| Orbis Pictus Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | National Council of Teachers of English |
| First awarded | 1990 |
| Website | ncte |
The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children recognizes books which demonstrate excellence in the "writing of nonfiction for children." [1] [2] It is awarded annually by the National Council of Teachers of English to one American book published the previous year. [3] Up to five titles may be designated as Honor Books. The award is named after the book considered to be the first picture book for children, Orbis Pictus (The World in Pictures), by John Amos Comenius, which was published in 1657. [4] [5] The award has recognized one book annually without exception since it was inaugurated in 1990.
| Year | Title | Writer | Illustrator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky | Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond | Daniel Minter |
| 2022 | Nina: A Story of Nina Simone | Traci N. Todd | Christian Robinson |
| 2021 | Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball | Jen Bryant | Frank Morrison |
| 2020 | A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation | Barry Wittenstein | Jerry Pinkney |
| 2019 | Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery | Sandra Neil Wallace | Bryan Collier |
| 2018 | Grand Canyon | Jason Chin | Jason Chin |
| 2017 | Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White | Melissa Sweet | Melissa Sweet |
| 2016 | Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans | Don Brown | Don Brown |
| 2015 | The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia | Candace Fleming | |
| 2014 | A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin | Jen Bryant | Melissa Sweet |
| 2013 | Monsieur Marceau: Actor without Words | Leda Schubert | Gérard DuBois |
| 2012 | Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade | Melissa Sweet | |
| 2011 | Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring | Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan | Brian Floca |
| 2010 | The Secret World of Walter Anderson | Hester Bass | E. B. Lewis |
| 2009 | Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator [10] [11] | Shelley Tanaka | David Craig |
| 2008 | M.L.K.: Journey of a King | Tonya Bolden | |
| 2007 | Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea | Sy Montgomery | Nic Bishop (photos) |
| 2006 | Children of the Great Depression [12] | Russell Freedman | |
| 2005 | York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition | Rhoda Blumberg | |
| 2004 | An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | Jim Murphy | |
| 2003 | When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson: The Voice of a Century | Pam Muñoz Ryan [13] | Brian Selznick |
| 2002 | Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 | Susan Campbell Bartoletti | |
| 2001 | Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California | Jerry Stanley | |
| 2000 | Through My Eyes | Ruby Bridges | |
| 1999 | Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance | Jennifer Armstrong | |
| 1998 | An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly | Laurence Pringle | Bob Marstall |
| 1997 | Leonardo da Vinci | Diane Stanley [14] | |
| 1996 | The Great Fire | Jim Murphy | |
| 1995 | Safari Beneath the Sea: The Wonder World of the North Pacific Coast | Diane Swanson | |
| 1994 | Across America on an Emigrant Train | Jim Murphy | |
| 1993 | Children in the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp | Jerry Stanley | |
| 1992 | Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh | Robert Burleigh | Mike Wimmer |
| 1991 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt | Russell Freedman | |
| 1990 | The Great Little Madison | Jean Fritz |
Two writers and no distinct illustrators have won the Orbis Pictus Award more than once.
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is a United States professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English." In addition, the NCTE describes its mission as follows:
The Council promotes the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language.
Chris Crutcher is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.
Orbis may refer to:
James John Patrick Murphy was an American author. He wrote more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children, young adults, and general audiences, including more than 30 about American history. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for his contribution in writing for teens.
Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an American writer of children's literature whose work includes Kids on Strike! and Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow.
Jean Guttery Fritz was an American children's writer best known for American biography and history. She won the Children's Legacy Literature Award for her career contribution to American children's literature in 1986. She turned 100 in November 2015 and died in May 2017 at the age of 101.
Deborah Hopkinson is an American writer of children's books, primarily historical fiction, nonfiction and picture books. She was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
George Hillocks Jr. was an emeritus professor in the Department of Education, with a joint appointment in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. He received in 2011 the James R. Squire Award of the National Council of Teachers of English for having "a transforming influence and [making] a lasting intellectual contribution to the profession." He also received many other major awards. His teaching career included the preparation of English teachers in the Master of Arts in Teaching program, and the mentoring of Ph.D. students in the doctoral program, at the University of Chicago. After retiring from the University he continued to present seminars and workshops for writing teachers across the US. His primary research interests centered on the teaching of writing, literature, and language in middle and high school English classes, and on large-scale writing assessment. When not teaching and writing, he was an accomplished bagpipe player, performing frequently for Chicago audiences and in international competitions.
Penny Colman is an author of books, essays, stories, and articles for all ages. In 2005, her social history, Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial, was named one of the 100 Best of the Best Books for the 21st Century by members of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
Nell K. Duke is a contemporary educator and literacy researcher with an interest in informational text, early literacy development, and reading comprehension instruction, with an emphasis on children living in poverty. She is currently a professor of language, literacy, and culture and a faculty associate in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan.
Shelley Tanaka is a Canadian editor of numerous young adult novels, an author of non-fiction for children, a translator, and a writing teacher.
Carla Killough McClafferty, is an American author of non-fiction for children, writing mostly about science and history. The International Reading Association awarded the 2007 Children's Book Award for Intermediate Nonfiction to her book Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. The National Council of Teachers of English gave a 2008 Orbis Pictus Recommended book designation to In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry.
Candace Groth Fleming is an American writer of children's books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Across America on an Emigrant Train is a 1993 children's history book by Jim Murphy. It is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1879 journey from New York City to California.
Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters is a 1994 Children's book by Patricia McKissack and Frederick McKissack. It is about the preparations and workings around the Christmas season on a slave plantation in 1850s Virginia.
Tonya K. Bolden is an American writer best known for her works of children's literature, especially children's nonfiction.
Jen Bryant is an American poet, novelist, and children's author.
Tanya Lee Stone is an American author of children's and young adult books. She writes narrative nonfiction for middle-grade students and young adults, as well as nonfiction picture books. Her stories often center women and people of color.
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream is a nonfiction children's book by Tanya Lee Stone, originally published February 24, 2009 by Candlewick Press, then republished September 27, 2011. The book tells the story of the Mercury 13 women, who, in 1958, joined NASA and completed testing to become astronauts.
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers is a nonfiction book geared toward children, written by Tanya Lee Stone and published January 22, 2013 by Candlewick Press. The book tells the story of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, nicknamed The Triple Nickles, an all-Black airborne unit of the United States Army during World War II.
