In January, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the 2023 Youth Media Award winners. Each year, the ALA honors books and other outstanding materials for children and teens published in the preceding year.
Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the Youth Media Awards include the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards. They guide parents, educators, librarians, and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees 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.
You can find the full list of winners and honor books here. Most of these titles are available in multiple formats to borrow from the library. Happy reading!
John Newbery Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
by Amina Luqman-Dawson
After fleeing the plantation where they were enslaved, siblings Ada and Homer discover the secret swamp community of Freewater and work with freeborn Sanzi to protect their new home from the encroaching dangers of the outside world.
Randolph Caldecott Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
by Doug Salati
This hot dog has had enough of summer in the city! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people’s feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a crosswalk, his owner endeavors to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train, and ferries out to the beach. Here, a pup can run!
Coretta Scott King Award
Awarded to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
Author winner:
by Amina Luqman-Dawson
After fleeing the plantation where they were enslaved, siblings Ada and Homer discover the secret swamp community of Freewater and work with freeborn Sanzi to protect their new home from the encroaching dangers of the outside world.
Illustrator winner:
Standing In the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Frank Morrison
Starting from 1619 and stretching more than four hundred years, this book features such pivotal moments in history as the arrival of enslaved people in Jamestown, Virginia; Nat Turner’s rebellion; the integration of the US military; the Selma to Montgomery marches; and peaceful present-day protests.
Michael L. Printz Award
Awarded for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
by Sabaa Tahir
A family extending from Pakistan to California deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness. When his attempts to save his family’s motel spiral out of control, Salahudin and his best friend Noor, two outcasts in their town, must decide what their friendship is worth and how they can defeat the monsters of their past and in their midst.
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Awarded for literature about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage.
Picture Book winner:
by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Rachel Wada
A true story of a young girl who has never known life outside a refugee camp and a father determined to help her dream beyond the fences that confine them.
Children’s Literature winner:
by Lisa Yee
Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota. As her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family’s history and herself.
Youth Literature winner:
by Harmony Becker
When Nao returns to Tokyo to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, she books a yearlong stay at the Himawari sharehouse. There, she meets Hyejung and Tina. The trio live together, share meals, and even attend the same Japanese-language school, which results in them becoming fast friends. But, will they be able to hold one another up as life tests them with new loves, old heart breaks, and the everyday challenges of being fish out of water?
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
Awarded for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II
by Lia Levi
The author recalls her experiences coming of age in Fascist Italy during World War II as she, along with her sisters, hid in a convent where she tried to come to terms with her new life while longing to be “just a girl.
Odyssey Award
Awarded for the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults.
by Jason Reynolds
Portico Reeves’ secret identity as Stuntboy allows him to use his superpower to keep everybody safe, but when his superhero parents start fighting a lot he feels the responsibility to save them.
Pura Belpré Award
Awarded 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.
Illustrator winner:
by Xelena González, illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia
Three girls follow their grandmother into her garden, where they examine her collection of rocks, crystals, shells, and meteorites and learn about the marvels they reveal.
Children’s Author winner:
by Claribel A. Ortega; illustrated by Rose Bousamra
Tired of going to the salon to have her curls straightened every weekend, Marlene slowly learns to embrace her natural curly hair with the help of her best friend and favorite aunt.
Young Adult Author winner:
by Vincent Tirado
When an urban legend rumored to trap people inside subway tunnels seems to be behind mysterious disappearances in the Bronx, sixteen-year-old Raquel and her friends team up to save their city — and confront a dark episode in its history in the process.
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Awarded for the most distinguished informational book for youth.
by Elizabeth Partridge; illustrated by Lauren Tamaki
Legendary photographers Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams all photographed the Japanese American incarceration but with different approaches and different results. This nonfiction picture book for middle grade readers examines the Japanese-American incarceration-and the complexity of documenting it-through the work of these three photographers.
Schneider Family Book Award
Awarded for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Young Children winner:
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion
by Shannon Stocker; illustrated by Devon Holzwarth
A nonfiction picture book biography celebrating Evelyn Glennie, a deaf woman, who became the first full-time solo percussionist in the world.
Middle Grade winner:
by C.C. Harrington
Twelve-year-old Maggie’s stutter causes her much heartache and only her menagerie of pets, whom she can speak with fluidly, provide her comfort, but when she finds Rumpus, an abandoned snow leopard, in a forest in Cornwall, their chance encounter will change their lives forever.
Teen winner:
by Erin Stewart
Sydney Taylor Book Award
Awarded for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Picture Book winner:
The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs
by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal
After Nazi soldiers invaded her Polish town, erasing nearly 3,500 Jewish souls, Yaffa made it her life’s mission to recover thousands of her town’s photographs from around the world, building her amazing Tower of Life, a permanent exhibit in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Middle Grade winner:
by Mari Lowe
As tensions escalate in the Jewish community of Beacon with incidents of vandalism and a swastika carved into new concrete poured near the synagogue, so does the tension grow between Aviva and Kayla and the girls at their school, and so do the actions of the dybbuk grow worse. Could real harm be coming Aviva‘s way? And is it somehow related to the ‘accident’ that took her father years ago?
Young Adult winner:
When the Angels Left the Old Country
by Sacha Lamb
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn’t have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Awarded for the most distinguished book for beginning readers.
by Michael Emberley
A girl tries and tries again to learn to ride a bicycle, and all her friends provide words of encouragement.
William C. Morris Award
Awarded to a first-time author writing for teens.
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen
by Isaac Blum
Hoodie Rosen‘s life isn’t that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie‘s world hasn’t changed that much. The people of Tregaron aren’t happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that’s not Hoodie‘s problem. That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O’Leary–who happens to be the daughter of the headstrong mayor trying to keep Hoodie‘s community out of the town. And things only get more complicated when Tregaron is struck by a series of antisemitic crimes that quickly escalate to deadly violence. As his community turns on him for siding with the enemy, Hoodie finds himself caught between his first love and the only world he’s ever known.
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
Awarded for the best nonfiction book published for young adults.
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
A groundbreaking and timely graphic memoir from one of the most iconic figures in American sports-and a tribute to his fight for civil rights. In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest.