ALA Youth Media Awards 2021 - Children

Created on March 15, 2021, 10:13 am

Last Updated June 12, 2021, 4:36 pm

Each year the American Library Association (ALA) honors books, audiobooks, and other outstanding materials for children and Young Adults. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the ALA Youth Media Awards guide parents, educators, librarians, and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media. This list includes awards such as the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpré, Theodor Seuss Geisel, and Robert F. Sibert book awards among others. www.ala.org/yma

1) All the way to the top: how one girl's fight for Americans with disabilities changed everything

Author

Pimentel, Annette Bay

Description

"Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, Jennifer Keelan grew up battling-and overcoming-the limitations others set for her. From a lack of cutaway curbs and bus lifts to being denied enrollment at her neighborhood school, Jennifer was continually blocked from living the life she wanted. But after discovering the world of disability rights activism, she knew she had to use her voice to change things. When Jennifer was just eight years old, she participated...

2) All thirteen: the incredible cave resuce of the Thai boys' soccer team

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth...

3) All thirteen: the incredible cave resuce of the Thai boys' soccer team

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth...

4) Anya and the nightingale

Author

Pasternack, Sofiya

Series

Anya volume 2

Formats:

Description

Thirteen-year-old Anya sets out to find her missing father but instead travels to Kiev, where she meets the tsar, dines with a rabbi, and rescues two brothers from a dangerous monster lurking beneath the city.

5) The bear in my family

Author

Tatsukawa, Maya

Description

"It's not easy living with a bear, but one little boy learns that sometimes, a bear in the family can end up to be the best thing in the world"--

6) Beetle & the Hollowbones

Author

Description

Twelve-year-old goblin and witch-in-training Beetle enlists her former best friend, Kat Hollowbones, to help stop Kat's sorceress aunt from demolishing the mall where Beetle's friend Blob Ghost is trapped.

7) Before the ever after

Author

Woodson, Jacqueline

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

ZJ's friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.

8) The blackbird girls

Author

Description

"On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person....

9) Box: Henry Brown mails himself to freedom

Author

Weatherford, Carole Boston

Description

"In stanzas of six lines each, each line representing one side of a box, ... poet Carole Boston Weatherford ... narrates Henry Brown's story of how he came to send himself in a box from slavery to freedom"--Provided by publisher.

10) The cat man of Aleppo

Author

Description

The "true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who in the midst of the Syrian Civil War offered safe haven to Aleppo's abandoned cats"--Publisher marketing.

11) Catherine's war

Author

Description

As France buckles under the Nazi regime, budding photographer Rachel Cohen must change her name, go into hiding, and bear witness to the atrocities of World War II.

12) Danbi leads the school parade

Author

Description

"Danbi is thrilled to start her new school in America. But a bit nervous too, for when she walks into the classroom, everything goes quiet. Everyone stares. Danbi wants to join in the dances and the games, but she doesn't know the rules and just can't get anything right. Luckily, she isn't one to give up. With a spark of imagination, she makes up a new game and leads her classmates on a parade to remember!"--Publisher's description.

13) Efrén divided

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Formats:

Bluebonnet Books (14 Days), eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efrén Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico. Includes glossary of Spanish words.

14) Efrén divided

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Formats:

Bluebonnet Books (14 Days), eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efrén Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico. Includes glossary of Spanish words.

15) Everything sad is untrue: (a true story)

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"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...

16) Exquisite: the poetry and life of Gwendolyn Brooks

Author

Description

Gwendolyn Brooks (19172000) is known for her poems about “real life.” She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and povertyshowing readers how just about anything could become a beautiful poem. Exquisite follows Gwendolyn from early girlhood into her adult life, showcasing her desire to write poetry from a very young age. This picture-book biography explores the intersections of race, gender, and the ubiquitous poverty of the Great Depressionall...

17) Fighting words

Author

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

"Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della's own wolf--her protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to...

18) Get a grip, Vivy Cohen

Author

Description

Eleven-year-old knuckleball pitcher Vivy Cohen, who has autism, becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class.

19) Honeybee: the busy life of apis mellifera

Author

Fleming, Candace

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"Get up close and personal with Apis, one honeybee, as she embarks on her journey through life"--

20) How we got to the moon: the people, technology, and daring feats of science behind humanity's greatest adventure

Author

Description

"This beautifully illustrated, oversized guide to the people and technology of the moon landing by award-winning author/illustrator John Rocco is a must-have for space fans, classrooms, and tech geeks"--