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literacyworldwide.org | July/August/September 2021 | LITERACY TODAY
ILA Book Award Winners Announced
ILA recently announced the 2021 winners of the Children’s and Young Adults’ Book
Awards, highlighting both fiction and nonfiction works that exemplify the best
from rising stars in the literary field. The annual awards program recognizes newly
published authors who exhibit exceptional promise in the children’s and young
adults’ book fields; eligible titles must be the author’s first or second.
The 2021 award winners are as follows:
Primary Fiction
Winner: Magnificent Homespun Brown:
A Celebration. Samara Cole Doyon.
Tilbury House.
Honor: I Talk Like a River. Jordan Scott.
Neal Porter Books.
Primary Nonfiction
Winner: This Is a Seahorse. Cassandra
Federman. Albert Whitman & Company.
Honor: The Big Bang Book. Asa Stahl.
Creston Books.
Intermediate Fiction
Winner: Brother’s Keeper. Julie Lee.
Holiday House.
Honor: When You Know What I Know.
Sonja K. Solter. Little, Brown Books for
Young Readers.
Intermediate Nonfiction
Winner: The Suffragist Playbook: Your
Guide to Changing the World. Lucinda
Robb and Rebecca Boggs Roberts.
Candlewick Press.
Honor: Lizzie Demands a Seat!
Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar
Rights. Beth Anderson. Boyds Mills &
Kane.
Young Adult Fiction
Winner: The Magic Fish. Trung Le
Nguyen. Random House Children’s
Books.
Honor: The Lucky Ones. Liz Lawson.
Random House Children’s Books.
Young Adult Nonfiction
Winner: The Black Friend: On Being a
Better White Person. Frederick Joseph.
Candlewick Press.
The University of North Georgia is the latest recipient of ILA National Recognition With
Distinction—the highest institutional honor awarded by ILA. ILA National Recognition for the
Preparation of Literacy Professionals recognizes outstanding literacy preparation programs in
the United States with ILA National Recognition or ILA National Recognition With Distinction.
By receiving ILA National Recognition With Distinction, University of North Georgia’s
Elementary Education program demonstrated that it adheres to a rigorous set of standards for
preparing literacy professionals and exceeds ILA’s benchmarks.
The ILA National Recognition and ILA National Recognition With Distinction honor
outstanding licensure, certificate, and endorsement programs that prepare reading/literacy
specialists and elementary/intermediate classroom teachers. For more information, visit
ilanationalrecognition.org.
University of North Georgia Recognized for
Excellence in Literacy Professional Preparation