Award Winning Young Adult Books

I am in the process of receiving my master's degree in Library Science through Rutgers University. During my summer session, one class that stood out for me was my Young Adults, Reading, and Literacy class. As someone who works in the Youth Services Department at West Windsor as the Young Adult Librarian, taking this class has opened my eyes to the possibilities I have when designing book displays, the type of books I should order for the Young Adult collection, how these books can impact some readers, and the variety of book awards that Young Adult authors have won.

In the eight-week course, my peers and I had to select a book award from a list my professor provided, and read three books that either won or were nominated for that award in 2021/2022. This was exciting, and I read some fantastic Young Adult books this summer. This further opened my eyes to what is happening worldwide and changed my viewpoints on some topics. 

So, if you are interested in reading Young Adult books that have won or been nominated for important awards in 2021/2022, here is my recommended list of the books and the their awards. I hope you enjoy!

Book awards and recommendations:

The Walter Dean Myers Award

Awarded by We Need Diverse Books, the “Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children's Literature recognize diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way.”

Fire Keeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Summary: Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, either in her hometown or on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of college, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, a new recruit on her brother Levi's hockey team. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she reluctantly agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source of a new drug. How far will she go to protect her community, if it threatens to tear apart the only world she's ever known?

And We Rise by Erica Martin

Summary: A powerful, impactful, eye-opening journey that explores 1950s-1960s America through the Civil Rights Movement, with historical photos interspersed throughout. In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin's debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement - beginning with the "Separate but Equal" ruling-and introducing lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation's centuries-long fight for justice and equality. A poignant, powerful, all-too-timely collection that is both a vital history lesson and much-needed conversation starter in our modern world. Complete author's note, chronology of events, research, and sources.

 Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space edited by Zoraida Córdova

Summary: In this collection of stories by acclaimed young adult authors, the Latin American diaspora travels to places of fantasy and out into space.

The Pura Belpré Award

“The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually 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.

Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos

Summary: A wordless graphic novel in which twelve-year-old Marisol must adapt to a new life in 1960s Brooklyn after her parents send her to the United States from Cuba to keep her safe during Castro's regime.

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

Summary: Petra Pena wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard - or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman

Summary: Mateo Garcia and his younger sister, Sophie, have been taught to fear one word for as long as they can remember: deportation. Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they're hard workers and good neighbors. When Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken by ICE, he realizes that his family's worst nightmare has become a reality. Now Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he is forced to question what it means to be an American.

The Asian/Pacific American Award

Awarded by the Asian/Pacific Librarians Association, “the goal of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is to honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.”

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Summary: Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start. Juniper, California. Now. Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding. Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle's liquor store while hiding the fact that she's applying to college so she can escape him--and Juniper--forever. When Sal's attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth--and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and in their midst. From one of today's most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness--one that's both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.

Messy Roots by Laura Gao

Summary: Seamlessly toggling between past and present, this funny graphic memoir follows a queer Chinese American's immigration to Texas where she just wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why she is attracted to girls.

Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

Summary: Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she's the only Indian American student, and home, with her family's traditions and holidays. But Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted--they only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma, although their names are linked--Reha means "star" and Punam means "moon"--but they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can't stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. She'll be the perfect daughter, if it means saving her Amma's life

The Stonewall Award

“The first and most enduring award for LGBTQIA+ books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association's Rainbow Round Table (formerly the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table). Since Isabel Miller's Patience and Sarah received the first award in 1971, many other books have been honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.”

Last Night at The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

 A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow

Summary: Two seventeen-year-old trans boys in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, struggling to understand themselves and their love for each other, are inspired by an online story about trans soldiers who fell in love during the American Revolution.

Girl from The Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to leave the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends...who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl. Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.

The Eisner Award

“The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are considered the “Oscars” of the comics world. Named for the pioneering comics creator and graphic novelist Will Eisner, the awards are given out in more than two dozen categories during a ceremony each year at Comic-Con International: San Diego.”

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Mannie Murphy

Summary: What begins as an affectionate reminiscence of Mannie Murphy's 1990s teenage infatuation with the late actor River Phoenix--specifically his role in Gus Van Sant's classic film, My Own Private Idaho--slowly transforms into a remarkable, sprawling account of the city of Portland and state of Oregon's long and shameful history of white nationalism. Told in the style of an illustrated diary, with wet, blue ink washes, the form reveals the author to be the other protagonist in this story as a genderqueer kid discovering a complicated history.

 The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle

Summary: It's the first day of sophomore year, and now that Winifred's two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, she must navigate high school on her own. But she isn't alone for long. In art class, she meets two offbeat students, Oscar and April. The three bond through clandestine sleepovers, thrift store shopping, and zine publishing. Winifred is finally breaking out of her shell, but there's one secret she can't bear to admit to April and Oscar, or even to herself--and this lie is threatening to destroy her newfound friendships.

The Hazards of Love Bright World by Stan Stanley

Summary: Follows the story of a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home.

- by Rebecca Eaton, West Windsor