Yesterday, the 2021 Youth Media Award winners were announced by the American Library Association! You may be most familiar with the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, but there are many more and you can see the complete list of winners and honor books here. I want to extend a big congratulations to the winners. If you’re looking for an awesome children’s or teen book to read and you’re not sure where to start, may I suggest one of these?
2021 Newbery Medal Winner
(Awarded for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature in terms of text.)
When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal–return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health–Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice…and the courage to face a tiger.
2021 Newbery Honor Books
- All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat (also available on e-book)
- Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (also available on e-book)
- A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat (also available on e-book)
2021 Caldecott Medal Winner
(Awarded for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature in terms of illustrations.)
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade
Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors is a bold and lyrical picture book by a Native American author and illustrator that issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.
2021 Caldecott Honor Books
- A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Noa Denman
- The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham & Karim Shamsi-Basha, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu
- Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera
- Outside In by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Cindy Derby
2021 Printz Medal Winner
(Awarded to the most distinguished contribution to teen literature.)
Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls ‘Daniel’) stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou’s stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and further back to the fields near the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers bled red like the yolk of sunset burst over everything, and further back still to the Jasmine-scented city of Isfahan. We bounce between a school bus of kids armed with paper clip missiles and spitballs to the heroines and heroes of Khosrou’s family’s past, who ate pastries that made people weep and cry ‘Akh, Tamar’ and touched carpets woven with precious gems. Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, Daniel weaves a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. And it is (a true story). It is Daniel’s.
2021 Printz Honor Books
- Apple (Skin to the Core): A Memoir in Words and Pictures by Eric Gansworth
- Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang (also available on e-book)
- Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
- We Are Not Free by Traci Chee (also available on e-book and CD audiobook)
These are just a few of the awards that were announced this morning. For the full list of amazing honored books, including nonfiction, African American literature, literature with disability themes, audiobooks, and more, check out the American Library Association’s press release!
