The 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Award winning titles were highlighted during the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards, the premier announcement of the best of the best in children’s and young adult literature. The awards are new to the ALA Youth Media Awards lineup and are administered by the American Indian Library Association (AILA), an affiliate of the ALA.
Awarded biennially, the American Indian Youth Literature Award identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Books selected to receive the award present Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity. Winners and Honor Books were selected in the categories Best Picture Book, Best Middle Grade Book, and Best Young Adult Book.
Winners
Picture Book
Bowwow Powwow: Bagosenjige-niimi’idim
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)
Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018
http://www.mnhs.org/mnhspress/books/bowwow-powwow
Middle School
Indian No More
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, 2019
Honor Books
Picture Book
Birdsong
Written and illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Métis)
Published by Greystone Kids, 2019
Picture Book
At the Mountain’s Base
Written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee)
Illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva/Scots-Gaelic)
Published by Kokila / Penguin Random House, 2019.
Picture Book
Raven Makes the Aleutians
Adapted from a traditional Tlingit story
Illustrated by Janine Gibbons (Haida, Raven of the Double-Finned Killer Whale clan, Brown Bear House)
Published by Sealaska Heritage, 2018
Middle School
The Grizzley Mother
The Grizzly Mother, written by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (“Bret D. Huson,” Gitxsan), illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Métis Nation of British Columbia), and published by Highwater Press.
Young Adult
Surviving the City
Written by Tasha Spillet (Nehiyaw-Trinidadian)
Illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Métis Nation of British Columbia)
Published by Highwater Press, 2018