2020s
- Call Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos by Nathalie Alonso, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez
- The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming
- The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival by Estelle Nadel and Sammy Savos with Bethany Strout, illustrated by Sammy Savos
- Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills by Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman, illustrated by S. D. Nelson
2024 - The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day
- The Book of Turtles by Matt Patterson
- Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes by Traci Todd
- Jumper by Jessica Lanan
- Shipwrecked! by Martin Sandler
2023 - Seen and Unseen by Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki (Illustrator)
- Choosing Brave by Angela Joy; Janelle Washington (Illustrator)
- A Seed Grows by Antoinette Portis
- Sweet Justice by Mara Rockliff; R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)
- The Tower of Life by Chana Stiefel; Susan Gal (Illustrator)
2022 - The People's Painter by Cynthia Levinson; Evan Turk (Illustrator)
- Fallout by Steve Sheinkin
- The Great Stink by Colleen Paeff; Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)
- Summertime Sleepers by Melissa Stewart; Sarah Brannen (Illustrator)
- Unspeakable by Carole Boston Weatherford; Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)
- We Are Still Here! by Traci Sorell; Frane Lessac (Illustrator)
2021 - Honeybee by Candace Fleming; Eric Rohmann (Illustrator)
- All Thirteen: the Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
- Exquisite by Suzanne Slade; Cozbi A. Cabrera (Illustrator)
- How We Got to the Moon by John Rocco
2020 - Fry Bread by Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator); Kevin Noble Maillard
- All in a Drop by Lori Alexander; Vivien Mildenberger (Illustrator)
- Hey, Water! by Antoinette Portis
- Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes
- This Promise of Change by Jo Ann Allen Boyce; Debbie Levy
2010s
2019 - The Girl Who Drew Butterflies by Joyce Sidman
- Camp Panda by Catherine Thimmesh
- Spooked! by Gail Jarrow
- The Unwanted by Don Brown
- We Are Grateful by Traci Sorell; Frané Lessac (Illustrator)
- When Angels Sing by Michael James Mahin; José Ramírez (Illustrator)
2018 - Twelve Days in May by Larry Dane Brimner
- Grand Canyon by Jason Chin
- Not So Different by Shane Burcaw; Matt Carr (Illustrator)
- Sea Otter Heroes by Patricia Newman
- Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix by Jacqueline Briggs Martin; June Jo Lee
2017 - March: Book Three by John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell
- Giant Squid by Candace Fleming; Eric Rohmann (Illustrator)
- Sachiko by Caren Stelson
- Uprooted by Albert Marrin
- We Will Not Be Silent by Russell Freedman
2016 - Funny Bones by Duncan Tonatiuh
- Drowned City by Don Brown
- Voice of Freedom - Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston Weatherford; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
- The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoose
- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery; Elspeth Leacock (Retold by); Susan Buckley (Retold by); P. J. Loughran (Illustrator)
2015 - The Right Word by Jen Bryant; Melissa Sweet
- The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell; Christian Robinson
- Neighborhood Sharks by Katherine Roy
- Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh
2014 - Parrots over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth; Cindy Trumbore
- A Splash of Red by Jennifer Bryant; Melissa Sweet
- Locomotive by Brian Floca
- Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate
- The Mad Potter by Jan Greenberg; Sandra Jordan
2013 - Bomb by Steve Sheinkin
- Electric Ben by Robert Byrd
- Moonbird by Phillip Hoose
- Titanic by Deborah Hopkinson
2012 - Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet
- Black and White by Larry Dane Brunner
- Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Illustrator)
- The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O'Connell (Photographer); Donna M. Jackson; Timothy Rodwell (Illustrator, Photographer)
- Witches by Rosalyn Schanzer
2011 - Kakapo Rescue by Sy Montgomery; Nic Bishop (Illustrator, Photographer)
- Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg; Sandra Jordan; Brian Floca (Illustrator)
- Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Freedman
2010 - Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone
- The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors, written by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani
- Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
2000s
2009 - We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
- Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past by James M. Deem
- What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!, written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (
2008 - The Wall: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís
- Lightship by Brian Floca
- Spiders by Nic Bishop
2007 - Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
- Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement by Ann Bausum
- Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop
- To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel, written by Siena Cherson Siegel, artwork by Mark Siegel
2006 - Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley by Sally M. Walker
- Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
2005 - The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman
- Walt Whitman: Words for America, written by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick
- The Tarantula Scientist, written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop
- Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford, translated into Cherokee by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby
2004 - An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
- I Face the Wind, written by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton
2003 - The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Cross Giblin
- Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 by Karen Blumenthal
- Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
- Action Jackson, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
- When Marian Sang, written by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Brian Selznick
2002 - Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Bartolleti
- Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps by Andrea Warren
- Vincent Van Goh by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
- Brooklyn Bridge by Lynn Curlee
2001 - Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado by Marc Aronson
- The Longitude Prize by Joan Dash and Dušan Petričić
- BLIZZARD! The Storm That Changed America by Jim Murphy
- My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal by Sophie Webb
- Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned by Judd Winick