The National Book Foundation has revealed the 2021 National Book Award longlist for Young People’s Literature. The five finalists will be named on October 5, and the winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on November 17, which will once again be held in-person at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
The 2021 longlist for Young People’s Literature:
- Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo (Make Me a World)
- The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor (Kokila)
- A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (Dutton)
- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff (Dial)
- Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon (Candlewick)
- Me (Moth) by Amber McBride (Feiwel and Friends)
- The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel and Friends)
- Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Floyd Cooper (Carolrhoda)
- From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo (Norton Young Readers)
This year’s longlist features two authors who have been previously recognized by the National Book Awards. Kekla Magoon was longlisted in the Young People’s Literature category in 2015, and Anna-Marie McLemore was longlisted in the category in 2016.
A total of 344 books were submitted for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The judges are Cathryn Mercier (chair), Pablo Cartaya, Traci Chee, Leslie Connor, and Ibi Zoboi.
