graduating from college, but during World War II got a job working on fighter jets for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. That job led her to take engineering classes at a local university to become Lockheed’s first female engineer. After the war, she worked in a classified group developing space travel and satellites.

I like the way Cherokee values are introduced at the beginning and throughout the text we’re told how she demonstrated them: “gaining skills in all areas of life, working cooperatively with others, remaining humble when others recognize your talents, and helping ensure equal education and opportunity for all.”

A whole spread at the end is devoted to Mary’s work helping others not have to face the barriers she did:

Although her work was classified, Mary still had much to share. She never stopped recruiting American Indians and young women to study math and science and helping support them to become engineers.

Mary’s work and her legacy of service have helped many others become trailblazers, too.

I learned in the timeline at the back that she helped found the Los Angeles section of the Society of Women Engineers and later a scholarship was established in her name.

A lovely book about a remarkable woman I’m glad to now know about.

tracisorell.com
natashadonovan.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Buzzing with Questions, by Janice N. Harrington, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review 0

Buzzing with Questions

The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner

by Janice N. Harrington
illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

Calkins Creek (Highlights), 2019. 48 pages.
Review written August 27, 2020, from a library book

Buzzing with Questions is a picture book biography about African American scientist Charles Henry Turner, who was born in 1867 in Ohio, when it was unusual for an African American to be a scientist. I like the way the author portrays him from boyhood as a kid with lots of questions.

Charles Henry Turner asked so many questions that his teacher urged him to “go and find out.”

And Charles did.

What I really thought was wonderful about this biography was that it described the creative experiments Charles did with insects. He put spiders in different environments to see if their web construction changed. For multiple times, he knocked down a spider’s web made in one place, and eventually the spider gave up and moved, thus showing that it could learn and adapt.

He performed many experiments to find how ants find their way back to their nests. He showed that bees have a sense of time by putting out jam for them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner – but then changing it to only breakfast. Then he did more experiments to determine that bees can see color. He taught cockroaches to find their way through a maze, and later watched caterpillars find their way in a vertical maze.

I like the way this book talks about a scientist who worked hard to answer questions by doing experiments – and tells kids enough about the experiments to capture their imagination. Science is about finding out – and Charles Henry Turner’s life illustrates doing exactly that.

janiceharrington.com
theodore3.com
calkinscreekbooks.com

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Review of Vespertine, by Margaret Rogerson

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Vespertine

by Margaret Rogerson

Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster), 2021. 387 pages.
Review written January 24, 2022, from a library book.
2022 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Winner
Starred Review

Vespertine is set in a version of medieval Europe troubled by spirits of the dead. Artemisia, a girl with the Sight, lives at a convent in Loraille, training to be a Gray Sister who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their spirits won’t possess the living. Before Artemisia came to the convent, she was possessed by an Ashgrim, a spirit that had died in fire. The nuns are helping her trauma heal, and she only wants to live a quiet life in the convent.

Then the convent is attacked by an army of possessed soldiers. They need to use the relic of Saint Eugenia, which holds a powerful revenant. But when the wielder of the relic dies in the fight, someone must take control of the relic and save the convent. Artemisia is the person it falls to.

And so begins Artemisia’s story. When she wakes from the battle, she’s bound and being taken to the capital city to have the revenant exorcised and sent back to the finger bone of Saint Eugenia. But the revenant doesn’t want to go back. And Artemisia doesn’t want to be exorcised. They come to an agreement. But they also discover that Old Magic is being used in the capital city and many people may be killed and devoured. Can Artemisia save the country?

Artemisia is a wonderful and flawed heroine. She got intense social anxiety and can’t handle being around people, but she’s hailed as a saint. The world-building in this book is fascinating and we gradually learn the different orders of spirits and the rules for dealing with them. And the conversations between Artemisia and the revenant inhabiting her mind are wonderful, full of spice as they each try not to be controlled.

My plan as soon as my Cybils reading is done is to read Margaret Rogerson’s other books. It had wonderfully crafted fantasy with all the details holding together and making sense. (I always appreciate that!) And the characters made me want to spend more time in this world. (Well, not actually – I wouldn’t want to live in a world with all those spirits of the dead. But I enjoyed reading about it.)

MargaretRogerson.com
Simonandschuster.com/teen

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature, by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Wait, Rest, Pause

Dormancy in Nature

by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Millbrook Press, 2019. 32 pages.
Starred Review
Review written October 22, 2019, from a library book

Here’s a children’s picture book about science simple enough to use in Preschool Storytime – yet it taught me some things.

The book looks at six creatures that go dormant for some amount of time. Each one gets two spreads, the first about what happens when they are dormant, and the second about what happens when they are active again. The language is simple and repetitive between creatures, and the spreads are filled with big, beautiful pictures.

Here’s an example:

If you were a dormant ladybug, you would…
fatten up,
pile up,
stiffen up.

You would swarm into a ladybug pile, sharing warmth together.

You would pause.

In spring you…
wiggle awake,
feast,
flit away.

The dormant creatures featured include trees, ladybugs, Arctic ground squirrels, chickadees (dormant for a few hours on cold winter nights), alligators, and earthworms (dormant when it’s too dry).

Here’s how the book finishes off:

If you were dormant, you would be…
silent,
still,
waiting,
just waiting,
until…

maybe the spring,
maybe the warmth,
maybe the rain
helps you…
stir,
burst,
appear!

This is a simple and clear science presentation for very young learners. There are more details at the back, including different types of dormancy.

marcieatkins.com
lernerbooks.com

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Winners Galore!

Award Winners 0

It’s Book Award Season! I’m doing a program to highlight some of my favorite books from 2021 that have been honored with awards this year, as well as highlighting the many awards out there. This post will give links to the award lists so you can find even more great books, along with featuring the books I plan to highlight. Books I’ve reviewed will have links to the review.

This year, I got to be part of three groups that selected outstanding books:

Committee to select the Mathical Book Prize, “an annual award for fiction and nonfiction books that inspire children of all ages to see math in the world around them.”

Round 2 Panel to select one winner for the Cybils Award (Children and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) in Young Adult Speculative Fiction from seven Finalists. Something great about the Cybils Awards are the many categories and the lists of Finalists — if a kid is asked to read an award-winning book, they can certainly find something they like among the Cybils Finalists. There’s somethiing for everyone.

Capitol Choices. This is a DC-area group of children’s literature librarians and other professionals who meet monthly to choose 100 of the best children’s and young adult books each year.

I’m going to talk about books from these committees as well as other favorites that were honored with the many ALA Awards. From the “Youth Media Awards” page, you can find a brief description of each award and links to the pages with current and past winners. Here’s the press release for all this year’s winners.

On my blog every year, I also post a list of Sonderbooks Stand-outs, my personal favorite books read that year. This year it just so happened that three of my #1 Sonderbooks Stand-outs were honored with multiple ALA awards. That didn’t even happen the year I was on the Newbery committee!

For this award tasting, I’m going to mention favorite books and tell the awards and honors they’ve won. I’m going to start with books for the youngest children and move to older children and teens. I am going to try to cover lots of different awards along the way, and I’ll tell about the awards as they come up.

For Youngest Readers

2022 Mathical Winner, PreK:
1 Smile, 10 Toes, by Nelleke Verhoeff

2021 Cybils Finalist, Board Books:
2022 Mathical Honor Book, PreK:
Circle Under Berry, by Carter Higgins

For Preschoolers

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is given to “the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children” that year. This is given for the art.

2022 Caldecott Honor Book:
Mel Fell, by Corey R. Tabor

2022 Caldecott Honor Book:
Have You Ever Seen a Flower?, by Shawn Harris

2022 Caldecott Honor Book:
Wonder Walkers, by Micha Archer

The Schneider Family Book Awards honor books “that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

2022 Schneider Family Award Winner, Young Children:
My City Speaks, by Darren Lebeuf, illustrated by Ashley Barron

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards go to “outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.”

2022 Coretta Scott King Honor for Illustration:
We Wait for the Sun, by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe, pictures by Raissa Figueroa

For Early Elementary School

The John Newbery Medal is given to “the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” This is given for the text.

The Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature “celebrate Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage,” given for literary and artistic merit.

The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are given to outstanding children’s and young adult books based on a calendar that goes from June to May.

2022 Caldecott Medal Winner:
2022 Newbery Honor Book:
2022 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winner, Picture Books:
2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book, Picture Books:
2021 Cybils Winner, Fiction Picture Books:
2021 #1 Sonderbooks Stand-out, Picture Books:
Watercress, by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chen

The Sydney Taylor Book Awards “recognize titles for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.”

2022 Sidney Taylor Award Gold Medal, Picture Books:
2021 #2 Sonderbooks Stand-out, Picture Books:
The Passover Guest, by Susan Kusel, illustrated by Sean Rubin

Fun fact: Susan Kusel is a local librarian, and a past chair of the Sydney Taylor committee!

2022 Mathical Book Prize Winner, Grades K-2:
Uma Wimple Charts Her House, by Reif Larsen and Ben Gibson

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given to the “most distinguished American book for beginning readers.”

2022 Geisel Award Winner:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Easy Readers:
Fox at Night, by Corey R. Tabor

2022 Geisel Honor Book:
Beak & Ally: Unlikely Friends, by Norm Feuti

The American Indian Youth Literature Awards are given every two years for the best writing and illustrations that “present Native American and Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity in present, past and future contexts.”

2022 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Middle Grades:
JoJo Makoons, The Used-to-Be Best Friend, by Dawn Quigley, illustrated by Tara Audibert

2022 Schneider Family Award Honor Book, Middle Grades:
Stuntboy, Volume 1, In the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds, drawings by Raul the Third

For Upper Elementary

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is given to the most distinguished American informational book.

2022 Coretta Scott King Author Winner:
2022 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Winner:
2022 Caldecott Honor Book:
2022 Sibert Honor Book:
2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book, Nonfiction:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Middle Grade Nonfiction:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #1 Children’s Nonfiction:
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

2022 Mathical Winner, Grades 3-5:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #10 Children’s Nonfiction:
Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, by Megan Reid, illustrations by Aaliya Jaleel

2022 Mathical Honor Book, Grades 3-5:
2022 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Picture Books:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Middle Grade Nonfiction:
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer, by Traci Sorell, illustrations by Natasha Donovan

2022 Mathical Honor Book, Grades 3-5:
Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries, by Eugenia Cheng

2022 Sibert Honor Book:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #5 Children’s Nonfiction:
The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem, by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

2022 Sidney Taylor Silver Medal, Middle Grades:
The Genius Under the Table, by Eugene Yelchin

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding book originally published in another language in another country and translated into English.

2022 Batchelder Honor Book:
The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas, written by María García Esperón, illustrated by Amanda Mijangos and translated by David Bowles

For Middle School

The Pura Belpré Award is given to “a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth”

2022 Newbery Medal Winner:
2022 Pura Belpré Award Author Winner:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction:
The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera

The Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is given to “English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.”

The National Book Award for Young People’s Literature is given to an American author, on a publishing year that runs from December to November.

2022 Newbery Honor Book:
2022 Stonewall Award Winner, Children’s Literature:
2021 National Book Award Finalist:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction:
Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff

The Michael L. Printz Award is given to “a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.”

2022 Printz Honor Book:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Poetry:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #5 Children’s Fiction:
Starfish, by Lisa Fipps

The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature is sponsored by We Need Diverse Books and celebrates diversity in children’s literature.

2022 Newbery Honor Book:
2022 Walter Award Winner, Younger Readers Category:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Poetry:
Red, White and Whole, by Rajani LaRocca

2022 Mathical Book Prize Winner, Grades 6-8:
AfterMath, by Emily Barth Isler

2022 Mathical Honor Book, Grades 6-8:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #8 Children’s Fiction:
In the Red, by Christopher Swiedler

2022 Sidney Taylor Gold Medal, Middle Grades:
How to Find What You’re Not Looking For, by Veera Hiranandani

2022 American Indian Youth Literature Honor Book:
2020 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist:
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #5 Teen Speculative Fiction:
Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger

2022 Newbery Honor Book:
2021 National Book Award Longlist:
A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults is given to “the best nonfiction book for young adults.”

2022 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist:
2022 Capitol Choices selection:
In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers, by Don L. Brown

2022 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Grades 6-8:
It’s a Numbers Game: Baseball

For High School

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award “honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens.”

2022 Printz Medal Winner:
2022 Morris Award Winner:
2022 American Indian Youth Literature Honor Book:
2022 Walter Award Winner, Teen Category:
2021 Cybils Finalist, Young Adult Fiction:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #1 Teen Fiction:
Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley

2022 Cybils Young Adult Fiction Winner:
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out, #2 Teen Fiction:
The Girls I’ve Been, by Tess Sharpe

2022 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Winner:
Vespertine, by Margaret Rogerson

2021 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist:
The Mirror Season, by Anna-Marie McLemore

2022 Printz Honor Book:
2021 Cybils Young Adult Fiction Finalist:
Concrete Rose, by Angie Thomas

2022 Sidney Taylor Gold Medal, Young Adults
2021 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist:
The City Beautiful, by Aden Polydoros

2021 Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist:
Bad Witch Burning, by Jessica Lewis

2022 Printz Honor Book:
2022 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book:
2021 National Book Award Finalist:
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, by Kekla Magoon

2022 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor Book:
The Woman All Spies Fear: Codebreaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life, by Amy Butler Greenfield