The live webcast is here. Here are the winners and honor books! Of couse, my big question that I have asked goes unanswered is: Why isn’t APALA at the ALA party? Where are the best Asian American books for kids and teens? APALA is an affiliate of the ALA (American Library Association). They are announcing at the same place on the same day. And yet, their award is not included in the ALA event nor on the ALA awards page. It’s feels like a “separate but equal” thing.
Asian Pacific American Librarians Association: APALA
The goal is to honor and recognize individual works related to Asian/Pacific American experiences (either historical or contemporary) or Asian/Pacific American cultures.
The awards will be announced at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago (which is were all the rest of the awards are being announced). APALA is an affliate of the ALA.
American Library Association talks a lot about the need for diversity, inclusive and multicultural books for kids and teens but … do they talk the talk but not walk the walk? Why are only Asian American books for kids specifically excluded from this rainbow of diversity? As you can see by the awards below, the ALA awards include specific awards for African American, Latino American, Special Needs, LBGT, but not Asian American. Why is this? I have no idea. You tell me! It’s 2015 … if not now, when?
To recify this situation, I am including the APALA awards in my post.
p.s. Related posts:
My picks for Caldecott and Newbery 2015
More 2015 Caldecott Picks and Picture Book of the Day
Caldecott Medal and Honor Books 2014
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It honors the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
This is what winning the Caldecott looks like! Dan Santat with Lisa Yee.
2015 Caldecott Winner
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, written and illustrated by Dan Santat
2015 Caldecott Honor Books
Nana in the City, written and illustrated by Lauren Castillo
The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPré
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Viva Frida, written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Asian/Pacific American Award For Literature (APALA Awards)
The goal is to honor and recognize individual works related to Asian/Pacific American experiences (either historical or contemporary) or Asian/Pacific American cultures.
[I have to say that I am a little taken aback by the language of the APALA awards in that it seems like they think their award isn’t good enough. It’s not a “goal”; they actually do it: APALA honors and recognizes best books related to Asian/Pacific American experiences or Asian/Pacific American cultures for adults, children and teens.]
Asian/Pacific American Award Picture Book Winner
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki and Qin Leng
Asian/Pacific American Award Picture Book Honor
Father’s Chinese Opera by Rich Lo
Asian/Pacific American Award Children’s Winner
Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner
Asian/Pacific American Award Children’s Honor
Ting Ting by Kristie Hammond
Asian/Pacific American Award Young Adult Winner
Tiger Girl by May-Lee Chai
Asian/Pacific American Award Young Adult Honor
Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Sonny Liew
Newbery Medal and Honor Books 2015
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It honors the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
2015 Newbery Winner
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
2015 Newbery Honor Books
El Deafo, written and illustrated by Cece Bell
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Printz Award and Honor Books 2015
Michael L. Printz Award honors excellence in literature written for young adults.
2015 Printz Award Winner
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
2015 Printz Award Honor Books
And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Geisel Medal and Honor Books 2015
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.
2015 Geisel Award Winner
You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant
2015 Geisel Honor Books
Mr. Putter & Tabby Turn the Page by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Arthur Howard
Waiting Is Not Easy! written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Pura Belpré Winner and Honor Books 2015
The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Pura Belpré (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.
2015 Belpré Author Award Winner
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín, illustrated by Lee White
2015 Belpré Author Honor Books
Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Raúl Colón
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.
2015 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Winner
Viva Frida, written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
2015 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Susan Guevara
Green Is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, illustrated by John Parra
Separate Is Never Equal, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh
Batchelder Winner and Honor Books 2015
The Batchelder Award is given to the most 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.
2015 Batchelder Award Winner
Mikis and the Donkey by Bibi Dumon Tak, translated by Laura Watkinson
2015 Batchelder Honor Books
Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier, translated by Alexis Siegel
Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf, translated by John Nieuwenhuizen
Carnegie Winner 2015
The Andrew Carnegie Medal honors the most outstanding video productions for children released during the previous year.
Me…Jane, produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard
Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
The Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.
Donald Crews is the 2015 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award winner
Odyssey Winner and Honor Audiobooks 2015
This annual award is given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.
2015 Odyssey Award Winner
H.O. R. S. E. A Game of Basketball and Imagination, written by Christopher Myers
2015 Odyssey Honor Recordings
Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, written and narrated by Tim Federle
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, written by Julie Berry
A Snicker of Magic, written by Natalie Lloyd, narr. by Cassandra Morris
Silbert Informational Winner and Honor Books 2015
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois. ALSC administers the award.
2015 Sibert Award Winner
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
2015 Sibert Honor Books
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson
Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
Coretta Scott King Winner and Honor Books 2015
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults.
2015 King Author Book Winner
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
2015 King Author Honor Books
Crossover by Kwame Alexander
How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
2015 Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award
2015 King Illustrator Book Winner
Firebird by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
2015 King Illustrator Honor Book
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, illutrated by Christian Robinson
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison
2015 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award
When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
2015 Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
Deborah D. Taylor is the winner of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award is presented in even years to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults, and who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.
Schneider Family Book Award Winner and Honor Books 2015
Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.
2015 Schneider Family Book Award for children ages 0 to 10
A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz
2015 Schneider Family Book Award for middle-school ages 11-13
Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin
2015 Schneider Family Book Award for Teens ages 13-17
Girls Like Us by Gail Giles
2015 Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences
All the Light We Can Not See by Anthony Doerr
Lock In by John Scalzi
Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia
Bingo’s Run by James A. Levine
Confessions by Kanae Minato
The Martian by Andy Weir
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
2015 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults
Sharon M. Draper
Spotlight on Sharon M. Draper at the Multicultural Children’s Book Day Blog here.
Stonewall Book Winner and Honor Books 2015
Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
2015 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award
This Day in June by Gale E. Pitman, Ph.D., illustrated by Kristyna Litten
2015 Stonewall Award Honor Books
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchio, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant
William C. Morris Award Winner and Honor Books 2015
William C. Morris Award is for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens.
2015 Morris Award Winner
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
2015 Morris Award Winner Finalists
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos
The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E.K. Johnston
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
YALSA Award Winners and Honor Books 2015
YALSA Award is for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.
2015 YALSA Nonfiction Award Winner
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
2015 YALSA Nonfiction Award Finalists
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business – and Won! by Emily Arnold McCully
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming
Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
This is the best list I’ve seen of all of the awards. Can’t believe how many of the ones I reviewed and loved. Delighted to see Sharon Draper won the Margaret A. Edwards lifetime achievement award.
Thanks so much Patricia! I’m so happy about Sharon Draper too!
What a wonderful wealth of information! And I love the great variety of authors and diversity in the titles. I’m so looking forward to reading several of these! Thanks for putting this list together.
Thanks so much Erika!