A&M-SA Research Guides: Children's &amp; Young Adult Literature: Children's & YA Lit Awards & Recommendation Sites

Tips for Identifying Titles

Databases that Can Help You Align Children's & YA Literature with Learning Outcomes

Looking for children's literature with equitable portrayals of people representing various cultures and other groups? The tools below feature diversity search functions.
Looking for children's books that deal with physics topics like force and motion? The tools below allow you to search by subject and keywords.
Looking for children's books that are written for specific grade- or Lexile-level readers? These tools include various reading level measurements.
Looking for suggested activities and lesson plans created for specific books, educational concepts, etc.? These tools can help with those needs also!
"Woman carrying books" available under Pexels license.

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)
The comprehensive resource covers children’s literature books and media from beginning readers to young adults. It includes over 1.2 million titles and supporting content such as 600K professional reviews, 1.25K award sources representing 110K book awards, reading measurement programs, author links, lesson plans, and teaching guides. The Enterprise search engine offers 50 search filters and an 18 STEM terms search feature. It’s an excellent tool for selecting trade books, creating thematic reading lists, annotated bibliographies, interpreting reviews, and developing classroom collections.
TeachingBooks.net (TeachingBooks.net)
A resource for K-12 educators to encourage reading in students. Includes book guides, lesson plans, author and illustrator interviews, audio character name pronunciations, national and state book lists, and more. Includes Spanish language resources.

Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)-Recommended Book Search
This library at the School of Education at Madison, Wisconsin has been tracking multiple aspects of diversity in children's literature since 1994. Use their search tool to identify book titles the center has recommended; then do title searches in the A&M-SA Library catalog to see if we have copies of the identified books in our collection.
Diverse Book Finder Search Tool (Bates College)
This site hosted by Bates College provides a powerful search tool for finding multicultural picture books. The site's "unique focus on collecting and analyzing ALL current picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) allows [them] to consider diverse books in relation to each other and identify representation trends within the world of 'diverse books' itself."
Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures
Two of the site's main features are medium-length, peer-reviewed reviews of children's literature analyzing the "cultural authenticity of the text and illustrations" and peer-reviewed articles (brief) showcasing "children's experiences reading and responding to literature."

More Children's Lit Awards

More Awards & Lists that Recognize Excellent Books for Children & Teens

#ReadWoke Blog with Book Recommendations by Cicely Lewis
Cicely Lewis was recognized as the American Library Association's School Librarian of the Year in 2020 in part due to her launch of a diversity- and equity-minded reading program she called #readwoke. Her blog site chronicles her development of this program and related initiatives and includes recommended book lists.
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Awards are presented to Native American and North American Indigenous authors/illustrators in three categories: Picture Books, Middle Grade Books, and Young Adult Books for books celebrating books "by and about American Indians." One winner and up to 5 Honors books selected per category.
Arab American Book Award
Award presented to books which celebrate the Arab-American experience. While most of the categories represent adult books, there is a Children/Young Adult award.
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Awards for Adult, Young Adult, Children's, and Picture Book categories to recognize excellence in literature about Asian/Pacific Americans.
Bank Street College of Education Best Spanish Language Picture Book Award
New award first given in 2020, includes books written in or translated to Spanish.
Bank Street College of Education Children's Book Committee Awards & Lists
This linked repository provides access to book awards lists, recommended titles lists, and videos of awards acceptance speeches. Awards lists dating back to 2016 are shared.
Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor Winners
Founded by the National Council for the Social Studies in 1974, this award recognizes "the most distinguished books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States." The award is given across two levels: Elementary and Middle/Secondary.
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL) Best Books of the Year
The CSMCL celebrated its 10 year anniversary in 2021 and selects a list of exemplary multicultural books suitable for a range of age levels.
Children's Africana Book Awards (CABA)
Housed in the Center for African Studies at Howard University, this award recognizes books that share accurate, balanced information about Africa. Categories include Young Children, Older Readers, and New Adults.
CLASP - Americas Award
Up to two CLASP awards are given annually for children's and young adult books about Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinx people, life, and culture in the U.S.
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
"Given annually 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." Both author and illustrator awards are given.
Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award
This award "recognizes authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical children, intermediate, and young adult books that authentically portray individuals with developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, and Down syndrome."
Ezra Jack Keats (EJK) Award
Sponsored by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and the University of Southern Mississippi, the award recognizes two outstanding children's books each year, plus additional honorees: one by a new author and one by a new illustrator.
Freeman Book Awards
Given since 2016, these awards "recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia." There are two categories: Children's and Young Adult.
International Latino Books Awards
These awards "celebrate the best in Latinx literature, including works in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, as well as mixes and bilingual variants thereof and have numerous categories for children's and young adult books.
Jane Addams Children's Book Award
Annual award that "recognizes children’s books of literary and aesthetic excellence that effectively engage children in thinking about peace, social justice, global community, and equity for all people." Typically there are two award categories: Younger Children and Older Children
Corretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent
An award established to augment the Coretta Scott King Awards in order to "affirm new talent and to offer visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustration which otherwise might be formally unacknowledged within" the given structure of the Coretta Scott King Awards.
Middle East Book Award
Sponsored by the Middle East Outreach Council, books are judged for the authenticity of their portrayal of a Middle Eastern subject as well as on characterization, plot, and audience appeal. Awards are given in three categories: Picture Book, Youth Literature, and Youth Non-fiction.
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
For books originating in another country and published in a language other than English, which are then translated to English and published in the U.S.
National Jewish Book Awards
Middle grade and young adult titles are recognized each year among other categories geared toward adults. These awards began in 1950 and celebrate "outstanding English language books of Jewish interest."
New Voices Award (Lee & Low Books)
Lee & Low, the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the U.S. established this contest in 2000 to award a "children's picture book manuscript (target audience is ages 5-12) by a writer of color or an Indigenous/Native writer."
Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) Award
The International Library Association selects 25 books annually across grade levels PreK-12, which best "encourage understanding of the world's people and cultures."
Pura Belpré Award
Established in 1996 and named for the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library, this award recognizes "a Latina/o author and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates Latino cultural experience" in children's literature. Awarded across three categories: Children's Narrative, Youth Illustrator, and Young Adult Narrative (added in 2021).
Rainbow Booklist
List created annually which celebrates quality LGBTQIA+ literature published in the U.S. and Canada for readers from birth to age 18. For the 2021 list, the selection committee identified the Top 10 Titles list for Young readers and a second Top 10 Titles List for Teen Readers.
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 (formerly the Amelia Bloomer List)
Founded in 2002 to recognize well-written and well-illustrated books published in the United States. with significant feminist and inclusive content intended for young readers. Categories include Early Readers: Fiction, Early Readers: Nonfiction; Middle Grade: Fiction, Middle Grade: Nonfiction; Young Adult: Fiction, and Young Adult: Nonfiction.
Schneider Family Book Award
This award, given since 2004, honors books "that embody artistic expressions of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." Books for young children, middle graders, and teens are recognized.
Skipping Stones Book Awards
While the Skipping Stones magazine has been published since 1988, the wards lists are more recent. The Book Awards list has recognized Multicultural and International Books, Nature and Ecology Books, and Teaching Resources annually since 2018.
South Asia Book Award (SABA)
Sponsored by the South Asia National Outreach Consortium and dating back to 2012, this annual award honors outstanding literature for children and teens "about South Asia or South Asians living abroad."
Stonewall Book Awards
The Stonewall Book Awards celebrate LGBTQIA+ books for adults, young adults, and children. The longest-running LGBTQIA+ award in the U.S., it was established in 1971. The two subcategories of awards of most interest for young readers are the Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature Award and the Stonewall Honor Books in Children's and Young Adult Literature.
Sydney Taylor Book Award
The Association of Jewish Libraries has been presenting this award since 1968. It "is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience." Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Body of Work Awards are given.
Texas Library Association's Reading Lists
Includes recommended reading lists for ages two to adult covering various genres. This site includes the following youth-focused reading lists: 2x2, Little Maverick, Lone Star, Maverick, Spirit of Texas, Tayshas, Tejas Star, Texas Bluebonnet Award, and Texas Topaz.
Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award
Created in 1995 by the Texas State University College of Education, this award celebrates "authors and illustrators who create literature that depicts the Mexican American experience." The two award categories are Works for Younger Readers and Works for Older Readers.
Virginia Library Association's Graphic Novel Diversity Awards
The award has been presented since 2015 across two categories: Youth (ages 6-17) and Adult (ages 18+). Must include diverse character(s) and/or subjects.
Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children's Literature
Sponsored by the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) non-profit, this award honors "diverse authors who works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way." The award was launched in 2016 and has since expanded to include two categories: Teen (ages 13-18) and Younger Readers (ages 9-13).

This list of awards was adapted from Beyond the Caldecott & the Nobel: Diverse Literary Award Winners on the Essentially a Nerd site by Caitlin AH. The site is licensed under CC BY 4.0 International License.

Children's & Young Adult Literature

Featured Resource(s)

Caldecott & Newbery Awards

Best-Known Children's Literature Awards

Credit Due

CC Attribution

Tips for Identifying Titles

Databases that Can Help You Align Children's & YA Literature with Learning Outcomes

More Children's Lit Awards

More Awards & Lists that Recognize Excellent Books for Children & Teens