Sibert Medal


The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal established by the Association for Library Service to Children in 2001 with support from Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc., is awarded annually to the writer and illustrator of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, a long-time president of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. in Jacksonville, Illinois. ALSC administers the award.
"Informational books are defined as those written and illustrated to present, organize, and interpret documentable, factual material." Poetry and traditional literature such as folktales are not eligible but there is no other restriction, such as reference books or nonfiction books. The book must be published originally or simultaneously in the United States and in English.

Recipients

YearWriterIllustratorTitleCitation
2001Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El DoradoWinner
2001Honor
2001BLIZZARD! The Storm That Changed AmericaHonor
2001My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic JournalHonor
2001 Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I LearnedHonor
2002Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850Winner
2002Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death CampsHonor
2002Vincent van GoghHonor
2002Brooklyn BridgeHonor
2003Winner
2003Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929Honor
2003Hole in My LifeHonor
2003Action JacksonHonor
2003When Marian SangHonor
2004Winner
2004I Face the WindHonor
2005Winner
2005Walt Whitman: Words for AmericaHonor
2005Honor
2005Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People WritingHonor
2006Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. HunleyWinner
2006Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's ShadowHonor
2007Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the MoonWinner
2007Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights MovementHonor
2007Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New GuineaHonor
2007To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic NovelHonor
2008Winner
2008LightshipHonor
2008Nic Bishop SpidersHonor
2009We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League BaseballWinner
2009Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the PastHonor
2009What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!Honor
2010Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to DreamWinner
2010Honor
2010Moonshot: The Flight Of Apollo 11Honor
2010Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward JusticeHonor
2011Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest BirdWinner
2011 and Sandra JohnsonBallet for Martha: Making Appalachian SpringHonor
2011Lafayette and the American RevolutionHonor
2012Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's ParadeWinner
2012Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene 'Bull' ConnorHonor
2012Drawing from MemoryHonor
2012 and Donna M. Jackson and Timothy Rodwell Honor
2012Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in SalemHonor
2013Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous WeaponWinner
2013Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin FranklinHonor
2013Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with Great Survivor B95Honor
2013Titanic: Voices from the DisasterHonor
2014Parrots over Puerto RicoWinner
2014Honor
2014Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own BackyardHonor
2014LocomotiveHonor
2014Honor
2015Winner
2015Honor
2015Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine BakerHonor
2015Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon IslandsHonor
2015Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for DesegregationHonor
2015Brown Girl DreamingHonor
2016Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead CalaverasWinner
2016Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New OrleansHonor
2016Honor
2016Lynda Blackmon Lowery,
as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights MarchHonor
2016Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights MovementHonor
2017 and March: Book ThreeWinner
2017Giant SquidHonor
2017Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s StoryHonor
2017Honor
2017We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf HitlerHonor
2018Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961Winner
2018 and Man OneChef Roy Choi and the Street Food RemixHonor
2018Grand CanyonHonor
2018Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask about Having a DisabilityHonor
2018Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an EcosystemHonor
2019Winner
2019Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the WildHonor
2019Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of AmericaHonor
2019Honor
2019We Are Grateful: OtsaliheligaHonor
2019When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos SantanaHonor
2020Fry Bread: A Native American Family StoryWinner
2020All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible WorldHonor
2020 and This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School EqualityHonor
2020Ordinary Hazards: A MemoirHonor
2020Hey, Water!Honor
2021Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis MelliferaWinner
2021How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest AdventureHonor
2021Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn BrooksHonor
2021All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer TeamHonor
2022The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice With ArtWinner
2022The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution ProblemHonor
2022Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War ShowdownHonor
2022We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should KnowHonor
2022Summertime Sleepers: Animals That EstivateHonor
2022Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race MassacreHonor
2023Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American IncarcerationWinner
2023Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights MovementHonor
2023Honor
2023Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus BoycottHonor
2023Honor
2024Winner
2024Honor
2024Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie OrmesHonor
2024Jumper: A Day in the Life of the Backyard Jumping SpiderHonor
2024Shipwrecked!: Diving for Hidden Time Capsules on the Ocean FloorHonor