American Library Association Youth Media Awards 2021

Created on April 27, 2021, 8:49 am

Last Updated September 17, 2021, 9:12 am

Every year at this time the American Library Association recognizes what it considers to be the "best of the best" in children's and teen's literature for the year. Children's librarians geek out over the titles and watch to see if their favorite books get picked. Here are the winners from this year. There's a link at the bottom if you aren't familiar with all of the different awards and want to read more. From picture books to books published for adults with teen appeal and everything in between, there are a lot of great reads in this list!

1) All the days past, all the days to come

Author

Taylor, Mildred D

Series

Logan family (Mildred D. Taylor) volume 9

Notes

Coretta Scott King Author Honor

Formats:

Audiobook CD, Book - Hardback, eAudiobook

Description

Publisher Annotation: In her tenth book, Mildred Taylor completes her sweeping saga about the Logan family of Mississippi, which is also the story of the civil rights movement in America of the 20th century. Cassie Logan, first met in Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s,...

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

Author

Pimentel, Annette Bay

Notes

Schneider Family Book Award Honor (Young Children)

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Publisher Annotation: Jennifer Keelan was determined to make a change?even if she was just a kid. She never thought her wheelchair could slow her down, but the way the world around her was built made it hard to do even simple things. Like going to school, or eating lunch in the cafeteria. Jennifer knew that everyone deserves a voice! Then the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that would make public spaces much more accessible to people with disabilities,...

3) All Thirteen : the Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Notes

Newbery Honor & Sibert Honor & YALSA Nonfiction Finalist

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

A unique account of the amazing Thai cave rescue told in a heart-racing, you-are-there style that blends suspense, science, and cultural insight.

4) The bear in my family

Author

Tatsukawa, Maya

Notes

Geisel Honor

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"--

5) Before the ever after

Author

Woodson, Jacqueline

Notes

Coretta Scott King Author Winner

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook

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.-- "National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson's stirring novel-in-verse explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed and the cost of professional sports on Black bodies. For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As...

6) Black girl unlimited: the remarkable story of a teenage wizard

Author

Notes

Morris Finalist

Description

Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic, everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the...

7) The black kids

Author

Hammonds Reed, Christina

Notes

Morris Finalist

Description

With the Rodney King riots closing in on high school senior Ashley and her family, the privileged bubble she has enjoyed, protecting her from the difficult realities most black people face, begins to crumble.

Author

Roanhorse, Rebecca

Series

Between earth and sky volume 1

Notes

Alex Award

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. A god will return When the earth and sky converge Under the black sun In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this...

9) Box: Henry Brown mails himself to freedom

Author

Weatherford, Carole Boston

Notes

Newbery Honor

Formats:

Book, Book - Paperback, eAudiobook

Description

Publisher Annotation: In a moving, lyrical tale about the cost and fragility of freedom, a New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed artist follow the life of a man who courageously shipped himself out of slavery. 56pp.

10) The cat man of Aleppo

Author

Notes

Caldecott Honor

Description

"In the midst of the Syrian Civil War, Alaa takes care of Aleppo's abandoned cats"--

11) Danbi leads the school parade

Author

Series

Danbi picture books

Notes

Asian/Pacific American Award Picture Book Honor

Description

Publisher Annotation: 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! Danbi Leads the School...

12) Dancing at the pity party: a dead mom graphic memoir

Author

Notes

Sydney Taylor Young Adult Gold Medalist

Formats:

eAudiobook, Graphic Novel

Description

Tyler Feder had just white-knuckled her way through her first year of college when her super cool mom was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Now, with a decade of grief and nervous laughter under her belt, Tyler shares the story of that gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, extremely awkward time in her life—from her mom's first oncology appointment to her funeral and shiva week through the beginning of facing reality as a motherless daughter. She shares...

13) Darius the Great deserves better

Author

Series

Darius the Great volume 2

Notes

Stonewall Honor

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Darius Kellner has everything he thought he wanted--a new boyfriend, a new internship, and a spot on the soccer team--but growing up makes him question everything"--

14) Displacement

Author

Notes

Asian/Pacific American Award Youth Literature Honor

Description

A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes.

15) Dragon hoops

Author

Yang, Gene Luen

Notes

Printz Honor

Description

In his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.

16) Efrén Divided : a novel

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Notes

Belpre Children's Author Winner

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

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

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

Author

Notes

Printz Winner

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Publisher Annotation: 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,...

18) Exquisite: the poetry and life of Gwendolyn Brooks

Author

Notes

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor & Sibert Honor

Description

A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is known for her poems about "real life." She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty-showing 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...

19) Felix ever after

Author

Callender, Kacen

Notes

Stonewall Honor

Formats:

Description

Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.

20) Fighting words

Author

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker

Notes

Newbery Honor

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Publisher Annotation: In this powerful novel that explodes the stigma around child sexual abuse and leavens an intense tale with compassion and humor, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley tells a story about two sisters, linked by love and trauma, who must find their own voices before they can find their way back to each other.