Outstanding Backlist

Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit, Winner, 2017
  • Orbis Pictus Award Recommended Book, Commended, 2015

Out of Darkness

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Booklist’s 50 Best YA Books of All Time, Winner, 2017
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2016
  • Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Commended, 2016
  • YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Winner, 2016
  • Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year, Winner, 2015

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2016
  • NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books, Winner, 2016
  • AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books Commended Book, Commended, 2015

Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, Winner, 2016
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2015
  • NCTE Notable Poetry List, Winner, 2015

I Remember Beirut

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Winner, 2015
  • USBBY Outstanding International Books List, Winner, 2015
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2015

When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2015

Water Can Be . . .

From the Series Can Be . . . Books

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended Title, Commended, 2015

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist, Commended, 2015
  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, Short-listed, 2015
  • YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults, Winner, 2015
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2015
  • Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year, Winner, 2014

H.O.R.S.E.

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, Commended, 2012

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2013
  • Kirkus Best Children's Books, Winner, 2012
  • School Library Journal Best Book, Winner, 2012
  • Shelf Awareness 10 Best Books of the Year, Winner, 2012
  • Horn Book Best Books of the Year, Winner, 2012

Infinity and Me

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2013
  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2012
  • New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book, Winner, 2012

Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature's Undead

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Kirkus Best Children's Books, Winner, 2013
  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2012

Ruth and the Green Book

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2010
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2010

Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Coretta Scott King Author Award, Winner, 2009
  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2009
  • Carter G. Woodson Book Award Honor, Commended, 2009
  • NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, Winner, 2009

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2009
  • NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, Winner, 2009
  • NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, Winner, 2009
  • Orbis Pictus Award Recommended Book, Commended, 2009
  • School Library Journal Best Book, Winner, 2009

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley

Starred Reviews

Notable Awards

  • Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, Winner, 2006
  • ALA Notable Children's Books, Winner, 2005
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2005
  • ILA Teacher's Choices, Winner, 2005
  • Orbis Pictus Award Recommended Book, Commended, 2005

Almost to Freedom

Notable Awards

  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2003
  • Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, Commended, 2003