2026 Award Winners

2024 Award Winners

Social Justice Literature Award 2025

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 2024.

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

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Fiction Picturebook:

Winner: They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom by, Lesa Cline-Ransome, author, and James E. Ransome, illustrator (Candlewick)

Honor: Momma's Going to March by Jennifer Maruno, author, and Vivian Rosas, illustrator (Groundwood
Books)

2025 Additional Recommended Reading:

• Simone by Viet Thanh Nguyen (author) and Minnie Phan (illustrator)

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Fiction:

Winner: Save Our Forest by Nora Dasnes, author, and Lise Laerdal Bryn, translator (Hippo Park)

Honor: Eyes Open by Lyn Miller-Lachman (Carolrhoda LAB)
Honor: This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed (Little, Brown & Co.)

2025 Additional Recommended Reading:

• Birds on the Brain by Uma Krishnaswami (author) and Julianna Swaney (illustrator)
• Lo Simpson Starts a Revolution by Melanie Florence (author)
• Make a Little Wave by Kerry O'Malley Cerra (author)

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Nonfiction Picturebook:

Winner: José Feeds the World: How a Famous Chef Feeds Millions of People in Need Around the World by David Unger and Marta Alvarez Miguéns (Sourcebook Explore, 2024)

Honor: Loop de Loop: Circular Solutions for a Waste-Free World by Andrea Curtis (Roozeboos)
Honor: Signs of Hope: The Revolutionary Art of Sister Corita Kent by Mara Rockliff, author, and Melissa
Sweet, illustrator (Abrams Books)

2025 Additional Recommended Reading:

• The ABC's of Queer History by Seema Yasmin (author) and Lucy Kirk (illustrator)
• Abzuglutely! Battling, Bellowing Bella Abzug by Sarah Aronson (author) and Andrea D'Aquino (illustrator)
• Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good by No Nieqa (author) and Nicole Medina (illustrator)
• Dona Fela's Dream by Monica Brown (author) and Rosa Ibarra (illustrator)
• Gifts from the Garbage Truck by Andrew Larson (author) and Oriol Vidal (illustrator)
• The Heartbeat Drum: The Story of Carol Powder, Cree Drummer and Activist by Deidre Havrelock (author) and Aphelandra (illustrator)
• Hello, Beech Tree by Rasha Hamid (author) and Sofia Moore (illustrator)
• Mercedes Sosa: Voice of the People by Aixa Pérez-Prado (author and illustrator)
• One of a Kind: The Life of Sydney Taylor by Richard Michelson (author) and Sarah Green (illustrator)
• The Rainbow Parade by Emily Neilson (author and illustrator)
• We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants Took Their Fight to the Supreme Court by Mia Wenjen (author) and Victor Bizar Gómez (illustortor)

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Nonfiction:

Winner: Remember My Story: A Girl, a Holocaust Survivor, and a Friendship That Made History by Claire Sarnowski and Sarah Durand (Little, Brown & Co.)

Honor: Carol Gilligan and the Search for Voice by Bill Cole, author, and Sarah Green, illustrator (Magination Press)
Honor: You Can Be an Activist: How to Use Your Strengths and Passions to Make a Difference by Charlene Rocha and Mary Beth Leatherdale, authors, Drew Shannon, illustrator (Kids Can Press)

2025 Additional Recommended Reading:

• All Consuming: Shop Smarter for the Planet by Erin Silver (author) and Suharu Ogawa (illustrator)
• Born a Girl: It Takes Courage by Alice Dussutor (author) and David Warriner (translator)
• Finding Rebecca: The Forgotten Life of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, America's First Black Female Doctor by Shani Mahiri King (author) and Nicole Tadgell (illustrator)
• In It to Win It: Sports and the Climate Crisis by Erin Silver (author) and Pui Yan Fong (illustrator)
• Let's Get Creative: Art for a Healthy Planet by Jessica Rose (author) and Jarett Sitter (illustrator)
• Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau (authors)
• Save Our Seeds: Protecting Plants for the Future by Sheryl Normandeau
• The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anita Crawford Clark (author)
• Taking Care of Where We Live: Restoring Ecosystems by Merrie-Ellen Wilcox (author) and Amanda Key (illustrator)

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.
Thomas B. Smith, Ph.D. (Co-Chair), Associate Professor, English Education, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT.
Lynne Bercaw, Director & Professor, School of Teacher Education, San Diego State University, CA.
Isaac Willis Larison, Associate Professor, Literacy Education Program, Marshall University, South Charleson, WV.
Benita R. Brooks, Associate Professor in Literacy Education & Chair, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Aimee Rogers, Ph.D., Middle School Librarian. South Middle School, Grand Forks Public Schools, ND.
Megan Van Deventer, Associate Professor of English, Director of English Teaching, Weber State University, Ogden, UT