Award Books

Orbis Pictus Award, 2023.
This picture book follows one color's journey throughout history -- from ancient Afghan painters to 1905, when a chemical blue dye was created -- and around the world, as it becomes the blue we know today.
"For centuries, blue powders and dyes were some of the most sought-after materials in the world. Ancient Afghan painters ground mass quantities of sapphire rocks to use for their paints, while snails were harvested in Eurasia for the tiny amounts of blue that their bodies would release. And then there was indigo, which was so valuable that American plantations grew it as a cash crop on the backs of African slaves. It wasn't until 1905, when Adolf von Baeyer created a chemical blue dye, that blue could be used for anything and everything--most notably that uniform of workers everywhere, blue jeans"--Amazon.

Orbis Pictus Honor, 2023
In the 1970s an important disability rights law, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, was waiting to be signed. Judy [Heumann] and other disability rights activists fought for YES! They held a sit-in until Section 504 was signed into law. Section 504--established thanks in large part to the ongoing work of Judy and her community--laid the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act."--Front jacket flap.

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2023; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award 2023
"Legendary photographers Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams all photographed the Japanese American incarceration, but with different approaches--and different results. This nonfiction picture book for middle grade readers examines the Japanese-American incarceration--and the complexity of documenting it--through the work of these three photographers."--Provided by publisher.

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2023; Caldecott Honor Book 2023; Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Illustrator Award 2023; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor 2023
The story of the mother of Emmett Till, and how she channeled grief over her son's death into a call to action for the civil rights movement"--Provided by publisher

Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2021
"Though not as widely known as other basketball legends, hall-of-famer Elgin Baylor was one of the game's all-time greatest players--an innovative athlete, team player, and quiet force for change. A member of the early, scrappy NBA and one of the first professional African American players, Elgin (b. 1934) played in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, taking risks on and off the court. Known for his acrobatic style of moving and shooting, he inspired others to get creative with their game. But when traveling for away games, hotels and restaurants weren't as welcoming of Elgin as they were of his white teammates. Together, Elgin and his teammates boycotted places practicing segregation until the entire NBA followed suit. From picture book powerhouses Jen Bryant and Frank Morrison, Above the Rim is a peek into the early days of the NBA, a poetic telling of the life of an under-known athlete, and a celebration of standing up for what is right"--Provided by publisher

Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book, 2021; Newbery Honors 2021; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor 2021
On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth science and details of the region's culture and religion, the author shows how both the complex engineering operation above ground and the mental struggles of the thirteen young people below proved critical in the life-or-death mission.--adapted from publisher's description.

Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book, 2021; Coretta Scott King Honor Book Author 2021
Summary
"When the epic story of the suffrage movement in the United States is told, the most familiar leaders, speakers at meetings, and participants in marches written about or pictured are generally white. That's not the real story. Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States."----Jacket flap.

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2021
"Reverend F.D. Reese was a leader of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama. As a teacher and principal, he recognized that his colleagues were viewed with great respect in the city. Could he convince them to risk their jobs--and perhaps their lives--by organizing a teachers-only march to the county courthouse to demand their right to vote? On January 22, 1965, the Black teachers left their classrooms and did just that, with Reverend Reese leading the way. Noted nonfiction authors Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace conducted the last interviews with Reverend Reese before his death in 2018 and interviewed several teachers and their family members in order to tell this story, which is especially important today"--Amazon.com.

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2020; Pura Belpre Honor 2020 1914-1918; Civil rights workers; Mexican Americans; Military participation -- Mexican American; Texas

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2020; Pura Belpre Honor 2020
1914-1918; Civil rights workers; Mexican Americans; Military participation -- Mexican American; Texas

Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for 2020; Pura Belpre Honor 2020
Nonfiction picture book about the life and legacy of Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City.