Note: I occasionally accept review copies from the publisher. Posts written from review copies are labeled. All opinions are my own. Posts may contain affiliate links. I may receive compensation for any purchased items.

2020s

2025 - Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall by Lynn Brunelle and illustrated by Jason Chin


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

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

Reviewed on February 1, 2000

About the author 

Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid is a homeschooling, stay-at-home mother seeking to make the journey of life-long learning fun by reading lots of good books. Rebecca Reads provides reviews of children's literature she has enjoyed with her children; nonfiction that enhances understanding of educational philosophies, history and more; and classical literature that Rebecca enjoys reading.

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