Fiction

The annual awards go to I Am Every Good Thing and Above the Rim.

Twenty-five outstanding works made SLJ's list of the best middle grade books published in 2020. 

Authors Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon have collaborated on a YA novel celebrating Black love during a New York City blackout.

Short story and essay collections for teens can be a classroom tool, an introduction to a new author or genre, and an opportunity for readers to feel seen. These selections celebrate diversity and intersectionality, exploring identity in new and dynamic ways.

Mara Fitzgerald, Vitor Martins, and Shannon Takaoka discuss the characters who are allowed to be unlikable, being vulnerable as an author, and protecting creative space.

Whether you are a media specialist seeking excellent additions to your collection or titles to recommend, or an educator seeking gold for both remote and in-person learning, you’ll find plenty of options here, with accurate and authentic books by and about Native Americans and First Nations people.

Keynote addresses by James McBride, Tommy Orange, and Ijeoma Oluo, and sessions on reimagining school, next steps in antiracist teaching, and challenging the classics are just a few of the highlights of the 2020 SLJ Summit.

These titles for middle and high school readers celebrate joy in the lives of Black teens and tweens. The characters in these stories laugh honestly, love fiercely, and exist wholly.

"But though I’ve been deeply indoctrinated by the white imagination, I don’t invest in it." Junauda Petrus, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (Dutton; Gr 8 Up), discusses the power of speculative fiction, removing racist statues, and navigating whiteness.