Schneider Family Book Award

About the Schneider Family Book Award The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Click here for the Schneider Family Book Award Manual (PDF)
Bibliography of Children's Books about the Disability Experience (pdf)

Administered by:

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Teen Winner

2021 Winner(s)

This is My Brain in Love written by I.W. Gregorio and published by Little Brown and Company, a division of Hatchett Books, won the award for teens.

 Told in dual narrative, I.W. Gregorio’s second YA novel is an own voices story exploring mental illness stigma, race and culture, and relationships. Jocelyn Wu and Will Domenici, high schoolers who find romance while trying to keep Jocelyn’s family restaurant from failing, fight to save it all, including their relationship.


Honor Middle Grade

2021 Honor(s)

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! written by Sarah Kapit, published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House LLC

 In this perfectly pitched novel-in-letters, autistic eleven-year-old Vivy Cohen won't let anything stop her from playing baseball--not when she has a major-league star as her pen pal.
 


When Stars are Scattered, written by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson, color by Iman Geddy, and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting, and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings.


Younger Children Winner

2021 Winner(s)

I Talk Like a River, written by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith, and published by Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, won the award for younger children.

Jordan Scott, poet and debut picture book author, and award-winning illustrator Sydney Smith tell an own voices story of a young boy who feels isolated  and unable to communicate because of his stutter. On a bad speech day, his father takes him to the river to help him understand the beauty of his voice.


Middle Grade Winner

2021 Winner(s)

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., won the award for middle grades.

Ann Clare LeZotte, a Deaf librarian and author, tells the story of Mary Lambert, a young deaf girl growing up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in 1805 where 1 in 25 of the population is deaf. Mary feels safe in her community until a scientist arrives to study the source of the deafness.


Young Children Honor Title

2021 Honor(s)

All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything, written by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali, foreword by Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, and published by Sourcebook eXplore, an imprint of Sourcebook Kids, is a Schneider Family Book Award younger children honor title.

Experience the true story of lifelong activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins and her participation in the Capitol Crawl in this inspiring autobiographical picture book. 


Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin written by Tracy Newman, illustrated by Abigail Halpin and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams, is a Schneider Family Book Award younger children honor title.

This picture-book biography of violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman will inspire young readers to follow the melody within themselves