Children with book around a globe

This Monday the Siberts will be announced. I would love to see Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis honored–the art is stunning and the voice is pitch-perfect, but it has only a short author’s essay at the end. It would be a stronger contender if it had a more complete bibliography. I also loved Freedom in Congo Square and The Secret Subway, books about very different topics that both did a great job contextualizing difficult stories for young readers.

Cover of Some Writer, showing a boy feeding pigs

 

 

 

But my guess is that the Sibert will go to Some Writer: The Story of E.B. White. I haven’t seen another book with so many primary source documents beautifully reproduced in the book, and all contextualized and incorporated in the text. It was a can’t-put-it-down read for me.Cover of book shows tentacles of a giant squid.

 

 

I think honors will also go to Giant Squid by Candace Fleming. It is about the giant squid while, at the same time, being about the scientific method. It has fantastic back matter that invites and encourages further exploration of the concepts in the book.