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2022
Winner: “Ambushed!: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield” written by Gail Jarrow and published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers. . 9781684378142
Finalists: “Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” written by Brandy Colbert, “From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement” written by Paula Yoo, “In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months and Years After the 9/11 Attacks” written and illustrated by Don Brown, “The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life” written by Amy Butler Greenfield
2021
Winner: The Rise & Fall of Charles Lindbergh, written by Candace Fleming
Finalists: All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team, written by Christina Soontornvat; The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival, written by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura L. Sullivan; How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure, written and illustrated by John Rocco ; Torpedoed: You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Democracy and Deliver Power to the People, written by Elizabeth Rusch
2020
Winner: Free Lunch, written by Rex Ogle
Finalists: The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance, written and illustrated by Lynn Curlee; A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust, written by Albert Marrin; A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II, written by Elizabeth Wein; Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children's Ship", written by Deborah Heiligman
2019
Winner: The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees written and illustrated by Don Brown
Finalists: The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor written by Sonia Sotomayor; Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam written by Elizabeth Partridge; The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler written and illustrated by John Hendrix; Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
2018
Winner: 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
Finalists: #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Mary Beth Leatherdale and Lisa Charleyboy; Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism written by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos; The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives written by Dashka Slater; The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found written by Martin W. Sandler
2017
Winner: March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
Finalists: Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History by Karen Blumenthal, In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis, Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune written by Pamela S. Turner, This Land is Our Land: A History of American Immigration written by Linda Barrett Osborne,
Learn more about the 2017 award.
2016
Winner: Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War written by Steve Sheinkin
Finalists: Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad written by M.T. Anderson, Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir written by Margarita Engle; First Flight Around the World: The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race written by Tim Grove, This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon written by Nancy Plain.
Learn more about the 2016 award.
2015
Winner: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek written by Maya Van Wagenen
Finalists: Laughing at My Nightmare written by Shane Burcaw, The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia written by Candace Fleming, Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and Won! written by Emily Arnold McCully, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights written by Steve Sheinkin.
Learn more about the 2015 award.
2014
Winner: The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi written by Neal Bascomb
Finalists: Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design written by Chip Kidd, Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II written by Martin W. Sandler, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers written by Tanya Lee Stone, The President Has Been Shot! The Assassination of John F. Kennedy written by James L. Swanson.
Learn more about the 2014 award.
2013
Winner: Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, written by Steve Sheinkin
Finalists: Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, a biography by Karen Blumenthal; Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, written by Phillip Hoose; Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, written by Deborah Hopkinson; and We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March, written by Cynthia Levinson.
Learn more about the 2013 award.
2012
Winner: The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin
Finalists: Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos; Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition written by Karen Blumenthal; Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy; and Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein written by Susan Goldman Rubin.
Learn more about the 2012 award.
2011
Winner: Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel
Finalists: They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement by Rick Bowers; The Dark Game: True Spy Stories by Paul Janeczko; and Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw, published by Charlesbridge
Learn more about the 2011 award.
2010
Winner: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.
Finalists: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone, Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice by Phillip Hoose, The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum by Candace Fleming, and Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker.
Learn more about the 2010 award.