2020 World Fantasy Awards Judges Announced

The list of judges for the 2020 World Fantasy Awards, for work published in 2019, was released today by Peter Dennis Pautz, President of the World Fantasy Awards Association.

The judges read and consider eligible materials received by June 1, 2020 — the earlier the better. Pautz explains, “If, for instance, something is received on May 31 the judges may well have only one day to read it before their deliberations conclude.  Anything received after June 1 will receive little or no consideration.”

2020 World Fantasy Awards Judges

  • Gwenda Bond, 439 North Upper Street; Lexington, KY 40508; USA;

[email protected];

Prefers HC, then MOBI

  • Galen Dara, 2540 E 20th St, Tucson, AZ 85716; USA;

[email protected];

Prefers HC, then PDF

  • Michael Kelly, 1905 Faylee Crescent; Pickering, ON L1V 2T3; Canada;

[email protected];

Prefers HC, can accept PDF, ePub, MOBI

  • Victor LaValle, 804 West 180th St. #62, New York, NY 10033; USA;

[email protected];

Prefers HC, then PDF

  • Adam Roberts, 4 Ancaster Drive; Ascot, Berkshire SL5 8TR; UK;

[email protected];

Prefers HC or PDF

(HC=Hard Copy; MOBI=Mobipocket ebook format; PDF=Portable Document Format)

So a comprehensive submission list may be kept, a copy should also go to:

Peter Dennis Pautz, President
World Fantasy Awards Association
3519 Glen Avenue
Palmer PA 18045-5812
USA
[email protected]

Send materials to be considered directly to the addresses above, and very importantly, please mark all packages as PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS – NOT FOR SALE OR RESALE – NO COMMERCIAL VALUE — WORLD FANTASY AWARDS MATERIALS.  The copy to Pautz ensures the judges have received eligible items, and that
submissions are given fair attention.

Qualifications:  All books must have been published in 2019; magazines must have a 2019 cover date; only living persons are eligible.

Fantasy Types:  All forms of fantasy are eligible, e.g. high, epic, dark, contemporary, literary.

Categories:  Life Achievement; Best Novel; Best Novella (10,001 to 40,000 words); Best Short Story; Best Anthology; Best Collection; Best Artist; Special Award – Professional; Special Award-Non-Professional.

When submitting works shorter than novel lengths, please provide a word count for
the judges’ benefit.

The awards will be presented at the convention, to be held Thursday, October 29 through Sunday, November 1, 2020, at the Little America Hotel, Salt Lake City, UT  84101.

Currently, an attending membership costs $200 (increasing to $250 in mid-February, 2020), which does not include the Awards Banquet, tickets for which must be purchased separately. Banquet tickets will be available in Summer, 2020.  Information and forms can be found on the convention website.

World Fantasy Convention 2020 Adds Brandon Sanderson to Guest Lineup

Brandon Sanderson

World Fantasy Convention 2020 has named Brandon Sanderson, author of many NYT bestselling books, including the Mistborn® trilogy and the recently released Starsight, as one of the convention’s special guests. WFC 2020 will take place October 29–November 1 in Salt Lake City. Sanderson lives and works in Utah.

“We’re delighted to be able to highlight the accomplishments of one of Utah’s many talented authors,” said Ginny Smith, convention co-chairperson. “Mr. Sanderson has made a significant contribution to the fantasy genre, and we’re pleased to honor him.”

Sanderson’s books are regulars on the New York Times bestseller list, and many are international bestsellers as well. He was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s groundbreaking The Wheel of Time series, which celebrated its thirty-year anniversary earlier this month. Sanderson’s work has been published in more than twenty-five languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

He joins previously announced author guests C.J. Cherryh, Stephen Gallagher, Cindy Pon and Stephen Graham Jones, plus editor Anne Groell, artist David Cherry, and toastmasters Tracy and Laura Hickman.

Wandering Through the Public Domain #27

A regular exploration of public domain genre work available through Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and Librivox.

By Colleen McMahon: Back on January 17, the daily Scroll noted that it was the anniversary of the release of Freejack, the extremely forgettable movie based on Robert Sheckley’s Immortality Inc., also called Time Killer.

I am one of the few who saw Freejack in the theater on the original release, mostly because there had been great hoopla about it being filmed in Atlanta (back when that was still a big event!). My most vivid memory of the movie was my first exposure to how movies play with locations in the editing — a wild car chase plunges down a ramp that in real life leads to an underground parking deck, but a few wild turns later, the chase continues on a highway in New York City. My friends and I immediately began to refer to that ramp as the “teleportal.”

Of course, the mention of the book behind the movie sent me off to see whether that book was in the public domain. It isn’t. But a whole bunch of Sheckley stories are:

Sheckley appears to have gone through a couple of incredibly prolific periods for short stories in the 1950s, so much so that twice here he has more than one story published in a single issue, so one story appears under a pen name. “The Leech” was published under the name Phillips Barbee, and “Forever” has Ned Lang as the author. The second story by Sheckley in that February 1959 issue of Galaxy was none other than “Time Killer”; presumably the copyright to that was renewed with the tie-ins around the 1992 movie, so it’s not available on Project Gutenberg.

Most of Sheckley’s stories have been recorded in various Short Science Fiction collections at Librivox; you can check his index page here.

Two Robert Sheckley stories were dramatized in the X Minus One radio show, and you can listen to them here:

Recent Librivox releases:

  • The Black Cat, Vol. 01 No. 01 October 1895 by Various

    The Black Cat (1895-1922) was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine.


  • The Rainbow Cat by Rose Fyleman (1877-1957)

    There was once a cat which was not in the least like any cat you have ever seen, or I either, for the matter of that. It was a fairy cat, you see, and so you would rather expect it to be different, wouldn’t you? It had a violet nose, indigo eyes, pale blue ears, green front legs, a yellow body, orange back legs and a red tail. In fact, it was coloured with all the colours of the rainbow, and on that account it was known as the Rainbow Cat. It lived, of course, in Fairyland, and it had all sorts of strange adventures.


  • Grampa in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson (1891-1976)

    Another great book in the world of Oz, in which King Fumbo of Ragbad loses his head in a storm and Prince Tatters, accompanied by the wise and wonderful old soldier Grampa, sets off to find the king’s head, a fortune, and a princess. With Bill, a live iron weathercock, they visit a Wizard’s Garden and discover Urtha, a lovely girl made all of flowers — and proceed to fall, swim, explode, sail, and fly above and below Oz and Ev. Grampa and Co. eventually meet Dorothy herself, traveling with a Forgetful Poet in search of the missing princess of Perhaps City who has been condemned to marry a monster!


  • The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick (1928-1982)

    A man from the past. He fixed things—clocks, refrigerators, vidsenders and destinies. But he had no business in the future, where the calculators could not handle him. He was Earth’s only hope—and its sure failure!

Dublin 2019 An Irish Worldcon Nominated for ‘Best Irish Comic Related Event’ by Irish Comic News

[From a press release.]  Dublin 2019 An Irish Worldcon is honoured and proud to have been nominated for ‘Best Irish Comic Related Event’ by Irish Comic News. A wonderful testimony to the huge team who worked so hard to ensure comics were fully represented. Featured artists Afua Richardson, Jim Fitzpatrick , Maeve Clancy and Sana Takeda added so much to our convention but we are so grateful to all the comic professionals, organisations and businesses who supported Dublin 2019. 

Afua Richardson and Sana Takeda

Without the participation of fans and professionals alike, we would have lost out on the wonderful conversations that we had, and we congratulate those brilliant participants on your nominations.

We were also so proud of the extensive art show, and are still amazed that we sold €40,000 euro of art, and very grateful to all the people who loaned us art to display in the massive wall of our Irish Comic Art Gallery as well as our Featured Artists displays and installations.

The Irish Comic Art Gallery Wall in the Point Square

We were grateful to all small press, shops and professional publishers who supported us by participating in the Programme, Art Show, and Dealers Room and congratulate those who are nominees. 

We would also like to congratulate Dublin 2019 Fringe Division Head Maura McHugh for her nomination as Best Irish Writer, and Dublin 2019 volunteers Pádraig Ó Méalóid and Michael Carroll, who are head-to-head in the ‘Best Irish Writer – Non Fiction’ category.

James Bacon, the chair of Dublin 2019, said: “I am incredibly proud, so many people came together to make this happen, and I am continually stunned at how Dublin 2019 continues to resonate and have its impact felt and how it is recognised by Irish fans. I am of course absolutely torn, as I love Enniskillen Comic Fest, DCAF, Small Press Day and know SuirCon has a great following. I am very pleased to see so many people and works connected to Dublin 2019 nominated and hope that reflects well on how well we integrated the Worldcon with local interests.”

To view the full list of nominees follow the Twitter thread starting here.

L to R : Rebecca Nalty, Gavin Fullerton (guests of Declan, took a bow at the panel. Gavin is also a nominee for best colorist small press), Derek Kunsken, Declan Shalvey, Kieron Gillen, Sana Takeda, Afua Richardson, Kyoko Ogushi (Sana’s translator)

PaleyFest LA 2020 Lineup Includes Picard, Mandalorian, Outlander

The PaleyFest LA 2020 television festival will take place March 13-22 in Hollywood.

This year’s festival will open with the cast and creative team from ABC’s Modern Family, followed by Pop TV’s One Day at a Time, Netflix’s A Special Evening with Dolly Parton & Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, CBS’s NCIS: 400th Episode Celebration, Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys, CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard, Starz’s Outlander, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Netflix’s Dead to Me, Netflix’s Ozark, Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek, and the festival will close with Disney+’s The Mandalorian

“It’s an honor to be invited to PaleyFest and join other filmmakers and talent in celebrating great television programming. It is especially exciting to be representing our Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, at the closing night presentation,” said Jon Favreau, executive producer/creator, The Mandalorian.

“I keep telling my wife, my sh*t belongs in a museum. Well, who’s laughing now?? The brilliant cast and troubled producers of The Boys can’t wait to get together with their fans and say some inappropriate things. Seriously, it’s an amazing honor for a freshman show to be chosen by PaleyFest. We look forward to making them deeply regret it,” said The Boys executive producer and showrunner Eric Kripke.

“We are honored to be included as part of PaleyFest LA. We love being able to speak directly to the Outlander fans and we look forward to taking this opportunity to thank them for their tremendous support over the years,” said Outlander executive producer Ronald D. Moore.

PaleyFest LA benefits the Paley Center’s preservation and archival digitization efforts, and its ongoing mission to explore the significant impact of media on our culture and society. The Paley Center is home to the nation’s foremost publicly accessible archive of television and radio content, with over 160,000 programs spanning the history of media, including collections that feature achievements in television from the African-American, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ communities, women, music, and most recently comedy.

Items of genre interest in the PaleyFest LA lineup include:

Sunday, March 15: Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys (7:00 pm):

Scheduled to appear: Karl Urban (Billy Butcher), Jack Quaid (Hughie Campbell), Antony Starr (Homelander), Erin Moriarty (Annie January / Starlight), Chace Crawford (The Deep), Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), Karen Fukuhara (The Female), and Eric Kripke, Executive Producer & Showrunner 

 Wednesday, March 18: CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Picard (7:30 pm):

Scheduled to appear: Sir Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dahj), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Raffi Musiker) with Special Guest Stars: Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Brent Spinern (Data), Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Heather Kadin, Executive Producer, and Akiva Goldsman, Executive Producer 

Thursday, March 19: Starz’s Outlander (7:30 pm):

Scheduled to appear: Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall), Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser), Sophie Skelton (Brianna Randall Fraser), Ronald D. Moore, Creator & Executive Producer, Maril Davis, Executive Producer, and Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer  

Sunday, March 22: Closing Night Presentation: Disney+’s The Mandalorian (7:00 pm):

Scheduled to appear: Jon Favreau, Creator & Executive Producer, Dave Filoni, Executive Producer, Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), Carl Weathers (Greef Karga), Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand), Ludwig Göransson, Composer, and Rick Famuyiwa, Writer, plus additional guests to be announced    

*All events and participants are subject to change

[Based on a press release.]

Pixel Scroll 1/28/20 Strange Pixels Lying In Files Distributing Scrolls Is No Basis For a System Of Government!

(1) VOICE OF HOGWARTS. LitHub has the transcription: “In Conversation with Legendary Harry Potter Audiobook Narrator Jim Dale” from Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine.

Jo Reed: …How then did you get into the audiobook biz, where you are one of the shining lights there as well?

Jim Dale: That was an accident, a sheer accident. They were looking for someone with an English accent to be the narrator, and someone said to whoever it was at the publishing company, they said, “Well, there’s a guy called Jim Dale. He’s playing Off-Broadway at the moment with three other men in a play called Travels with my Aunt. One of the men doesn’t speak at all, so three of them are now doing 33 characters between them,” and of course, the publisher said, “Wow, that sounds fantastic. That’s the sort of guy we need.” So they approached me, asked me if I’d read the book, which I did. I loved it. They said, “Would you like to record it?” I said, “Yes,” and it was only after I had signed the contract that one of them said to me, “Well, how many characters did you play in the play?” and I remember saying, “Just the aunt and the nephew. The other two guys played 31 characters between them.” So there’s a shocked silence on the end of the phone, ‘cause they realized they’d signed someone who may unable to do any more than a couple of voices.

Jo Reed: And the book we’re talking about is Harry Potter.

Jim Dale: That’s correct. There were seven of them, as you know, and so I didn’t realize that the first book had, I think it was, 34 different speaking characters, but that was nothing compared to the final book, which had 147 different characters that needed a voice, so that was quite a challenge, quite a challenge.

(2) LOOK OUT BELOW. “Two old satellites could collide over US, space debris tracker warns”CNET has the story.

Two satellites could potentially collide just above Pittsburgh on Wednesday, according to space debris tracker LeoLabs. IRAS (13777), a decommissioned space telescope launched in 1983, and GGSE-4 (2828), an experimental US payload launched in 1967, will pass incredibly close to each other at a relative velocity of 14.7 km/s, LeoLabs said in a tweet Monday. 

The company said it’s monitoring the approach, and that its latest metrics “show a predicted miss distance of between 15-30 meters.” That distance is concerning given the size of IRAS, which is 3.6 meters by 3.24 meters x 2.05 meters, LeoLabs said. The combined size of IRAS and GGSE-4 increases the chances of a collision, which stands at around 1 in 100. 

(3) BROADWAYCONREPORT. The New York Times tells about a convention with a different theme — “Where Broadway Fans Wear the Crowns and the Tentacles”.

The fifth edition of BroadwayCon had enthusiasts dressing for the underworld, swapping stories and merch, and singing along to “Six,” a show that hasn’t even opened yet.

Nyssa Sara Lee came to the 2020 edition of BroadwayCon as Ursula from “The Little Mermaid.”

On any other weekend, a gaggle of teenagers belting songs from “Hadestown” in the hallway of the New York Hilton Midtown would raise some eyebrows.

But for three days that ended Sunday, they were in the right place. More than 5,000 others — including several Beetlejuices, a handful of Heathers and the rare Dolly — made the pilgrimage to New York for the fifth annual BroadwayCon, a haven for the most passionate musical theater fans.

Some arrived in full character for the event, where attendees can meet and take photos with the stars of their favorite shows. Passes range from $80 for one day to $1,000 for a full weekend platinum pass with extra perks.

When fans weren’t doing their own dramatic hallway renditions of musical numbers, here’s what they were up to.

Kris Williams and Matt Whitaker as the title character from “Beetlejuice,” a show that drew many fan tributes.Dalton Glenn, Meaghan Cassidy and Grace Nobles as the trio from “Heathers.”…

(4) AI OH! In “Artificial Morality” at the LA Review of Books blog, Bruce Sterling offers his latest thoughts on artificial intelligence.  Sterling is going to be the keynote speaker on a conference on AI which will be held at the University of California (Irvine) in February which will include Cory Doctorow and sf podcaster Rose Eveleth which you can find out more about at a link at the Sterling piece.

This is an essay about lists of moral principles for the creators of Artificial Intelligence. I collect these lists, and I have to confess that I find them funny.

Nobody but AI mavens would ever tiptoe up to the notion of creating godlike cyber-entities that are much smarter than people. I hasten to assure you — I take that weird threat seriously. If we could wipe out the planet with nuclear physics back in the late 1940s, there must be plenty of other, novel ways to get that done….

(5) CRAZY RICH ASTRONAUT. SYFY Wire has a teaser trailer for a “new-old” short—Nine Minutes—which will premiere on DUST on January 30. It features an actor who has become rather well known since she shot this previously-unreleased short quite some while back. Nine Minutes: Constance Wu is a marooned astronaut in first look at DUST short film”

You may know Constance Wu from her roles in Fresh Off the Boat and Crazy Rich Asians, but you may not know that she also played an astronaut in Nine Minutes, a science fiction short film that arrives on DUST later this week.

Directed and written by Ernie Gilbert (Atlanta, Barry), the story follows Lilian (Wu), a scientist for the United Earth Space Administration who finds herself stuck on an alien planet light-years from home. With some help from her A.I. companion named M.A.R.C. (voiced by comedian Reggie Watts), Lilian attempts to stay alive for as long as she can.

 […] The film was shot several years ago, but never premiered to the public — not even at festivals. […]

(6) TRIVIAL TRIVIA.

  • In the opening sequence of The Matrix, the iconic streams of green Japanese code are actually recipes for sushi. Production designer Simon Whitely, now with the animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic in Australia, said he got the idea from one of his wife’s cookbooks. Source: CNET

(7) TODAY IN HISTORY.

  • January 28, 1986 — The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off.
  • January 28, 1994 Body Snatchers premiered. It was directed by Abel Ferrar, and it starred  Gabrielle Anwar, Billy Wirth, Terry Kinney, Meg Tilly and Forest Whitaker. It’s somewhat based on Finnney’s The Body Snatchers with the  screenplay by Stuart Gordon, Nicholas St. Johnnand Dennis Paoli. Reception was mixed with Ebert and some horror critics thinking it far better than previous takes; one critic thought it was “a soulless replica of Don Siegel’s 1956 model”.  Reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes don’t think much of it giving it just a 38% rating. You can see for yourself what’s like here.

(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

Born January 28, 1910 Arnold Moss. Anton Karidian a.k.a. Kodos the Executioner in the most excellent “The Conscience of the King“ episode of Trek. It wasn’t only SFF role as he’d show up in Tales of Tomorrow, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Time Tunnel and Fantasy Island. (Died 1989.)

Born January 28, 1920 Lewis Wilson. Genre wise, he’s remembered  for being the first actor to play Batman on screen in the 1943 Batman, a 15-chapter theatrical serial from Columbia Pictures. (Died 2000.)

Born January 28, 1935 John Chandler. His very last role was as Filth in the “Honor Among Thieves” episode of Deep Space Nine. Genre-wise, he also showed up in Moon of the Wolf, The Incredible Hulk, Fantasy Island, The Sword and The Sorcerer, AirWolf, Trancers and Carnosaur 2. (Died 2010.)

Born January 28, 1944 Susan Howard, 76. Mara, the Klingon woman, on “The Day of The Dove” episode for Star Trek. She also showed up on Tarzan, The Flying Nun, I Dream of Jeanie, Land of Giants, The ImmortalThe Fantastic Journey and Mission: Impossible.

Born January 28, 1959 Frank Darabont, 61. Early on, he was mostly a screenwriter for horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob and The Fly II, allminor horror filmsAs a director, he’s much better known as he’s done The Green MileThe Shawshank Redemption and The Mist.  He also developed and executive-produced the first season of The Walking Dead. He also wrote Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that I like a lot.

Born January 28, 1965 Lynda Boyd, 55. Let’s start off with she’s a singer who starred in productions The Little Shop of Horrors and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Film-wise, she had roles in Final Destination 2, The Invader, Mission to Mars and Hot Tub Time Machine. She’s had one-offs in X-Files, Highlander, Strange Luck, Millennium, The Sentential, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (where she had a recurring role as Darla Mohr), Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and Smallville.

Born January 28, 1981 Elijah Wood, 39. His first genre role is as Video-Game Boy #2 in Back to the Future Part II. He next shows up as Nat Cooper in Forever Young followed by playing Leo Biederman In Deep Impact. Up next was his performance as Frodo Baggins In The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit films. Confession time: I watched the very first of these. Wasn’t impressed. He’s done some other genre work as well including playing Todd Brotzman in the Beeb’s superb production of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Born January 28, 1985 Tom Hopper, 35. His principal genre role was on the BBC Meriln series as Sir Percival. He also shows up in Doctor Who playing Jeff during the “The Eleventh Hour” episode which would be during the time of the Eleventh Doctor. He’s also Luther Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy which is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name, created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. 

Born January 28, 1986 Shruti Haasan, 34. Indian film actress known for the Telugu fantasy film Anaganaga O Dheerudu, and the Tamil science fiction thriller 7aum Arivu. She voiced Queen Elsa in the Tamil-dubbed version of Frozen II.

Born January 28, 1998 Ariel Winter, 22. Voice actress whose shown up in such productions as Mr. Peabody & Sherman as Penny Peterson, Horton Hears a Who!, DC Showcase: Green Arrow as Princess Perdita and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as Carrie Kelly (Robin). She’s got several one-off live performances on genre series, The Haunting Hour: The Series and Ghost Whisperer

(9) COMICS SECTION.

(10) FIRST FLOWERS. While many people have seen 1968’s Charly, the film version of Flowers for Algernon, few living fans remember or have seen the 1961 TV adaptation “The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon.”

In this teleplay adaptation of Daniel Keyes’ noted short story “Flowers for Algernon,” Cliff Robertson portrays a gentle, disabled young man who undergoes a highly experimental treatment to increase his mental capacity. Robertson received an Emmy nomination for his sensitive work and would go on to win an Oscar for his reprisal of the eponymous role in the feature film Charly (1968).

(11) ZAP! ZAP! BBC reports “How microwaves and electricity are killing weeds”.

…Meanwhile, a new device created by the University of Melbourne and spun off into a company called Growave is undergoing trials in Victoria.

Just as a domestic microwave warms food, so the microwaves emitted by the Growave system heat up the water molecules within weeds and cause them to vibrate. This ruptures the cell walls, killing the plant.

Meanwhile, microwaves can also heat the soil, killing weed seeds as they lie.

“Early data is demonstrating that using the Growave technology will be as cost-effective and potentially less expensive than current approaches to weed management,” says Paul Barrett, head of physical sciences of investment firm IP Group.

“The Growave approach also has the benefit that it is not influenced by the elements and can be used when it rains, when it’s windy or even at night – conditions which are not possible with traditional herbicide-spraying approaches.”

(12) CHOOSE YOUR MYTH. “Visit Nepal’s yeti: How mythical creature divided Himalayan nation” – BBC overviews the feud.

A row over the yeti has pitted experts against officials – and, for once, it is not about whether or not the mythical creature actually exists.

Instead, it is how the creature looks.

“This is not right. The government can’t just do as it wants,” passer-by Reshma Shrestha says, shaking her head in front of the 7ft (2.1m) tall statue at the centre of a row.

“If you did not tell me, I would not have known that it was a yeti.”

‘It’s a sumo wrestler’

The arrival of the first of more than 100 statues emblazoned with the words “Visit Nepal” was supposed to be the start of a year-long celebration of what the small Himalayan nation had to offer to the outside world.

They will soon be popping up across the country – at popular tourist attractions, trade centres, airports and some of the base camps in the Himalayas – as well as travelling further afield to act as mascots in cities around the world.

But the launch of the tourism drive, which aims to bring two million tourists to the region, has been somewhat overshadowed by the row over the statues’ appearance.

(13) HOPEFUL SIGN. “Rare Bolivian glass frogs seen for first time in 18 years”.

A rare species of frog with translucent skin has been seen in Bolivia for the first time in 18 years.

Three Bolivian Cochran frogs, a species of so-called “glass frogs”, were spotted by conservationists earlier this month in a national park.

The tiny amphibians weigh just 70-80g and measure 19-24mm.

Glass frogs are found in Central and South America and have skin so translucent that their internal organs can be seen through their bellies.

Investigators found the frogs in Carrasco National Park, east of the city of Cochabamba, as part of a mission to rescue reptiles and amphibians whose habitat is threatened by a hydroelectric project.

“The rediscovery of this species fills us with a ray of hope for the future of the glass frogs – one of the most charismatic amphibians in the world – but also for other species,” members of the team told AFP news agency.

(14) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “The Box Preview” on YouTube, Jason Shiga describes his forthcoming graphic novel The Box, which he says can also be about 20 other things, including a computer!

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Leo Doroschenko, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Andrew Porter, Mike Kennedy, and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Xtifr.]

RUSA Announces 2020 Reading List: Year’s Best in Genre Fiction for Adult Readers

The 2020 Reading List: Year’s best in genre fiction for adult readers has been published by the Reference and User Services Association. The Reading List Council selects an annual best-of list comprised of eight different fiction genres for adult readers. A shortlist of honor titles, up to 4 per genre was also announced. The list was announced January 26 during the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting held in Philadelphia.

The 2020 selections are:

Adrenaline

Winner

  • “The Passengers” by John Marrs, Berkley an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

After their driverless cars are hacked, eight passengers have two and a half hours to live. One will be set free based on the votes of a captive jury and the will of the world’s social media population – but each has secrets that could condemn them.

Readalikes

  • “Speed” the 1994 movie
  • “Elevator Pitch” by Linwood Barclay
  • “The Escape Room” by Megan Goldin

Short List

  • “The Chain” by Adrian McKinty, Mulholland Books an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a Division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
  • “Cold Storage” by David Koepp, HarperCollins
  • “Conviction” by Denise Mina, Mulholland Books an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a Division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
  • “Lock Every Door” by Riley Sager, Dutton an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Fantasy

Winner

  • “Gods of Jade and Shadow” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC

In Jazz Age Mexico Cassiopeia’s dull life takes an adventurous and life-changing turn when she must help a Mayan death god vanquish his brother and regain his throne in the underworld.

Readalikes

  • “Spinning Silver” by Naomi Novik
  • “Trail of Lightning” by Rebecca Roanhorse
  • “We Hunt the Flame” by Hafsah Faizal

Short List

  • “Middlegame” by Seanan McGuire, a Tor.com book published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo, Flatiron Books
  • “The Ruin of Kings” by Jenn Lyons, a Tor book published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “Silver in the Wood” by Emily Tesh, a Tor.com book published by Tom Doherty Associates

Historical Fiction

Winner

  • “The Secrets We Kept” by Lara Prescott, a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf

During the Cold War, the CIA trains a new generation of female spies in an attempt to smuggle Boris Pasternak’s censored novel, Doctor Zhivago, back into the U.S.S.R. while Pasternak’s mistress deals with the fallout

Readalikes

  • “A Thread of Grace” by Mary Doria Russell
  • “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly
  • “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles
  • “The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book” by Peter Finn

Short List

  • “City of Flickering Light” by Juliette Fay, Gallery Books an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
  • “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” by Sara Collins, Harper an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
  • “The Song of the Jade Lily” by Kirsty Manning, William Morrow An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
  • “Where the Light Enters” by Sara Donati, Berkley an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Horror

Winner

  • “The Twisted Ones” by T. Kingfisher, Saga Press an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Brimming with spookiness, paranoia, and a single-minded bloodhound, this devilishly wicked tale of folkloric horror set in the woods of North Carolina is inspired by Arthur Machen’s “The White People.”

 Readalikes

  • “The White People and Other Weird Stories” by Arthur Machen
  • “The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek” by Rhett McLaughlin
  • “Meddling Kids” by Edgar Cantero

Short List

  • “The Devil Aspect” by Craig Russell, Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC
  • “The Homecoming” by Andrew Pyper, Simon & Schuster Canada a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
  • “The Toll” by Cherie Priest, a Tor Book, published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “Violet” by Scott Thomas, Inkshares, Inc.

Mystery

Winner

  • “The Right Sort of Man” by Allison Montclair, Minotaur Books

In post-World War II London, Iris Sparks (perhaps a wartime spy) and Gwendolyn Bainbridge (a society widow) have teamed up to matchmake singles with The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. When one client is accused of murdering another, Iris and Gwendolyn decide the police have the wrong man and start investigating

Readalikes

  • “Dear Mrs. Bird” by A.J. Pearce
  • “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” by Susan Elia MacNeal
  • “Girl Waits with Gun” by Amy Stewart
  • The Tommy & Tuppence books by Agatha Christie

Short List

  • “The Chestnut Man” by Soren Sveistrup, Harper an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
  • “Magic for Liars” by Sarah Gailey, a Tor Book published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “Paper Son” by S.J. Rozan, Pegasus Crime an imprint of Pegasus Books, Ltd.
  • “The Scholar” by Dervla McTiernan, Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Relationship

Winner

  • “When You Read This” by Mary Adkins, Harper a division of HarperCollins Publishers

After her death at 33 from an aggressive lung cancer, Iris leaves behind a blog that connects her boss and sister.  Told through blog entries, emails and texts, this tender, uplifting, and at times amusing story shows each working through their grief and discovering an unexpected connection

Readalikes

  • “The Garden of Small Beginnings” by Abbi Waxman
  • “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell
  • “Meet Me at the Museum” by Anne Youngson

Short List

  • “Evvie Drake Starts Over” by Linda Holmes, Ballantine Books an imprint of Random House a division of Penguin Random House LLC
  • “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams, Scout Press an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc
  • “Rules for Visiting” by Jessica Francis Kane, Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
  • “The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters” by Balli Kaur Jaswal, William Morrow an imprint HarperCollins Publishers

Romance

Winner

  • “The Flatshare” by Beth O’Leary, Flatiron Books

Tiffy needs a place to live and Leon works nights, so they come to an unusual arrangement: sharing an apartment (and a bed!) but never seeing each other. Communicating via post-it note, they begin to rely on each other in ways they never imagined.

Readalikes

  • “Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating” by Christina Lauren
  • “Our Stop” by Laura Jane Williams
  • “We Met in December” by Rosie Curtis

Short List

  • “The Bride Test” by Helen Hoang, A Jove Book published by Berkley
  • “Lady Derring Takes a Lover” by Julie Anne Long, Avon Books an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
  • “The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics” by Olivia Waite, Avon Impulse an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
  • “Royal Holiday” by Jasmine Guillory, Berkley an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Science Fiction

Winner

  • “A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine, A Tor Book published Tom Doherty Associates

In this conspiracy-filled novel, a determined ambassador desperately tries to survive her new diplomatic assignment while investigating the murder of her predecessor on a planet with rules she doesn’t understand.

Readalikes

  • “The Goblin Emperor” by Katherine Addison
  • “The Collapsing Empire” by John Scalzi
  • “Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie

Short List

  • “Finder” by Suzanne Palmer, DAW Books, Inc.
  • “The Future of Another Timeline” by Annalee Newitz, A Tor Book published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir, a Tor.com Book published by Tom Doherty Associates
  • “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by Becky Chambers, Harper Voyager an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

The winners were selected by the Reading List Council whose members include twelve expert readers’ advisory and collection development librarians. The eight genres currently included in the Council’s considerations are adrenaline, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction. However, the Council is adaptable to new genres and changes in contemporary reading interest.

The Council consists of Matthew Galloway, Anythink Libraries, chair;  Craig Clark, Upper Arlington OH; Gloria Drake, Oswego Public Library District; Halle Eisenman, NoveList; Andrea Gough, Seattle Public Library; Marlene Harris, Reading Reality LLC; Sarah Jaffa, Kitsap Regional Library; Jackie Kropp, Western Plains Library System; Teresa May, Durham County Public Libraries; Jo Schofield, Stark County District Library; Karin Suni, Free Library of Philadelphia; Estella Terrazas, Altadena Library District.

[Thanks to Galen Charlton for the story.]

Pixel Scroll 1/27/20 Say, Isn’t That The Scrolled Pixel Of Filothrace?

(1) BAD DOG. “No Doctor Who spoilers will adorn future Pixel Scrolls,” promised Mike Glyer, after spending the day being chastised by File 770 commenters.

(2) BAD IDEA THAT’S DESTINED TO HAPPEN? Alex Kurtzman says it’s crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide…or something like that: “The Future of ‘Star Trek’ and Why the ‘Doors Are Just Opening’ for a Film-TV Crossover” at The Wrap.

Now that “Star Trek” has beamed Jean-Luc Picard back up into its universe, the sci-fi franchise’s captain is already plotting its next course. And that may include mind-melding the film and TV universes after more than a decade apart.

When Viacom and CBS agreed to re-merge, after spending the past 14 years as separate companies, the film and TV rights to “Star Trek” once again came under the same corporate roof. CBS TV Studios controls the TV side, while Paramount has steered the Enterprise on the film part of the universe.

Alex Kurtzman, who oversees “Star Trek” for CBS TV Studios, believes it’s only a matter of time before the film and TV worlds of “Star Trek” collide.

 “The ink has just dried on the merger and the doors are just opening. So I think anything is possible at this point,” he told TheWrap. “I can’t imagine that CBS and Paramount, in their infinite wisdom, would say lets create two ‘Star Trek’s and have them be separate. That doesn’t seem like it would be a good strategy to me.”

(3) MONEY? GONE IN A FLASH! “DC Comics has its own super hero-themed credit cards” at CNET. The Justice League says, “Charge! it.”

If you’ve ever wanted to show off your love of DC Universe super heroes with a themed credit card, now’s your chance. DC Comics has teamed up with Visa to launch a series of credit cards with entertainment rewards. 

You can choose between seven different designs: animated Batman images for the character’s 80th anniversary; the Batman symbol; an animated Superman opening his shirt to the logo underneath; the Wonder Woman symbol; The Flash’s symbol; an animated Harley Quinn; and the whole Justice League in animated form. 

(4) LIST OF THINGS THAT WOULD BE BAD. CrowdScience asks “Could we survive an extinction event?” – available at BBC Sounds.

Super-sized volcanic eruptions and giant asteroids crashing in from outer space are the stuff of disaster movies. They have listener Santosh from South Africa slightly concerned. He’d like to know what’s being done in real life to prepare for this kind of event.

Although the chance of these events occurring is low, Santosh isn’t entirely wrong to be worried: Earth has a much longer history than humans do, and there’s evidence that several past extinction events millions of years ago wiped out the dominant species on the planet at the time, as we’ve heard before on CrowdScience. The kind of extraordinary geological and extra-terrestrial hazards thought to be responsible for the death of millions of lives do still exist. So is there really any way that humans could survive where the dinosaurs – and plenty of other species – have failed? 

Presenter Marnie Chesterton finds out by meeting experts who are already preparing for the remote but real possibility of the biggest disaster we could face. It turns out that in real life most things we can think of which could cause an extinction event are being watched closely by scientists and governmental agencies. 

How worried we should really be by the possibility of a sudden super-volcanic eruption at Yellowstone in the USA, or one of the other enormous volcanoes dotting our planet’s surface? Marnie heads into an underground bunker near the remote Scottish coast to find out if hiding out is a viable survival option. Now a museum, Scotland’s Secret Bunker, formerly RAF Troywood, is one of a network of nuclear shelters built by nation states during the Cold War. 

And she hears about one of the combined space agencies most ambitious projects yet: NASA and ESA’s Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission to crash an impactor into an asteroid’s moon to find out whether we could knock any potentially problematic collisions off-course well before Earth impact

(5) PAUSEWANG OBIT. [Item by Cora Buhlert.] Gudrun Pausewang, a German YA author who occasionally ventured into SFF, died on January 24 at the age of 91. Ms. Pausewang’s forays into science fiction were mainly dystopian such as the 1983 novel The Last Children of Schewenborn, a story about life and death (but mainly death) after a nuclear war, and the 1987 novel The Cloud about the fallout from a nuclear disaster, which sits on the reading list of many German schools. She also wrote less gloomy fare on occasion such as the 1972 modern fairytale “The Merman Behind the House”. I wasn’t a huge fan of her work – way too gloomy for my tastes – but she was certainly an important voice. Here is an English language obituary: “Anti-nuclear author Gudrun Pausewang dies”.

(6) TODAY IN HISTORY.

  • January 27, 1980 Galactica 1980 premiered on ABC. A spin-off from the original Battlestar Galactica series, it was the result of a massive letter writing campaign in the days before email which made the network actually pay attention. Alas it performed quite poorly and was canceled after the initial order of ten episodes. I remember Lorne Greene as Commander Adama was the only major returning cast member, but I’ll freely admit I’ve not seen either series in decades so that could be inaccurate. The DVD release twenty seventy years later would be carry the tagline of “The Original Battlestar Galactica’s Final Season”. 
  • January 27, 1998 The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy premiered on UPN. Written by Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist, it was directed by Joe Dante. It starred  John Corbett, Carolyn McCormick, Rod Taylor, John Pyper-Ferguson, Elisabeth Harnois and J. Madison Wright. It was intended as a pilot for The Osiris Chronicles series but that never happened though similar concepts can be seen in Roddenberry’s Andromeda series. It is available for viewing here.
  • January 27, 2008 Attack of the Gryphon premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel. It was directed by Andrew Prowse, with a cast led by Amber Benson, Jonathan LaPaglia, and Larry Drake. It was one in a series that included a film called Mansquito. Really. Truly. Like most of the Sci-Fi Pictures original films series, neither critics or reviewers were impressed with the story, SFX or acting. It’s got no rating at Rotten Tomatoes and the scant number of Amazon ratings are all over the place.
  • January 27, 2008 Journey To The Center Of The Earth premiered. It was directed by Eric Brevin. It starred Brendan Fraser, Anita Briem, and Josh Hutcherson. Surprisingly, at least to me, it received positive reviews from critics, and was a huge box office success. It currently holds a 51% rating among reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born January 27, 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. On the strength of The Magic Flute. (Died 1791.)
  • Born January 27, 1940 James Cromwell, 80. I think we best know him as Doctor Zefram Cochrane In Star Trek: First Contact , which was re-used in the Enterprise episode “In a Mirror, Darkly (Part I)”.  He’s been in other genre films including Species IIDeep ImpactThe Green MileSpace CowboysI, RobotSpider-Man 3 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. He played characters on three Trek series, Prime Minister Nayrok on “The Hunted” episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Jaglom Shrek in the two part “Birthright” story, Hanok on the “Starship Down” episode of Deep Space Nine and Zefram Cochrane once again as noted before on Enterprise
  • Born January 27, 1950 Michaela Roessner, 70. She won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer for Walkabout Woman. Her The Stars Dispose duology is quite excellent. Alas, none of her fiction is available digitally. 
  • Born January 27, 1956 Mimi Rogers, 64. Her best known known SFF role is Professor Maureen Robinson in the Lost in Space film which I did see in a theatre I just realized. She’s also Mrs. Marie Kensington in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, and she’s Orianna Volkes in the Penny Dreadful hitchhiker horror film. She’s got one-offs in Tales from The Crypt, The X-Files, Where Are You Scooby Doo? and Ash v. Evil Dead.
  • Born January 27, 1957 Frank Miller, 63. He’s both an artist and writer so I’m not going to untangle which is which here. What’s good by him? Oh, I love The Dark Knight Returns, both the original comic series and the animated film, though the same not no true of Sin City where I prefer the original series much more. Hmmm… What else? His runs on Daredevil and Electra of course. That should do. 
  • Born January 27, 1958 Susanna Thompson, 62. She played Dr. Lenara Kahn in Deep Space Nine’s “Rejoined” episode and was the Borg Queen in three episodes of Voyager. Back here on Earth, she was Moira Queen on Arrow. She’s also had roles in Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, The LakeBermuda Triangle, Dragonfly, KingsThe Gathering and she had two different one-offs on Next Gen before being cast as the Borg Queen. 
  • Born January 27, 1963 Alan Cumming, 57. His film roles include his performances as Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Fegan Floop In the Spy Kids trilogy, Loki, god of Mischief in Son of the Mask (a really horrid film), Nightcrawler In X2 and Judas Caretaker in Riverworld
  • Born January 27, 1966 Tamlyn Tomita, 54. I’m fairly sure I first saw her in a genre role on the Babylon 5 film The Gathering as Lt. Cmdr. Laurel Takashima. Or it might have been on The Burning Zone as Dr. Kimberly Shiroma. And she had a recurring late on Eureka in Kate Anderson, and Ishi Nakamura on Heroes? She’s been in a number of SFF series in one-off roles including Highlander, Quantum Leap, The Sentinel, Seven Days, FreakyLinks, Stargate SG-1 and a recurring as late as Tamiko Watanabe in The Man in The High Castle.
  • Born January 27, 1969 Patton Oswalt, 51. He gets his Birthday Honors for voicing Remy in Ratatouille, a truly lovely and rather tasty film. He also played Eric, Billy, Sam and Thurston Koenig in a recurring and fascinating role on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. And let’s not overlook that he’s been Max for the part several years on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Damn, I almost forgot he voiced Space Cabbie on Justice league Action!

(8) COMICS SECTION.

  • B.C. has an unlikely solution to arachnophobia.
  • Pearls Before Swine shows that space aliens can be part of really bad puns.

(9) HATCHET TO PRATCHETT. The Guardian’s Alison Flood thinks “Discworld fans are right to be nervous about the BBC’s ‘punk rock’ The Watch”.

We Terry Pratchett fans have been lucky in recent years. We were given Good Omens, which thanks to co-author Neil Gaiman’s shepherding and incredible performances from David Tennant and Michael Sheen, was a joy to watch. And we were told that BBC America was developing The Watch, a series based on Pratchett’s stories about Ankh Morpork’s City Watch. Yes, we were a little nervous to read that Pratchett’s fierce, dark, sardonic stories were to become a “startlingly reimagined … punk rock thriller” that was “inspired by” the books. But we stayed faithful, for it was promised that the show would “still cleav[e] to the humour, heart and ingenuity of Terry Pratchett’s incomparably original work”.

But nerves were jangling even more fiercely on Friday as the first glimpses of the forthcoming show were shared by the studio. They look … kind of cyberpunky? Is that electricity? Where is their ARMOUR? Should we have been more wary about that “inspired by”?

(10) A PLANET STORY. Cora Buhlert, in “Retro Review: ‘The Jewel of Bas’ by Leigh Brackett”, discusses another 1944 work eligible for CoNZealand’s Retro Hugos.

… “The Jewel of Bas” is a glorious pulpy adventure story that manages to offer up plenty of twists and turns,…

(11) JEOPARDY! Andrew Porter sometimes finds the wrong questions more amusing than the right ones on this game show:  

Category: Novels by Chapter Title

Answer: From a Verne work: “Boldly down the crater”

Wrong Question: “What is ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’?”

(Right question: “What is ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’?”)

And they weren’t finished —

Final Jeopardy: Poets.

Answer: A Dartmouth dropout, he received 2 honorary degrees from Dartmouth — in 1933 & 1955

Wrong questions: “Who is Whitman?” and “Who is Thoreau?”

Right question: Who is Robert Frost?

(12) PARENTAL SUPERVISION. On Facebook, Worst of Tumblr shows photos of kids who are crying, with parents’ explanation of what incited the tears.

(13) TRADITION. “Photographing One Of America’s Oldest Tofu Shops” on NPR.

Growing up in Portland, Ore., in the ’90s, tofu could be hard to find. It would be a long time before ramen joints spread across the city, before national chains like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods had their own store-brand tofu.

But like soba noodles, nori, rice and fish, tofu is a staple of Japanese home cooking. So my parents regularly made a 15-minute drive west, across the Willamette River, to stock up at Ota Tofu.

The old-school company still makes its tofu by hand in small batches, navigating a growing demand for plant-based foods. But what I didn’t realize then is that it’s also a cultural institution — the oldest tofu producer still operating in the country, Ota Tofu has fed Portland’s Japanese American community for more than 100 years.

Eileen Ota, a former owner of Ota Tofu, notes that other tofu producers existed earlier in the United States, but many ceased operations because of one event: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

(14) MYTH FULFILLMENT OR METAL FATIGUE? As The Week put it: “A brawny visitor to Disneyland managed to pull a model of Excalibur out of a model stone, thus arguably revealing himself as the future king of England.  A friend fo the future king, whom he identified only as ‘Sam,’ says he’s ‘a pretty buff dude.” Also at CinemaBlend: “A Disneyland Guest Literally Pulled The Sword Excalibur From The Stone”.

A few days ago the sword, which sits in front of the carousel, went missing, and while it was believed to have something to do with an upcoming refurbishment of the attraction, it seems that’s not the case. WDWNT reports that the site has been told by somebody in the know, that the hilt of the sword was actually pulled, or more accurately, broken, by a guest who pulled on it so hard that it came out.

(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Obst” on Vimeo, Jan Eisner asks the question, “If fruit could move, what would they do?”

[Thanks to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Andrew Porter, Martin Morse Wooster, John Hertz, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]

2020 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists

The LITA Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction has released the 2020 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists.

The lists are composed of notable children’s and young adult science fiction published between November 2018 and October 2019 and organized into three age-appropriate categories. The annotated lists will be posted on the website at www.sfnotables.org.

The Golden Duck Notable Picture Books List is selected from books intended for pre-school children and very early readers, up to 6 years old. Recognition is given to the author and the illustrator:

  • Field Trip to the Moon by John Hare. Margaret Ferguson Books
  • Hello by Aiko Ikegami. Creston Books
  • How to be on the Moon by Viviane Schwarz. Candlewick Press
  • Out There by Tom Sullivan. Balzer + Bray
  • The Babysitter From Another Planet by Stephen Savage. Neal Porter Books
  • The Space Walk by Brian Biggs. Dial Books for Young Readers
  • Ultrabot’s First Playdate by Josh Schneider. Clarion Books
  • Good Boy by Sergio Ruzzier. Atheneum Books
  • Llama Destroys the World, written by Jonathan Stutzman, illustrated by Heather Fox. Henry Holt & Co

The Eleanor Cameron Notable Middle Grade Books List titles are chapter books or short novels that may be illustrated. They are written for ages 7 – 11. This list is named for Eleanor Cameron, author of the Mushroom Planet series.

  • Awesome Dog 5000 by Justin Dean. Random House Books for Young Readers 
  • Cog by Greg van Eekhout. HarperCollins
  • Field Trip (Sanity and Tallulah #2) by Molly Brooks. Disney-Hyperion 
  • Friendroid by M. M. Vaughan. Margaret K. McElderry Books
  • Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth. Penguin Workshop
  • Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage. Katherine Tegen Books
  • The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith. Clarion Books
  • The Greystone Secrets #1: The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Katherine Tegen Books
  • We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey. Crown Books for Young Readers
  • The Unspeakable Unknown by Eliot Sappingfield. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
  • Seventh Grade vs the Galaxy by Joshua S. Levy. Carolrhoda Books

The Hal Clement Notable Young Adult Books List contains science fiction books written for ages 12 – 18 with a young adult protagonist. This list is named for Hal Clement, a well-known science fiction writer and high school science teacher who promoted children’s science fiction.

  • Alien: Echo by Mira Grant. Imprint
  • Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Knopf Books for Young Readers
  • Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young. Simon Pulse
  • The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden. Kids Can Press
  • The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler. HarperTeen
  • How We Became Wicked by Alexander Yates. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
  • The Waning Age by S.E. Grove. Viking Books for Young Readers
  • The Fever King by Victoria Lee. Skyscape
  • War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi. Razorbill
  • I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Rishi. HarperTeen
  • Honor Bound by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre. Katherine Tegen Books

[Based on a press release.]

American Library Association Announces 2020 Youth Media Award Winners

The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Congratulations to Seanan McGuire and Colson Whitehead, whose books received Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.

And also of genre interest, the Young Adult winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is They Called Us Enemy, written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker.

A list of all the 2020 award winners follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

  • New Kid, written by Jerry Craft, illustrated by the author and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Newbery Honor Books

  • The Undefeated, written by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson and published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt;
  • Scary Stories for Young Foxes, written by Christian McKay Heidicker, illustrated by Junyi Wu and published by Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group;
  • Other Words for Home, written by Jasmine Warga and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers;
  • Genesis Begins Again, written by Alicia D. Williams and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

  • The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The book was written by Kwame Alexander and published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Caldecott Honor Books

  • Bear Came Along, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, written by Richard T. Morris and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group;
  • Double Bass Blues, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Andrea J. Loney and published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC;
  • Going Down Home with Daddy, illustrated by Daniel Minter, written by Kelly Starling Lyons and published by Peachtree Publishers.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

  • New Kid written by Jerry Craft, is the King Author Book winner. The book is illustrated by the author and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

King Author Honor Books

  • The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, written by Junauda Petrus and published by Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC;
  • Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, written by Kwame Mbalia and published by Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group;
  • Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, written by Jason Reynolds and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

  • The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The book is written by Kwame Alexander and published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

King Illustrator Honor Books

  • The Bell Rang, illustrated by James E. Ransome, written by the illustrator and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book;
  • Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace, illustrated by Ashley Bryan, written by the illustrator and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book;
  • Sulwe, illustrated by Vashti Harrison, written by Lupita Nyong’o and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award:

  • Genesis Begins Again, written by Alicia D. Williams.The book is published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award:

  • What Is Given from the Heart, illustrated by April Harrison. The book is written by Patricia C. McKissack and published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement: The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton.

  • Mildred D. Taylor

Born in Mississippi in 1943 and raised in Ohio, Taylor resides in Colorado. “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” won the 1977 Newbery Award and a Coretta Scott King Book Award honor.

Taylor received the international 2003 inaugural NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature. Her books earned national recognition including four CSK author awards and two author honors. Her 2020 Logan family series conclusion “All the Days Past, All the Days to Come” continues addressing systemic injustice, entrenched inequality and the roots of racism.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

  • Dig, written by A.S. King. The book is published by Dutton Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House.

Printz Honor Books

  • The Beast Player, written by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano and published by Godwin Books/Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group;
  • Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, written by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell and published by First Second/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group;
  • Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir, written by Nikki Grimes and published by Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills & Kane;
  • Where the World Ends, written by Geraldine McCaughrean and published by Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

Young Children

  • Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, written by Sonia Sotomayor, illustrated by Rafael López and published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, wins the award for young children (ages 0 to 10).

Honor book for Young Children

  • A Friend for Henry, written by Jenn Bailey, illustrated by Mika Song and published by Chronicle Books LLC.

Middle Grades

  • Song for a Whale, written by Lynne Kelly and published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Book, a division of Penguin Random House LLC,

Honor book for middle grades

  • Each Tiny Spark, written by Pablo Cartaya and published by Kokila Penguin Young Readers Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Teen

  • Cursed, written by Karol Ruth Silverstein and published by Charlesbridge

Honor book for teens

  • The Silence Between Us, written by Alison Gervais and published by Blink.

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

  • A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, By C.A. Fletcher, Published by Orbit, a division of Hachette Group
  • Do You Dream of Terra-Two? By Temi Oh, Published by Saga Press/Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
  • Dominicana, By Angie Cruz, Published by Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
  • Gender Queer: A Memoir, By Maia Kobabe, Published by Lion Forge, an imprint of Oni Press
  • High School, By Sara Quin and Tegan Quin, Published by MCD, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
  • In Waves, By AJ Dungo, Published by Nobrow
  • Middlegame, By Seanan McGuire, Published by Tor.com Publishing, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, a division of Macmillan
  • The Nickel Boys, By Colson Whitehead, Published by Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House
  • Red, White & Royal Blue By Casey McQuiston, Published by St. Martin’s Griffin, a division of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
  • The Swallows, By Lisa Lutz, Published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House

Children’s Literature Legacy Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children’s lives and experiences.

  • The 2020 winner is Kevin Henkes, whose award-winning works include “Kitten’s First Full Moon” which won the Caldecott Award in 2005 and “The Year of Billy Miller,” recipient of a Newbery Honor in 2014. In addition, Henkes has received two Geisel honors, two Caldecott honors and a second Newbery honor.

Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults:

  • The 2020 winner is Steve Sheinkin. His books include: “Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon,” “The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights,” and “The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery,” all published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and “Lincoln’s Grave Robbers,” published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

2020 ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture Award recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site.

  • Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop will deliver the 2021 Children’s Literature Lecture. Dr. Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita at The Ohio State University, has served on numerous noteworthy committees for ALA and other organizations, and has been recognized with prestigious awards for her work. Her research, writing, and teaching have informed and expanded conversations about representation of African Americans in children’s literature and provided a critical framework for research and pedagogy. Her essay, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” is not only cited globally, it has inspired shifts in publishing, teaching, and the inclusion of authentic, diverse voices in literature for children and teens.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States:

  • Brown. Originally published in Norwegian as “Brune,” the book was written by Håkon Øvreås, illustrated by Øyvind Torseter, translated by Kari Dickson and published by Enchanted Lion Books.

Honor Books

  • The Beast Player, published by Godwin Books/Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, written by Nahoko Uehashi, illustrated by Yuta Onoda and translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano;
  • The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, written by Paola Peretti, illustrated by Carolina Rabei, translated from the Italian by Denise Muir;
  • Do Fish Sleep? published by Enchanted Lion Books, written by Jens Raschke, illustrated by Jens Rassmus, translated from the German by Belinda Cooper; and
  • When Spring Comes to the DMZ, published by Plough Publishing House, written by Uk-Bae Lee, illustrated by the author, translated from the Korean by Chungyon Won and Aileen Won.

Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States:

  • Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction, produced by Scholastic Audiobooks. The book is written by Jarrett J. Krosoczka and narrated by the author, Jeanne Birdsall, Jenna Lamia, Richard Ferrone and a full cast.

Odyssey Honor Audiobooks

  • Redwood and Ponytail, produced by Hachette Audio, written by K.A. Holt and narrated by Cassandra Morris and Tessa Netting;
  • Song for a Whale, produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Lynne Kelly and narrated by Abigail Revasch with the author;
  • We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, produced by Live Oak Media, written by Traci Sorell and narrated by Lauren Hummingbird, Agalisiga (Choogie) Mackey, Ryan Mackey, Traci Sorell, Tonia Weavel;
  • We’re Not from Here, produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Geoff Rodkey and narrated by Dani Martineck.

Pura Belpré Awards honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

  • Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln, illustrated by Rafael López. The book was written by Margarita Engle and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Belpré Illustrator Honor Books

  • Across the Bay, illustrated by Carlos Aponte, written by the illustrator and published by Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC;
  • My Papi Has a Motorcycle, illustrated by Zeke Peña, written by Isabel Quintero and published by Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC; and
  • ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez, written by the author and published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  • Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, written by Carlos Hernandez, is the Pura Belpré Author Award winner. The book is published by Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Belpré Author Honor Books

  • Lety Out Loud, written by Angela Cervantes and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.;
  • The Other Half of Happy, written by Rebecca Balcárcel and published by Chronicle Books;
  • Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, written by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers;
  • Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War, written by Duncan Tonatiuh, illustrated by the author and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children:

  • Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, written by Kevin Noble Maillard and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal. The book is published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings.

Sibert Honor Books

  • All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World, written by Lori Alexander, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt;
  • This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality, written by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy and published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books;
  • Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir, written by Nikki Grimes and published by WordSong, an imprint of Highlights; and
  • Hey, Water! written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis and published by Neal Porter Books, Holiday House.

The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award is given to a digital media producer that has created distinguished digital media for an early learning audience.

  • Molly of Denali, produced by PBS Kids.

Honor recipients

  • Seek, produced by iNaturalist, and
  • States of Matter by Tinybop, produced by Tinybop, Inc.

Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience:

  • When Aidan Became a Brother, written by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.
  • The Black Flamingo, written by Dean Atta, illustrated by Anshika Khullar and published by Hodder Children’s Books, an imprint of Hachette Children’s Group, part of Hodder and Stoughton

Honor Books

  • Pet, written by Akwaeke Emezi and published by Make Me a World, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC;
  • Like a Love Story, written by Abdi Nazemian and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,
  • The Best at It, written by Maulik Pancholy and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book is:

  • Stop! Bot! written and illustrated by James Yang. The book is published by Viking, Penguin Young Readers.

Geisel Honor Books

  • Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot! written and illustrated by Cece Bell and published by Candlewick Press;
  • Flubby Is Not a Good Pet! written and illustrated by J. E. Morris and published by Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House; and
  • The Book Hog, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli and published by Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens:

  • The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, written by Ben Philippe. The book is published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 

Other finalists for the award:   

  • The Candle and the Flame, written by Nafiza Azad and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic; 
  • Frankly in Love, written by David Yoon and published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House; 
  • Genesis Begins Again, written by Alicia D. Williams and published by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing; and 
  • There Will Come a Darkness, written by Katy Rose Pool and published by Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults:

  • Free Lunch, written by Rex Ogle. The book is published by Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company.

Other finalists for the award:

  • The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance, written and illustrated by Lynn Curlee and published by Charlesbridge Teen;
  • A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust, written by Albert Marrin and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House;
  • A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II, written by Elizabeth Wein and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; and
  • Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of ‘The Children’s Ship’, written by Deborah Heiligman and published by Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. The award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.

The Picture Book winner

  • Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom, written by Teresa Robeson, illustrated by Rebecca Huang and published by Sterling Children’s Books.

Picture Book honor title:

  • Bilal Cooks Daal, written by Aisha Saeed, illustrated by Anoosha Syed and published by Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Children’s Literature winner:

  • Stargazing, written by Jen Wang and published by First Second, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Children’s literature honor title:

  • I’m Ok, written by Patti Kim and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Young Adult Literature winner

  • They Called Us Enemy, written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker and published by Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing.

Young Adult Literature honor title:

  • Frankly in Love, written by David Yoon and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

Picture Book winner:

  • The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come, by Sue Macy, illustrated by Stacy Innerst and published by Paula Wiseman Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Picture Book honor books

  • Gittel’s Journey, by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Amy June Bates and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers,
  • The Key from Spain: Flory Jagoda and Her Music, by Debbie Levy, illustrated by Sonja Wimmer and published by Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner Publishing Group.

Middle Grade winner

  • White Bird: A Wonder Story, by R. J. Palacio and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Middle Grade honor books

  • Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack and published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and
  • Games of Deception: The True Story of the First U.S. Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany, by Andrew Maraniss and published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Young Adult winner

  • Someday We Will Fly, by Rachel DeWoskin and published by Viking Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Young Adult honor books

  • Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work, by Victoria Ortiz and published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and
  • Sick Kids in Love, by Hannah Moskowitz and published by Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing LLC.

American Indian Youth Literature award is announced in even years and established to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians.

Picture Book winner

  • Bowwow Powwow: Bagosenjige-niimi’idim, written by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe), translated into Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain (Lac La Croix First Nation), illustrated by Jonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe) and published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Picture Book Honor titles

  • Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, written by Kevin Noble Maillard (Seminole Nation, Mekusukey Band), illustrated by Juana Martínez-Neal (Peruvian-American) and published by Roaring Brook Press / Macmillan;
  • Birdsong, written and illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Métis) and published by Greystone Kids;
  • At the Mountain’s Base, written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee), illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva/Scots-Gaelic), and published by Kokila / Penguin Random House;
  • We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee), illustrated by Frané Lessac, and published by Charlesbridge; and
  • Raven Makes the Aleutians, adapted from a traditional Tlingit story and illustrated by Janine Gibbons (Haida, Raven of the Double-Finned Killer Whale clan, Brown Bear House) and published by Sealaska Heritage.

Middle Grade Book winner

  • Indian No More, written by Charlene Willing McManis (Umpqua/Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde) with Traci Sorell (Cherokee), cover art by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee Creek), published by Tu Books / Lee & Low.

Middle Grade Book Honor titles

  • I Can Make This Promise, written by Christine Day (Upper Skagit), with cover art by Michaela Goade (Tlingit, Kiks.ádi clan, Steel House), published by HarperCollins; and
  • The Grizzly Mother, written by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (“Brett D. Huson,” Gitxsan), illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Métis Nation of British Columbia), and published by Highwater Press.

Young Adult Book winner

  • Hearts Unbroken, written by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) and published by Candlewick Press.

Young Adult Book Honor

  • Surviving the City,” written by Tasha Spillett (Nehiyaw-Trinidadian), illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Métis Nation of British Columbia), and published by Highwater Press;
  • Reawakening Our Ancestors’ Lines: Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing, gathered and compiled by Angela Hovak Johnston (Inuk), with photography by Cora De Vos (Inuk), published by Inhabit Media;
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People, written by Debbie Reese (Nambé Owingeh) and Jean Mendoza adapted from the adult book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, published by Beacon Press; and
  • Apple in the Middle, written by Dawn Quigley (Ojibwe, Turtle Mountain Band) and published by North Dakota State University Press.