For librarians who love and promote books for children and young adults, the Youth Media Awards are as good as it gets. Announced annually at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting (held virtually this year), authors and illustrators are recognized in a variety of categories.  Top honors this year went to author Tae Keller for When You Trap a Tiger which won the prestigious Newbery medal, and illustrator Michaela Goade for her work on We Are Water Protectors which earned  the Caldecott medal. 

Look below to see if your favorite took home a prize! You can explore the full list (including all of the honor books and lifetime achievement awards) on the ALA's website and find almost all of them in our collection, most also as e-books.  

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

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

When Lily, her sister Sam, and their mother move in with her sick grandmother, Lily traps a tiger and makes a deal with him to heal Halmoni.

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

We Are Water Protectors illustrated by Michaela Goade and authored by Carole Lindstrom

Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all... When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption.

Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African-American author of outstanding books for children and young adults:  

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

The son of an idolized pro-football star begins noticing the contrast between his father’s angry, forgetful behavior and his superhero reputation before adjusting to a new reality involving difficult symptoms stemming from his father’s numerous head injuries.

Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African-American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults: 

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul illustrated by Frank Morrison and authored by Carole Boston Weatherford

A vibrant portrait of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame music artist includes coverage of Franklin’s Grammy-winning achievements and unfailing dedication to civil rights.

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

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, 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.
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.

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

I Talk Like a Riverwords by Jordan Scott and pictures by Sydney Smith

When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he'd like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice.

Show Me a Sign written by Ann Clare LeZotte

It is 1805 and Mary Lambert has always felt safe among the deaf community of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard where practically everyone communicates in a shared sign language, but recent events have shattered her life; her brother George has died, land disputes between English settlers and the Wampanoag people are becoming increasingly bitter, and a "scientist" determined to discover the origins of the islands' widespread deafness has decided she makes the perfect "live specimen"—and kidnapped her.

This Is My Brain in Love written by I.W. Gregorio

A dual-narrative romance that explores themes of mental health and self-acceptance follows the experiences of a teen filmmaker and an aspiring school paper editor who work together to upgrade and promote a struggling Chinese restaurant

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: 

Telephone Tales (originally published in Italian as Favole al telefono) written by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Valerio Vidali, translated by Antony Shugaar (note yet in the NYPL collection)

Every night, at nine o’clock, wherever he is, Mr. Bianchi, an accountant who often travels for work, calls his daughter and tells her a bedtime story. Set in the 20th century era of pay phones, each story has to be told in the time that a single coin will buy. One night, it’s the story of a carousel so beloved by children that an old man finally sneaks on to understand why, and as he sails above the world, he does. The next night, it’s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to defy expectations and do things differently. 

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

Kent State written by Deborah Wiles and narrated by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina DeLaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries

Pura Belpré Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience: 

¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat written and illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez aka Raúl the Third

A follow-up to ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market finds Little Lobo excitedly attending a show starring his favorite wrestling champion before enjoying some of the delicious options being served from nearby food trucks.

Pura Belpré Awards honoring a Latino author whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience: 

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Worrying about his undocumented parents, who have worked hard to secure a safe life for their family, a young Mexican American struggles to find his inner courage when his beloved mother is arrested and deported.

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

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera written by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann

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: 

We Are Little Feminists: Families written by Archaa Shrivastav designed by Lindsey Blakely (not yet in the NYPL collection)

Beautiful photos of real-life families showcase all the wonderful forms of family, while poetic text builds both vocabulary and family connection. FAMILIES helps families and educators celebrate gender and ethnicity at home and in the classroom.

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

See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog written by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka

See Max. Max is not a cat. Max is a dog. But much to Max's dismay, the book keeps instructing readers to see the cat. How can Max get through to the book that he is a DOG? In a trio of stories for beginning readers, author David LaRochelle introduces the excitable Max, who lets the book know in irresistibly emphatic dialogue that the text is not to his liking. Illustrator Mike Wohnoutka hilariously depicts the pup's reactions to the narrator and to the wacky cast of characters who upend Max's and readers' expectations as the three stories build to an immensely satisfying conclusion. 

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

If These Wings Could Fly written by Kyrie McCauley

In Auburn, Pennsylvania, a farming community overrun with crows, high school senior Leighton struggles to keep herself and her sisters safe from their abusive father even as she starts a relationship.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults:  

The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh written by Candace Fleming

First human to cross the Atlantic via airplane; one of the first American media sensations; Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite; loner whose baby was kidnapped and murdered; champion of Eugenics, the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding; tireless environmentalist. Charles Lindbergh was all of the above and more. Here is a rich, multi-faceted, utterly spellbinding biography about an American hero who was also a deeply flawed man. 

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature:

Picture Book Winner: Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist  written by Julie Leung, illustrated by Chris Sasaki

Before he became an artist named Tyrus Wong, he was a boy named Wong Geng Yeo. He traveled across a vast ocean from China to America with only a suitcase and a few papers. Not papers for drawing--which he loved to do--but immigration papers to start a new life. Once in America, Tyrus seized every opportunity to make art, eventually enrolling at an art institute in Los Angeles. Working as a janitor at night, his mop twirled like a paintbrush in his hands. Eventually, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime--and using sparse brushstrokes and soft watercolors, Tyrus created the iconic backgrounds of Bambi.

Children's Literature Winner: When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

When Lily, her sister Sam, and their mother move in with her sick grandmother, Lily traps a tiger and makes a deal with him to heal Halmoni.

Youth Literature Winner: This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II by Andrew Fukuda

In 1935, ten-year-old Alex Maki of Bainbridge Island, Washington, is horrified to discover that his new pen pal, Charlie Lâevy of Paris, France, is a girl, but in spite of his initial reluctance, their letters continue over the years and they fight for their friendship even as Charlie endures the Nazi occupation and Alex leaves his family in an internment camp and joins the Army.

Book summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more. 

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.