2019 ALA Youth Media Awards

I love the ALA Youth Media Awards! I love seeing the authors and illustrators I love receiving some recognition for their amazing work. And I love being able to discover new titles, some of which I haven’t even heard of before! I’ve included the extensive list of winners and honor books pulled from the ALA press release. I hope this allows you to find some new books to read and authors and illustrators to follow!

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

• Winner: Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
• Honor: The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
• Honor: The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

• Winner: Hello Lighthouse illustrated and written by Sophie Blackall
• Honor: Alma and How She Got Her Name illustrated and written by Juana Martinez-Neal
• Honor: A Big Mooncake for Little Star illustrated and written by Grace Lin
• Honor: The Rough Patch illustrated and written by Brian Lies
• Honor: Thank You, Omu! illustrated and written by Oge Mora

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Awardrecognizing an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

• Winner: A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield
• Honor: Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
• Honor: The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
• Honor: The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Awardrecognizing an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

• Winner: The Stuff of Stars illustrated by Ekua Holmes, written by Marion Dane Bauer
• Honor: Hidden Figures illustrated by Laura Freeman, written by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Honor: Let the Children March illustrated by Frank Morrison, written by Monica Clark-Robinson
• Honor: Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Alice Faye Duncan

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award:

• Winner: Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award:

• Winner: Thank You, Omu! illustrated and written by Oge Mora

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

• Winner: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Honor: Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
• Honor: A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti
• Honor: I, Claudia by Mary McCoy

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

• Young Children Winner: Rescue & Jessica A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, illustrated by Scott Magoon
• Honor: The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte
• Middle Grades Winner: The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor
• Honor: The Collectors by Jacqueline West
• Teen Winner: Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
• Honor: (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health edited by Kelly Jensen

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

• The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark
• The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
• The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil
• Green by Sam Graham-Felsen
• Home After Dark by David Small
• How Long ’Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin
• Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States:

• Winner: The Fox on the Swing by Evelina Daciūtė, illustrated by Aušra Kiudulaitė, translated by The Translation Bureau
• Honor: Run for Your Life by Silvana Gandolfi and translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
• Honor: My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder written and illustrated by Nie Jun translated by Edward Gauvin
• Honor: Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure written and illustrated by Torben Kuhlmann and translated by David Henry Wilson
• Honor: Jerome By Heart by Thomas Scotto, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick and Karin Snelson

Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States:

• Winner: Sadie written by Courtney Summers and narrated by Rebecca Soler, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and more
• Honor: Du Iz Takwritten by Carson Ellis and narrated by Eli and Sebastian D’Amico, Burton, Galen and Laura Fott, Sarah Hart, Bella Higginbotham, Evelyn Hipp and Brian Hull
• Honor: Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artistwritten by Susan Wood and narrated by Brian Amador
• Honor: The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson and narrated by Cherise Booth
• Honor: The Poet X written and narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Awards honoring a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

• Winner: Dreamers illustrated and written by Yuyi Morales
• Honor: Islandborn illustrated by Leo Espinosa, written by Junot Díaz
• Honor: When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana illustrated by Jose Ramirez, written by Michael Mahin

Pura Belpré (Author) Awards honoring a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

• Winner: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Honor: They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems written by David Bowles

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children:

• Winner: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman
• Honor: Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild by Catherine Thimmesh
• Honor: Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and “The War of the Worlds” Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America written by Gail Jarrow
• Honor: The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees written and illustrated by Don Brown
• Honor: We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga written by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac
• Honor: When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana written Michael Mahin, illustrated by Jose Ramirez

The inaugural Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award is being given in 2019 to a digital media producer that has created distinguished digital media for an early learning audience.

• Winner: Play and Learn Science produced by PBS Kids.
• Honor: Coral Reef, produced by Tinybop Inc.
• Honor: Lexi’s World, produced by Pop Pop Pop LLC.

Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience:

• Winner: Julián Is a Mermaid Jessica Love
• Winner: Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender
• Honor: Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
• Honor: Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book is

• Winner: Fox the Tiger written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor
• Honor: The Adventures of Otto: See Pip Flap written and illustrated by David Milgrim
• Honor: Fox + Chick: The Party and Other Stories written and illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
• Honor: King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth written by Dori Hillestad Butler, illustrated by Nancy Meyers
• Honor: Tiger vs. Nightmare written and illustrated by Emily Tetri

William C. Morris Awardfor a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens:

• Winner: Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• Finalist: Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
• Finalist: Check, Please!: #Hockey written and illustrated by Ngozi Ukazu
• Finalist: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Finalist: What the Night Sings written and illustrated by Vesper Stamper

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults:

• Winner: The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees written and illustrated by Don Brown
• Honor: The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor
• Honor: Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge
• Honor: The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler written and illustrated by John Hendrix
• Honor: Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.

• Picture Book winner: Drawn Together,” by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat
• Children’s Literature Winner: Front Desk by Kelly Yang
• Young Adult Literature Winner: Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

• Younger Readers Winner: All-of-a-Kind-Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins
• Older Readers Winner: Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier
• Teen Readers Winner: What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper, illustrated by the author