2018 Nonfiction Award

2018 Winner (Don't forget to check out all of the books that were nominated).

Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers written by Deborah Heiligman and published by Godwin Books/Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

The bond between brothers was never stronger. Drawing on their lifelong correspondence, Heiligman plumbs their journey from an ascetic upbringing in a Protestant parsonage to the auction houses of Europe as Theo develops business acumen, all the while supporting volatile Vincent’s groundbreaking artistic endeavors both materially and emotionally. Their devotion to each other was so profound that there could have been no Vincent van Gogh without Theo. 

2018 Finalists


 

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Mary Beth Leatherdale and Lisa Charleyboy and published by Annick Press

The editors present a stereotype-busting, zine-like collection of personal essays, illustrations, and photos from and about the marginalized experiences of indigenous young women. This energetic showcase of contemporary lives demonstrates the strength and vitality of living heritages through a rich, visually stunning riot of art and memoir.

Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism written by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos and published by Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

Meet Robert Capo and Gerda Taro, young refugees and fearless pioneers of photojournalism, who documented the savagery of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. In capturing a struggle against fascism that presaged World War II, their body of work reflects the evolution of photography as a journalistic medium. Aronson and Budhos use the two as a springboard to an expansive look at a forgotten conflict whose political and philosophical ramifications captured the attention of the world.

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives written by Dashka Slater and published by Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

In the news: an agender teen falls asleep on an Oakland city bus. A black teen sets their skirt on fire. Two young lives, forever entwined because of proximity in a moment, eventually spark an entire community’s shift towards restorative justice.

The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found written by Martin W. Sandler, and published by Candlewick Press

Cinematic portrayals of the high seas can’t touch the rollicking realities of life aboard the Eighteenth century ship, The Whydah. This transporting look at the peculiar society of the piratical brotherhood, peppered with first-hand accounts, has much to tell us about successful maritime strategies for maintaining a reign of terror, the Whydah’s wreck and the house-to-house search it inspired, and the truths that artifacts recovered from its discovery off Cape Cod revealed about the golden age of piracy in the American colonies.

2018 Committee

Members of the 2018 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award committee are: Chair Wendy Stephens, Assistant Professor, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL; Catherine M. Andronik, Teacher Librarian, Brien McMahon High School, Norwalk, CT; Jan Chapman, retired Teen Services Librarian, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH, Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal, New York, NY; Sandra Farag, Youth Material Selector, The New York Public Library & Brooklyn Public Library, New York, NY; Michael Fleming, Librarian, Pacific Cascade Middle School, Issaquah, WA; Sarah Okner, Youth & School Services Librarian, Vernon Area Public Library District, Lincolnshire, IL; Marney Welmers, Retired middle school librarian, Mariana USD, Tucson, AZ; and Dorcas Wong, Teen Services Librarian, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, and Catherine Sorensen, School Librarian, Scarsdale Schools, NY. Administrative Assistant, and Julia Smith, Booklist Consultant, Chicago.