IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards

Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards are given for an author’s first or second published book written for children or young adults (ages birth to 17 years). Awards are given for fiction and nonfiction in each of three categories: primary, intermediate, and young adult. Books from any country and in any language published for the first time during the 2008 calendar year will be considered. Each award carries a monetary stipend.

For additional information, please contact the Executive Office.

Award Recipients

2008
Lita Judge	One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II (Primary–Fiction) Hyperion
Constance Leeds	The Silver Cup (Intermediate–Fiction) Viking (Penguin Group)
Laura Resau	Red Glass (Young Adult–Fiction) Delacorte (Random House)
Bill Wise, author, and Bill Farnsworth, illustrator	Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer (Primary–Nonfiction) Lee & Low
Loree Griffin Burns	Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Houghton Mifflin
Ibtisam Barakat	Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Melanie Kroupa Books (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
2007
Mark Rogalski	Tickets to Ride: An Alphabetical Amusement (Primary–Fiction) Running Press Kids
Frank Keating	Theodore (Primary–Nonfiction) Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster
Joyce Moyer Hostetter	Blue (Intermediate–Fiction) Calkins Creek Books, Boyds Mills Press
Carla Killough McClafferty	Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Farrar Straus Giroux
Christopher Grey	Leonardo’s Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci’s Servant (Young Adult–Fiction) Atheneum Books, Simon & Schuster
Margarita Engle	ThePoet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Henry Holt
2006
Rob Scotton	Russell the Sheep (Primary–Fiction) HarperCollins
Jane Ann Peddicord	Night Wonders (Primary–Nonfiction) Charlesbridge
David L. Dudley	The Bicycle Man (Intermediate–Fiction) Clarion Books
Robert Shetterly	Americans Who Tell the Truth (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Dutton
Paul Volponi	Black and White (Young Adult–Fiction) Viking Press
Wynton Marsalis and Paul Rogers	JAZZ ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Candlewick Press
2005
Leslie Conner (author) Mary Azarian (illustrator)	Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel (Primary–Fiction) Houghton Mifflin
Susie Caldwell Rinehart (author) Anisa Claire Hovemann (illustrator)	Eliza and the Dragonfly (Primary–Nonfiction) Dawn Publications
Maiya Williams	The Golden Hour (Intermediate–Fiction) Amulet Books
Joan Marie Arbogast	Buildings in Disguise (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Boyds Mill Press
Brenda Woods	Emako Blue (Young Adult–Fiction) G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Brent Runyon	The Burn Journals (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Alfred A. Knopf
2004
Andrea U’ren	Mary Smith (Primary–Fiction) Farrar, Straus & Giroux
James Warhola	Uncle Andy’s: A Faabbbulous Visit with Andy Warhol (Primary–Nonfiction) Penguin
Esmé Raji Codell	Sahara Special (Intermediate–Fiction) Hyperion Books
Penelope Niven	Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Harcourt
Kathe Koja	Buddha Boy (Young Adult–Fiction) Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Miriam Stone	At the End of Words: A Daughter’s Memoir (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Candlewick Press
2003
Celeste Davidson Mannis	One Leaf Rides the Wind (Primary–Fiction) Viking
Nancy Andrews-Goebel	The Pot That Juan Built (Primary–Nonfiction) Lee & Low Books
Marlene Carvell	Who Will Tell My Brother? (Intermediate–Fiction) Hyperion
David J. Smith	If the World Were a Village: A Book About the World’s People (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Kids Can Press
Chris Crowe	Mississippi Trial, 1955 (Young Adult–Fiction) Phyllis Fogelman Books
Duane Damon	Headin’ for Better Times: The Arts of the Great Depression (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Lerner
2002
Paolilli and Dan Brewer	Silver Seeds (Primary–Fiction) Viking, Penguin Putnam Books
Joan Plummer Russell	Aero and Officer Mike (Primary–Nonfiction) Boyds Mills Press
Yin	Coolies (Intermediate–Fiction) Philomel, Penguin Putnam Books
Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson and Larry Nicholson	Pearl Harbor Warriors (Intermediate–Nonfiction) Woodson House
An Na	A Step From Heaven (Young Adult–Fiction) Front Street
Wilborn Hampton	Meltdown: A Race Against Nuclear Disaster at Three Mile Island (Young Adult–Nonfiction) Candlewick Press
2001
Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick	Stranger in the Woods (Younger Reader Category) Carl R. Sams II Photography
Sophie Webb	My Season With Penguins (Younger Reader Category) Houghton Mifflin
Peggy Brooke	Jake’s Orphan (Older Reader Category) Dorling Kindersley
Catherine Thimmesh and Melissa Sweet	Girls Think of Everything (Older Reader Category) Houghton Mifflin
2000
Sy Montgomery	The Snake Scientist (Younger Reader Category) Houghton Mifflin
Alice McGill	Molly Bannaky (Younger Reader Category) Houghton Mifflin
Christopher Paul Curtis	Bud, Not Buddy (Older Reader Category) Delacorte Press, Random House
Eleanor Ramrath Garner	Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany (Older Reader Category) Peachtree
1999
Frances and Ginger Park	My Freedom Trip: A Child’s Escape From North Korea (Younger Reader Category) Boyds Mills Press
John H. Ritter	Choosing Up Sides (Older Reader Category) Philomel Books
Derek T. Dingle	First in the Field: Baseball Hero Jackie Robinson (Informational Reader Category) Hyperion Books
1998
Milly Lee and Yangsook Choi	Nim and the War Effort (Younger Reader Category) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ronder Thomas Young	Moving Mama to Town (Older Reader Category) Orchard Books
Brandon Marie Miller	Just What the Doctor Ordered: The History of American Medicine (Informational Reader Category) Lerner
1997
Ingrid Slyder	The Fabulous Flying Fandinis (Younger Reader Category) Cobblehill/Dutton
Margaret Peterson Haddix	Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey (Older Reader Category) Simon & Schuster Books for Young People
Elizabeth Mann	The Brooklyn Bridge (Informational Reader Category) Mikaya Press
1996
Marie Bradby and Chris K. Soentpiet	More About Anything Else (Younger Reader Category) Orchard Books
Elizabeth Alder	The King’s Shadow (Older Reader Category) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Susan E. Quinlan	The Case of the Mummified Pigs and Other Mysteries in Nature (Informational Reader Category) Boyds Mills Press
1995
Gay Matthaei, Jewel Grutman, and Adam Cvijanovic	The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle (Younger Reader Category) Thomasson-Grant, Inc.
Trudy Krisher	Spite Fences (Older Reader Category) Bantam Books
Gary Bowen	Stranded at Plimoth Plantation 1626 (Informational Reader Category) HarperCollins Publishers
1994
Deborah Hopkinson	Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Younger Reader Category) Random House
Nelly S. Toll	Behind the Secret Window (Older Reader Category) E. P. Dutton
1993
Douglas Wood and Cheng-Khee Chee	Old Turtle (Younger Reader Category) Pfeifer-Hamilton
Karen Hesse	Letters From Rifka (Older Reader Category) Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
1992
Virginia Grossman and Sylvia	Long Ten Little Rabbits (Younger Reader Category) Chronicle Books
Ben Mikaelsen	Rescue Josh McGuire (Older Reader Category) Hyperion Books
1991
Megan McDonald	Is This a House for Hermit Crabs? (Younger Reader Category) Orchard Press
Marita Conlon-McKenna	Under the Hawthorn Tree (Older Reader Category) Holiday House & O'Brien Press
1990
Anna Egan Smucker and Steve Johnson	No Star Nights (Younger Reader Category) Knopf
Linda Crew	Children of the River (Older Reader Category) Delacorte-Dell
1989
Patricia Polacco	Rechenka’s Eggs (Younger Reader Category) Putnam & Grosset
Virginia Euwer Wolff	Probably Still Nick Swansen (Older Reader Category) Henry Holt
1988
Leslie Baker	The Third-Story Cat Little, Brown
Philip Pullman	The Ruby in the Smoke Knopf
1987
Margaret I. Rostkowski	After the Dancing Days (Young Adult Category) Harper & Row
Marisabina Russo	The Line Up Book Greenwillow Books
1986
Pam Conrad	Prairie Songs Harper & Row
1985
Janni Howker	Badger on the Barge Julia MacRae Books (London) and Greenwillow
1984
Clare Bell	Ratha’s Creature Atheneum
1983
Meredith Ann Pierce	The Darkangel Atlantic Monthly/Little, Brown
1982
Michelle Magorian	Good Night, Mr. Tom Published by Kestrel Books (Penguin) in London. Issued by Harper & Row in the United States
1981
Delores Beckman	My Own Private Sky E. P. Dutton
1980
Ouida Sebestyen	Words by Heart Atlantic Monthly/Little, Brown
1979
Alison Smith	Reserved for Mark Anthony Crowder E. P. Dutton
1978
Lois Lowry	A Summer to Die Houghton Mifflin
Honor Books: Thomas Roy	The Curse of the Turtle Bodley Head, London
Betty Sue Cummings	Hew Against the Grain Atheneum
1977
Nancy Bond	A String in the Harp Atheneum
Honor Books: Joyce Rockwood	To Spoil the Sun Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Eileen Dunlop	A Flute in Mayferry Street Oxford University Press
1976
Laurence Yep	Dragonwings Harper and Row
1975
Tuti Degens	Transport 7-41-R The Viking Press