Award Winning Books for Children
Caldecott Medal
2024 Winner
Big
- by Vashti Harrison
2024 Honor Books
In Every Life
- by Marla Frazee
Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter
- by Aida Salazar
The Truth About Dragons
- by Julie Leung
There Was a Party for Langston
- by Jason Reynolds
Goldfinch Award
The Goldfinch Award gives children an opportunity to choose the award winning book and to suggest books for the yearly reading list. Books chosen are fiction or nonfiction titles appropriate for children in preschool through 3rd grade.
2024-2025 Nominees
Abdul’s Story
- by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Everywhere With You
- by Charlie Sorosiak
Farmhouse
- by Sophie Blackall
Find Fergus
- by Mike Boldt
Gibberish
- by Young Vo
Hey, Bruce! An Interactive Book
- by Ryan T. Higgins
I Am Ruby Bridges
- by Ruby Bridges
I Am the Storm
- by Jane Yolen
Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn
- by Shannon Hale
Knight Owl
- by Christopher Denise
Ocean! Waves for All
- by Stacy McAnulty
Out of a Jar
- by Deborah Marcero
Pigeon & Cat
- by Edward Hemingway
Pizza! a Slice of History
- by Greg Pizzoli
Saturdays Are for Stella
- by Candy Wellins
Sprout Branches Out
- by Jessika Von Innerebner
The Legend of Gravity: a tall basketball tale
- by Charly Palmer
There is a Ghost in This House
- by Oliver Jeffers
Iowa Children's Choice Award (ICCA)
The Iowa Children’s Choice Award gives children an opportunity to choose the award winning book and to suggest books for the yearly reading list. Books chosen are fiction or nonfiction titles appropriate for children in 3rd through 6th grade.
2024-2025 Nominees
A Duet for Home
- by Karina Yan Glaser
A Rover’s Story
- by Jasmine Warga
Falling Short
- by Ernesto Cisneros
Finally Seen
- by Kelly Tang
Home Away from Home
- by Cynthia Lord
Hummingbird
- by Natalie Lloyd
Lasagna Means I Love You
- by Kate O'Shaughnessy
Lines of Courage
- by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance
- by Lisa Yee
Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Secret Letters
- by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
- by Angie Thomas
On Air with Zoe Washington
- by Janae Marks
Over and Out
- by Jenni L. Walsh
Playing Through the Turnaround
- by Mylisa Larsen
Singing with Elephants
- by Margarita Engle
Swim Team
- by Johnnie Christmas
The Hurricanes of Weakerville
- by Chris Rylander
The Midnight Children
- by Dan Gemeinhart
Thirst
- by Varsha Bajaj
Wildoak
- by C.C. Harrington
Newbery Medal
2024 Winner
The Eyes and the Impossible
- by Dave Eggers
2024 Honor Books
Eagle Drums
- by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson
Elf Dog and Owl Head
- by M.T. Anderson
Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir
- by Pedro Martin
Simon Sort of Says
- by Erin Bow
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams
- by Daniel Nayeri
Coretta Scott King Award
2024 Award Winner
Nigeria Jones
- by Ibi Zoboi
2024 Illustrator Award Winner
An American Story
- by Dare Coulter
2024 Honor Books
Big
- by Vashti Harrison
How to Spell Unfair: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
- by Carole Boston Weatherford
Kin: Rooted in Hope
- by Carole Boston Weatherford
2024 Illustrator Honor Books
Big
- by Vashti Harrison
There Was a Party for Langston
- by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey
Pura Belpré Award
2024 Winner
Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir
- by Pedro Martin
2024 Honor Books
Alebrijes
- by Donna Barba Higuera
Aniana Del Mar Jumps In
- by Jasminne Méndez
Papá’s magical water-jug clock
- by Jesús Trejo
Remembering
- by Xelena González and Adriana Garcia
Something Like Home
- by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.
2024 Winner
Fox Has a Problem
- by Corey R Tabor
2024 Honor Books
Henry, Like Always
- by Jenn Bailey
Worm and Caterpillar are Friends
- by Kaz Windness
Award Winning Books for Teens
Alex Awards
2024 Winners
Bad Cree
- by Jessica Johns
Chain-Gang All-Stars
- by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Chlorine
- by Jade Song
Fourth Wing
- by Rebecca Yarros
I Will Greet the Sun Again
- by Khashayar J. Khabushani
Maame
- by Jessica George
Starter Villain
- by John Scalzi
The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage & Triumph
- by Oksana Masters
The Talk
- by Darrin Bell
Whalefall
- by Daniel Kraus
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Awarded biennially, the AIYLA identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Books selected to receive the award present Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity
2024 Winner
Rez Ball
- by Byron Graves
Ojibwe teen Tre works towards his dream of making the high school varsity basketball team and winning the state tournament, all while navigating friendships, romance, and the grief of losing and living in the shadow of his late older brother.
2024 Finalists
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
- by Cherie Dimaline
Heroes of the Water Monster
- by Brian Young
Man Made Monsters
- by Andrea L. Rogers
Warrior Girl Unearthed
- by Angeline Boulley
Asian / Pacific American Award for YA
The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature honors and recognizes individual works by Asian/Pacific American authors that highlight Asian/Pacific American cultures and experiences.
2024 Winner
I’d Rather Burn than Bloom
- by Shannon C. F. Rogers
2024 Honor Book
In Limbo
- by Deb JJ Lee
Iowa High School Book Award
2024-2025 Nominees
Any Sign of Life
- by Rae Carson
Black Cake
- by Charmaine Wilkerson
Hollow Fires
- by Samira Ahmed
If You Could See the Sun
- by Ann Liang
Letters to a Young Athlete
- by Chris Bosh
The Agathas
- by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson
The Counselors
- by Jessica Goodman
The Davenports
- by Krystal Marquis
The Knockout
- by Sajni Patel
The Red Palace
- by June Hur
The Weight of Blood
- by Tiffany D Jackson
Throwback
- by Maurene Goo
Iowa Teen Award
2024-2025 Nominees
A Thousand Heartbeats
- by Kiera Cass
Across the Desert
- by Dusti Bowling
Attack of the Black Rectangles
- by Amy Sarig King
Daughter of the Deep
- by Rick Riordan
Deepfake
- by Sara Darer Littman
Fifty-Four Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers
- by Caela Carter
Frizzy
- by Claribel A. Ortega
Iceberg
- by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Linked
- by Gordon Korman
Omar Rising
- by Aisha Saeed
Other Boys
- by Damian Alexandar
Out of My Heart
- by Sharon M. Draper
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration
- by Elizabeth Partridge
The Patron Thief of Bread
- by Lindsay Eager
What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale
- by Liz Braswell
Morris Award
2024 Winner
Rez Ball
- by Byron Graves
2024 Finalists
All the Fighting Parts
- by Hannah V. Sawyerr
Once There Was
- by Kiyash Monsef
Saints of the Household
- by Ari Tison
She is a Haunting
- by Trang Thanh Tran
Printz Award
2024 Winner
The Collectors: Stories
- by A.S. King
“This collection of 10 expertly crafted—and uniquely weird—short stories for teens highlights that only when we break conventions can we discover our authentic selves,” said Printz Committee Chair Courtney Waters.
2024 Finalists
Fire From the Sky
- by Moa Backe Åstot
Gather
- by Kenneth M. Cadow
Salt the Water
- by Candice Iloh
The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: a speculative memoir of transracial adoption
- by Shannon Gibney
Stonewall Book Award Young Adult
Given to children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender experience. Stonewall Book Awards is sponsored by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table.
2024 Winner
Only This Beautiful Moment
- by Abdi Nazemian
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this sweeping inter-generational story, examining queer identity at the end of different decades, follows three boys in the same Iranian family as they each gain a new understanding of their history, culture–and themselves.
2024 Finalists
Ander & Santi Were Here
- by Jonny Garza Viulla
Imogen, Obviously
- by Becky Albertalli
The Long Run
- by James Acker
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
- by Andrew Joseph White
YALSA Nonfiction Award
2024 Winner
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers whose Lives it Changed
- by Dashka Slater
When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought it was “edgy” humor. Then a few other kids found out about the account and soon, everyone knew. Unfortunately, no one in the small town of Albany, CA was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: “where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?
2024 Finalists
America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History
- by Ariel Aberg-Riger
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam
- by Thien Pham
From Here
- by Luma Mufleh
Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself
- by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge
YALSA Teen Top Ten
The Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Readers ages twelve to eighteen will vote online for the Top 25 between February 1 and February 28, and for the Top 10 between April 28 and May 9.
2023 Winners
All My Rage
- by Sabaa Tahir
Five Survive
- by Holly Jackson
Gallant
- by VE Schwab
Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
- by Axie Oh
I Must Betray You
- by Ruta Sepetys
Icebreaker
- by Hannah Grace
Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School
- by Sonora Reyes
Nothing More to Tell
- by Karen M. McManus
Some Mistakes Were Made
- by Kristin Dwyer
The Rumor Game
- by Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra
2023 Nominees
A Million Quiet Revolutions
- by Robin Gow
Alone Out Here
- by Riley Redgate
Blackwater
- by Jeanette Arroyo
Crumbs
- by Danie Stirling
Dig Two Graves
- by Gretchen McNeil
Don’t look back : a memoir of war, survival, and my journey from Sudan to America
- by Achut Deng
Gleanings: Stories from Arc of a Scythe
- by Neal Shusterman
Gold Mountain
- by Betty Yee
Lakelore
- by Anna-Maria McLemore
Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra
- by Any Noelle Parks
Lightlark
- by Alex Aster
Messy Roots: a graphic memoir of a Wuhanese American
- by Laura Gao
My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding
- by Sajni Patel
Nothing Burns as Bright as You
- by Ashley Woodfolk
The Ivory Key
- by Akshaya Raman
