Blue Ribbons – Non-Fiction | Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi

Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned. See more kids literary prize winners.

Blue Ribbons are chosen annually by the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books staff and represent what they believe to be the best of the previous year’s literature for youth.

Winners in other Blue Ribbons categories

2023

83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary; written and illus. by Don Brown
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity Nicholas Day
Desert Queen Jyoti Rajan Gopal
Dear Yesteryear Kimberly Annece Henderson
Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior Carole Lindstrom
Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story; written and illus. by Sarah Myer
Behold the Octopus! Suzanne Slade
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed Dashka Slater
Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira; written and illus. by Duncan Tonatiuh
Kin: Rooted in Hope Carole Boston Weatherford

2022

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, illus. by Daniel Minter
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure Lewis Hancox
Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement Angela Joy, illus. by Janelle Washington
Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play among Figures of Speech Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek; illus. by Richard Jones
Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home Zahra Marwan
Maybe an Artist: A Graphic Memoir Liz Montague
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’ Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration Elizabeth Partridge, illus. by Lauren Tamaki
Out of the Shadows: How Lotte Reiniger Made the First Animated Fairytale Movie Fiona Robinson
Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections Shaun Tan
Land of Books: Dreams of Young Mexihcah Word Painters Duncan Tonatiuh
Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler Ibi Zoboi

2021

Oksi; written and illus. by Mari Ahokoivu; tr. from the Finnish by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro
Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica Rebecca E. F. Barone
In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race Amy Cherrix
Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories Dan SaSuWeh Jones; illus. by Weshoyot Alvitre
The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life Amy Butler Greenfield
Art Is Everywhere: A Book about Andy Warhol; written and illus. by Jeff Mack
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People Kekla Magoon
Whale Fall Café Jacquie Sewell; illus. by Dan Tavis
Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown Steve Sheinkin

2020

The Racers: How an Outcast Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Challenged Hitler’s Best Neal Bascomb
The Lights and Types of Ships at Night Dave Eggers, illus. by Annie Dills
Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder
Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera Candace Fleming, illus. by Eric Rohmann
The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh Candace Fleming
Snow Birds Kirsten Hall, illus. by Jenni Desmond
The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person Frederick Joseph
The Cat Man of Aleppo; written by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha; illus. by Yuko Shimizu
Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story) Daniel Nayeri
Being Frog; written and illus. with photographs by April Pulley Sayre
Chance: Escape from the Holocaust; written and illus. by Uri Shulevitz
Dragon Hoops; written and illus. by Gene Luen Yang; color by Lark Pien.

2019

Shout Laurie Halse Anderson
The Important Thing about Margaret Wise Brown Mac Barnett illus. by Sarah Jacoby.
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc David Elliott
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir Nikki Grimes
The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in Our Food and Drugs Gail Jarrow
The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets Sarah Miller
Picking Up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson
Born to Fly: The First Women’s Air Race across America Steve Sheinkin illus. by Bijou Karman
Elvis Is King! Jonah Winter illus. by Red Nose Studio

2018

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World Pénélope Bagieu
Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend Karen Blumenthal
A History of Pictures for Children David Hockney
Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened a City Phillip Hoose
Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America Gail Jarrow
Bird Builds a Nest Martin Jenkins
Hey, Kiddo Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam Elizabeth Patridge
Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere Barb Rosenstock
Americanized: Rebel without a Green Card Sara Saedi
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science Joyce Sidman

2017

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth; illus. by Ekua Holmes
One Last Word Nikki Grimes; illus. by James Ransome, R. Gregory Christie, and Elizabeth Zunon
Fallingwater Marc Harshman and Anna Egan Smucker; illus. by LeUyen Pham
Vincent and Theo Deborah Heiligman
Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters Michael Mahin; illus. by Evan Turk
Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive! Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson
Maya Lin: Thinking with Her Hands Susan Goldman Rubin
The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano Elizabeth Rusch ;illus. by Marjorie Priceman.
Voyager’s Greatest Hits: The Epic Trek to Interstellar Space Alexandra Siy
American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood Susan Wood; illus. by Ross MacDonald

2016

Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science Jeannine Atkins
Dave Eggers; illus. Tucker Nichols.
When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons Julie Fogliano; illus. by Julie Morstad
Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus John Hendrix
Animals by the Numbers: A Book of Animal Infographics Steve Jenkins
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph Roxane Orgill; illus. by Francis Vellajo.
Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White Melissa Sweet
The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk Jan Thornhill
Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune Pamela S. Turner; illus. by Gareth Hinds

2015

Tommy: The Gun that Changed America Karen Blumenthal
Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King Bonnie Christensen
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club Phillip Hoose
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary Gail Jarrow
How to Swallow a Pig Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March; as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley Lynda Blackmon Lowery
Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower Greg Pizzoli
The Inker’s Shadow Allen Say
Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Steve Sheinkin
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras Duncan Tonatiuh

2014

Gravity Jason Chin
Above the Dreamless Dead edited by Chris Duffy
Pure Grit Mary Cronk Farrell
The Family Romanov Candace Fleming
Poisoned Apples Christine Heppermann
Firefly July Paul Janeczko; illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Beyond Magenta Susan Kuklin
How I Discovered Poetry written by Marilyn Nelson; illustrated by Hadley Hooper
Josephine written by Patricia Hruby Powell; illustrated by Christian Robinson
To Dare Mighty Things written by Doreen Rappaport; illustrated by C.F. Payne
The Port Chicago 50 Steve Sheinkin
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Rick Allen
Feathers written by Melissa Stewart; illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen
The White House is Burning Jane Sutcliffe
Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson

2013

Emancipation, Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty Tonya Bolden
The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
A Bag of Marbles Joseph Joffo; adapted by Kris; illustrated by Vincent Bailly
Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives written by Elizabeth Rusch; photographs by Tom Uhlman
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II Martin Sandler
Lincoln's Grave Robbers Steve Sheinkin
Courage Has No Colour Tanya Lee Stone
You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! written by Jonah Winter; illustrated by Terry Widener

2012

Island: a story of the Galápagos Jason Chin
Forget-Me-Nots: poems to learn by heart written by Mary Ann Hoberman; illustrated by Michael Emberly
Moonbird: a year on the wind with the great survivor B95 Phillip Hoose
Worst of friends Suzanne Tripp Jurmain; illustrated by Larry Day
Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman
The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919 Deborah Kops
Miles to go for freedom Linda Barrett Osborne
Beyond courage Doreen Rappaport
From the good mountain by James Rumford
Bomb Steve Sheinkin
Brothers at bat Audrey Vernick; illustrated by Steven Salerno

2011

Emma Dilemma: big sister poems written by Kristine O’Connell George; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
The odyssey Gareth Hinds
The many faces of George Washington: remaking a presidential icon Carla Killough McClafferty
Around the world: three remarkable journeys Matt Phelan
Into the unknown Stewart Ross
Goldman music was IT Susan Rubin
Voices from the Holocaust Ruth Terezín Thomson
Greek myths written by Ann Turnbull; illustrated by Sarah Young

2010

Borrowed names Jeannine Atkins
Lizards Nic Bishop
Sky sailors: true stories of the balloon era David Bristow
The war to end all wars: World War I Russell Freedman
Kakapo rescue Sy Montgomery; illustrated with photographs by Nic Bishop
Time you let me in Naomi Shihab Nye
Zeus: king of the gods by George O#8217;Connor
Marching for freedom Elizabeth Partridge
Dark emperor & other poems of the night Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Rick Allen

2009

The story of snow Mark Cassino with Jon Nelson; illustrated by Nora Aoyagi with photographs by Mark Cassino
Moonshot: the flight of Apollo 11 Written and illustrated by Brian Floca
Charles and Emma Deborah Heligman
Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice Phillip Hoose
Down down down: a journey to the bottom of the sea Steve Jenkins
Truce: the day the soldiers stopped fighting Jim Murphy
A whiff of pine, a hint of skunk written by Deborah Ruddell; illustrated by Joan Rankin
Red sings from treetops written by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Opuestos Cynthia Weill; illustrated with photographs by Sergio A. Gómez
Pharaoh’s boat by David Weitzman

2008

Frogs Nic Bishop
What’s eating you? Nicola Davies; illustrated by Neal Layton
Falling hard Betsy Franco, ed.
Abe Lincoln crosses a creek: a tall, thin tale (introducing his forgotten frontier friend) Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by John Hendrix
This is your life cycle Heather Lynn Miller; illustrated by Michael Chesworth
Face to face with frogs Mark W. Moffett
We are the ship Kadir Nelson
Punk rock etiquette by Travis Nichols
Abe’s honest words Dorreen Rappaport; illustrated by Kadir Nelson

2007

The strongest man in the world Nicolas Debon
Henry’s freedom box Ellen Levine; illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Houdini the handcuff king Jason Lutes; illustrated by Nick Bertozzi
Good masters! Sweet ladies! Laura Amy Schlitz; illustrated by Robert Byrd
The wall by Peter Sís

2006

Freedom Riders Ann Bausum
Sea horse Chris Butterworth; illustrated by John Lawrence Candlewick
The poet slave of Cuba written by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Sean Qualls
5,000 miles to freedom Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin
Memories of survival Esther Nisenthal Krinitz and Bernice Steinhardt
Giants of science: Isaac Newton Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Boy, were we wrong about dinosaurs! Kathleen V. Kudlinski; illustrated by S. D. Schindler
Kampung boy Lat
Stompin’ at the Savoy: the story of Norma Miller Norma Miller; edited by Alan Govenar; illustrated by Martin French
The hero Schliemann Laura Amy Schlitz; illustrated by Robert Byrd