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National Council of Teachers of English · award year

NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children 2023

The 2023 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children went to Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Minter. 5 books were Honor Books and 8 books were selected.

Winner

  1. Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Mintersource (opens in a new tab)

Honor Books

  1. Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Angela Joy and Janelle Washingtonsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Fighting for Yes! The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann by Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Vivien Mildenbergersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Hardcourt: Stories from 75 Years of the National Basketball Association by Fred Bowen and James E. Ransomesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration by Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamakisource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Science of Light: Things That Shine, Flash, and Glow by Margaret Peotsource (opens in a new tab)

Selections

  1. A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn by Patricia Newman and Natasha Donovansource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Caves by Nell Cross Beckerman and Kalen Chocksource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Crash from Outer Space: Unraveling the Mystery of Flying Saucers, Alien Beings, and Roswell by Candace Flemingsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. One Wish: Fatima al Fihri and the World's Largest University by M. O. Yuksel and Mariam Quraishisource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Adventures of Dr. Sloth: Rebecca Cliffe and Her Quest to Protect Sloths by Suzi Eszterhassource (opens in a new tab)
  6. The Mother of a Movement: Jeanne Manford—Ally, Activist, and Co-Founder of PFLAG by Rob Sanders and Sam Kaldasource (opens in a new tab)
  7. The Mystery of the Monarchs: How Kids, Teachers, and Butterfly Fans Helped Fred and Norah Urquhart Track the Great Monarch Migration by Barb Rosenstock and Erika Mezasource (opens in a new tab)
  8. The Waiting Place: When Home Is Lost and a New One Not Yet Found by Dina Nayeri and Anna Bosch Miralpeixsource (opens in a new tab)

About the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

Winner, Honor Books and Recommended Books from NCTE's past-winner lists (PDFs for 2000-2010, 2010-2014, 2015-2021 and 2022-2026); this file covers 2006-2025. Year is the award year NCTE uses (books published the prior calendar year). Recommended Books are recorded at level Selection. Author field names the writers, then illustrators or photographers when different, as credited.

Organization: National Council of Teachers of English. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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