2025 Award Winners

2023 Award Winners

Social Justice Literature Award 2024

Click on the various links below for more information about the books, authors, illustrators, and publishers. Other titles in the same group are included which may be of interest. All these titles were published in 2023.

This year's selection committee members are listed at the end of this page.

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Fiction Picturebook:

Winner: The Great Banned-Book Bake Sale by Aya Khalil, author, and Anait Semirdzhyan, illustrator (Tilbury House Publishers)

Honor: Something Happened to Our Planet: Kids Tackle the Climate Crisis by Marianne Celano & Marietta Collins, authors, and Bhagya Madanasinghe, illustrator (Magination Press)

2024 Additional Recommended Reading:

• The Brothers Zzli by Ale Cousseau and Anne-Lise Boutin; translated by Vineet Lai
• Camilla Super Helper by Julie Dillemuth
• A Hero Like Me by Angela Joy and Jen Reid

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Fiction:

Winner: Indigo and Ida by Heather Murphy Capps (Carolrhoda Books imprint of Lerner)

Honor: Code Red by Joy McCullough (Atheneum Books for Young Readers - imprint of Simon & Schuster)
Honor: Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorrell (Charlesbridge) See also discussion guide.

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2024 Additional Recommended Reading:

• Ajay and the Mumbai Sun by Varsha Shah
• The Green Girls by Loic Nicoloff, Antoine Losty, Laberto Zanon, and Roberto Pierpaoli
• I Kick and I Fly by Ruchira Gupta
• Jude Saves the World by Ronnie Riley
• You Can't Call It Gay Club! by Simon James Green
• Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

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Nonfiction Picturebook:

Winner: No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, & Jeanette Bradley, authors (Charlesbridge) See also here.

Honor: Lift Every Voice and Change by Charnaie Gordon, author, and Aeron Cargill, illustrator (Quarto)
Honor: Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement by Sandra Neil Wallace, author, and Bryan Collier, illustrator (Simon & Schuster: A Paula Wiseman Book)
Honor: We Are Here by Tami Charles, author, and Bryan Collier, illustrator (Scholastic Press) See also here.

2024 Additional Recommended Reading:

• The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jadav Payeng by Rina Singh
• Justice Ketanji by Denise Lewis Patrick
• Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball by Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir with Judith Henderson
• Little People, Big Dreams by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
• Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm by Lesa ClineRansome
• Love Is in the Air: The Story of Aviation Pioneer Nancy Harkness Love by Dee Romito
• Ruth First Never Backed Down by Danielle Joseph
• Stand as Tall as the Trees: How an Amazon Community Protected the Rain Forest by Patricia Gualinga and Laura Resau
• Stars of the Night by Caren Stelson
• A Take-Charge Girl Blazes a Trail to Congress: The Story of Jeannette Rankin by Gretchen Woelfle

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Nonfiction:

Winner: We Are Your Children Too by P. O'Connell Pearson (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Honor: Breaking News: Why Media Matters by Raina Delisle, author, and Julie McLaughlin, illustrator (Orca Book Publishers)
Honor: Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism by Yassmin Abdel-Magied, author, and Aleesha Nandhra, illustrator (Candlewick Press)
Honor: Stay Up: Racism, Resistance, and Reclaiming Black Freedom by Khodi Dill, author, and Stylo Starr, illustrator (Annick Press)
Honor: Susie King Taylor by Erica Armstrong Dunbar & Candace Buford (Aladdin / Simon & Schuster)

2024 Additional Recommended Reading:

• Dig Deep: Archeology, Oceans, and Us by Nicole F. Smith
• Dreamer by Akim Aliu
• Get Out and Vote: How You Can Shape the Future by Elizabeth MacLeod
• Good Food, Bad Waste: Let's Eat for the Planet by Erin Silver
• Less Is More: Join the Low-Waste Movement by Leah Payne
• Reimagining Police: The Future of Public Safety by Dr. Artika R. Tyner
• Smash the Patriarchy by Meta Breen; translated by Sian Mackie
• Too Much Trash: How Litter Is Hurting Animals by Joan Marie Galat
• Walls and Welcome Mats by Lars Ortiz

Committee Members

This year's winners were selected by the following committee members:

Char Moffit, Ph.D. (Co-Chair), Assistant Professor, Literacy Education, School of Education, California State University (CSU), Chico.
Judith Dunkerly, Ph.D (Co-Chair), Associate Professor, Old Dominion University, Virginia Beach, VA.
Patricia Dean, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Children's Literature, Salisbury University, Norfolk, MD.
Sharon Hayes, Ph.D., Associate Professor, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV.
Jasmyn Jones, Ph.D., Literacy Education Lecturer, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
Irene Korber, Senior Assistant Librarian, California State University (CSU), Chico.
Tom Smith, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT.