The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award

This award is given annually "to the author of the most distinguished informational book published during the preceding year." There are an award winner and honor books.

The links in the book titles take you to Amazon or increasingly to Bookshop.org (benefiting independent booksellers), as you can confirm if you hover over them; if you prefer you can explore my lists of award-winners at Bookshop.org.

Robert F. Sibert Award winners:

2021 winner: Honey Bee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera, by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann.
2020 winner: Fry Bread, A Native American Family Story, by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal. Or Fry Bread, A Native American Family Story on Amazon.
2019 winner: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman. Or The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science (on Bookshop).
2018 winner: Twelve Days in May, by Larry Dane Brimner. Or Twelve Days in May (on Amazon)
2017 winner: March: Book Three, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. Or March: Book Three (on Amazon). Also a CSK Award winner.
2016 winner: Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.
2015 winner: The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Also a Caldecott Honor book.
2014 winner: Parrots over Puerto Rico, by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, illustrated by Susan L. Roth.
2013 winner: Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, by Steve Sheinkin. Also a Newbery Honor book.
2012 winner: Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade, by Melissa Sweet.
2011 winner: Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot, by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Nic Bishop.
2010 winner: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, by Tanya Lee Stone.
2009 winner: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson.
2008 winner: The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sís. Sibert Chair Caroline Parr: “Sís combines the personal and the political in a feat of visual and verbal storytelling." Also a Caldecott Honor book.
2007 winner: Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, by Catherine Thimmesh.
2006 winner: Secrets of a Civil War Submarine, by Sally M. Walker.
2005 winner: The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson..., by Russell Freedman.
2004 winner: An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy.
2003 winner: The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, by James Cross Giblin.
2002 winner: Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

Robert F. Sibert Honor books:

2021 Honor books:
- How We Got to the Moon, written and illustrated by John Rocco.
- Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera.
- All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys's Soccer Team, by Christina Soontornvat.
2020 Honor books:
- All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World, by Lori Alexander, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger.
- This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality, by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy.
- Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir, by Nikki Grimes.
- Hey, Water!, written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis.
2019 Honor books:
- Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild, by Catherine Thimmesh.
- Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds, by Gail Jarrow.
- The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees, by Don Brown.
- We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, by Traci Sorrell, illustrated by Frane Lessac.
- When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana, by Michael Mahin, illustrated by Jose Ramirez.
2018 Honor books:
- Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and June Jo Lee.
- Grand Canyon, written and illustrated by Jason Chin.
- Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask about Having a Disability, by Shane Burcaw.
- Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators that Saved an Ecosystem, by Patricia Newman.
2017 Honor books:
- Giant Squid, written by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann.
- Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story, by Caren Stelson.
- Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II, by Albert Marrin.
- We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler, by Russell Freedman.
2016 Honor books:
- Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, written and illustrated by Don Brown.
- The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club, by Phillip Hoose.
- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March, by Lynda Blackmon Lowery as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley, illustrated by PJ Loughran.
- Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Ekua Holmes.
2015 Honor books:
- Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson. Also a National Book Award winner and a Newbery Honor book.
- The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia, by Candace Fleming.
- Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson.
- Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands, written and illustrated by Katherine Roy.
- Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.
2014 Honor books:
- A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet.
- Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard, by Annette LeBlanc Cate.
- Locomotive, by Brian Floca -- also the Caldecott Medal book.
- The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius, by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan.
2013 Honor books:
- Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, written and illustrated by Robert Byrd.
- Mooonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, by Phillip M. Hoose.
- Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, by Deborah Hopkinson.
2012 Honor books:
- Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor, by Larry Dane Brimner.
- Drawing from Memory, written and illustrated by Allen Say.
- The Elephant Scientist, written by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell.
- Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer.
2011 Honor books:
- Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca.
- Lafayette and the American Revolution, by Russell Freedman.
2010 Honor books:
- The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors, written by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani.
- Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, written and illustrated by Brian Floca.
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, written by Phillip Hoose (also a Newbery Honor book).
2009 Honor books:
- Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past, by James M. Deem.
- What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!, written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
2008 Honor books:
- Lightship, written and illustrated by Brian Floca.
- Nic Bishop Spiders, written and photographed by Nic Bishop.
2007 Honor books:
- Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement, by Ann Bausum.
- Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop.
- To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel, by Siena Cherson Siegel, illustrated by Mark Siegel.
2006 Honor book:
- Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
2005 Honor books:
- Walt Whitman: Words for America, by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick.
- The Tarantula Scientist, by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop.
- Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing, by James Rumford.
2004 Honor book:
- I Face the Wind, by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton.
2002 Honor books:
- Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps, by Andrea Warren.
- Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist, by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan.
- Brooklyn Bridge, by Lynn Curlee.

More information about the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award: this link leads to the official site for the Award, which includes a complete list of past winners.
This page was compiled by Harold Underdown from information available on public websites.

Children's Book Awards Index page

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