Award Books

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award Winner 2022; Newbery Honor, 2022
In the summer before middle school, eleven-year-old Bug must contend with best friend Moira suddenly caring about clothes, makeup, and boys; a ghost haunting; and the truth about Bug's gender identity.
It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: a ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2022
A child who enjoys Grandad's stories of his travels and adventures with Gramps persuades him to fix up their old camper and take another trip, in honor of Gramps.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2022
"Would-be amusement park aficionado Dalia only has two items on her summer bucket list: (1) finally ride a roller coaster and (2) figure out how to make a new best friend. But when her dad suddenly announces that he's engaged, Dalia's schemes come to a screeching halt. With Dalia's future stepsister Alexa heading back to college soon, the grown-ups want the girls to spend the last weeks of summer bonding--meaning Alexa has to cancel the amusement park road trip she's been planning for months. Luckily Dalia comes up with a new plan: If she joins Alexa on her trip and brings Rani, the new girl from her swim team, along maybe she can have the perfect summer after all. But what starts out as a week of funnel cakes and Lazy River rides goes off the rails when Dalia discovers that Alexa's girlfriend is joining the trip. And keeping Alexa's secret makes Dalia realize one of her own: She might have more-than-friend feelings for Rani" -- Amazon.com.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2022
Earth's population is divided between only two existing countries which cannot manage to cooperate in any way, until a distress signal arrives from Titan's first settler. Neither country can afford to rescue her on their own if they act separately. Ambrose wakes up on board the Coordinated Endeavour under strange circumstances: he doesn't remember the launch, the ship's OS is voiced by his mother, strangers have been aboard, and Kodiak, the only other person on this mission, has barricaded himself away from sight. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making this mission succeed-- not when the settler he's rescuing is his sister.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2021
"Darius Kellner has everything he thought he wanted--a new boyfriend, a new internship, and a spot on the soccer team--but growing up makes him question everything"--Provided by publisher.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2021
Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many-- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages-- after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned-- Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. He didn't count on his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle. -- adapted from jacket.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Hon 2021
Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through she is forced to turn to her school's scholarship for prom king and queen, which plunges her into the gauntlet of social media which she hates and leads her to discoveries about her own identity and the value of true friendships.

Stonewall Children's & YA Literature Award. Win 02/2021
Beautiful photos of real-life families showcase all the wonderful forms of family, while poetic text builds both vocabulary and family connection.