Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal

I.  Background to the Medal.

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is given annually by the Association of Library Services to Children "to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year" (ALSC, Sibert Book Medal).  In order to be eligible for this award, a book must present factual material for children (birth through 14 years of age).  Poetry and traditional literature are not eligible.  The medal is named after Robert F. Sibert, a long-time president of Bound to Stay Bound Books (Jacksonville, Illinois), which claims to be the "world's foremost prebinder of juvenile books" (BTSBB, About Us).  The Robert F. Sibert Information Book Medal was proposed in 1995 by Mr. Sibert's son, Robert L. Sibert, because he believed that there needed to be an award for children's informational books.  At first, Robert L. Sibert suggested that the award be named after Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, but there were already awards named after those two individuals, so another name was needed.  He then asked the ALSC committee that was formed to draw up rules for this award to come up with a name.  The committee suggested that the award be named after Robert L. Sibert's father.  He originally resisted the idea, thinking it would be self-serving, but the committee eventually convinced him to agree.  Honor books are announced for distinguished informational books that do not win the award.  The first award winner and honor books were announced in 2001.  On the left is a picture of the Robert F. Sibert seal, with the likeness of Mr. Sibert on it (from ALSC, Sibert Book Medal).  Currently, the award seal is gold and the honor seal is silver.  Publishers can affix a seal on books that won the Robert F. Sibert Medal or recieved an honor.  Below is a list, by year, of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners and honor recipients. 

II.  Award Winners and Honor Recipients.

   2008

• Award:

  • The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, written and illustrated by Peter Sis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007).

• Honors:

  • Lightship, written and illustrated by Brian Floca (Atheneum, 2007).

  • Nic Bishop Spiders, written and photographed by Nic Bishop (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2007).

   2007

• Award:

  • Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, written by Catherine Thimmesh (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

• Honors:
  • Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Ann Bausum (National Geographic, 2005).

  • Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, written by Sy Montgomery and photographed by Nic Bishop (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

  • To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, written by Siena Cherson Siegel and illustrated by Mark Siegel (Atheneum, 2006).

   2006

• Award:

  • Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley, written by Sally M. Walker (Carolrhoda Books, 2005).

• Honor:

  • Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2005).

   2005

• Award:

  • The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights, written by Russell Freedman (Clarion Books, 2004).

• Honor:

  • Walt Whitman: Words for America, written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, 2004).

  • The Tarantula Scientist, written by Sy Montgomery and photographed by Nic Bishop (Houghton Mifflin, 2004).

  • Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing, written by James Rumford (Houghton Mifflin, 2004).

   2004

• Award:

  • An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, written by Jim Murphy (Clarion Books, 2003).

• Honor:

  • I Face the Wind, written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton (HarperCollins, 2003).

   2003

• Award:

  • The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, written by James Cross Giblin (Clarion Books, 2002).

• Honors:

  • Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929, written by Karen Blumenthal (Atheneum, 2002).

  • Hole in My Life, written by Jack Gantos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002).

  • Action Jackson, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordon and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker (Roaring Brook Press, 2002).

  • When Marian Sang, written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, 2002).

   2002

• Award:

  • Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850, written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton Mifflin, 2001).

• Honors:

  • Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps, written by Andrea Warren (HarperCollins, 2001).

  • Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan (Delacorte Press, 2001).

  • Brooklyn Bridge, written by Lynn Curlee (Atheneum, 2001).

   2001

• Award:

  • Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado, written by Marc Aronson (Clarion Books, 2000).

• Honors:

  • The Longitude Prize, written by Joan Dash and illustrated by Dusan Petricic (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).

  • Blizzard! The Storm the Changed America, written by Jim Murphy (Scholastic Press, 2000).

  • My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal, written by Sophie Webb (Houghton Mifflin, 2000).

  • Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, written by Judd Winick (Henry Holt and Company, 2000).

     

(List adapted from ALSC, Winners and Honor Books). 

III.  Resources.

American Library Association.  (2007).  Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal.  Retrieved on March 9, 2008 from:

http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=162480

Association for Library Services to Children.  (n.d.).  ALSC Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal.  Retrieved on March 9, 2008 from:

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/sibertmedal/sibertcurrent/sibertmedalcurrent.cfm

Association for Library Services to Children.  (n.d.).  Robert F. Sibert Medal Winners and Honor Books 2001-Present.  Retrieved on March 9, 2008 from:

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/sibertmedal/sibertpast/sibertmedalpast.cfm  

Bound to Stay Bound Books.  (2008).  About Us.  Retrieved on March 9, 2008 from: http://www.btsb.com

Marks, Diana F.  (2006).  Children's Book Award Handbook.  Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.