The National Book Foundation has announced 10 contenders for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (YPL).

This year’s longlist spans genre, form, and topic, ranging from coming-of-age stories that explore gender, sexuality, and acceptance, to pivotal events in American history that resonate today.

The longlist titles are:

Safia Elhillo, Home Is Not a Country
Make Me a World / Penguin Random House

Shing Yin Khor, The Legend of Auntie Po
Kokila / Penguin Random House 

Darcie Little Badger, A Snake Falls to Earth
Levine Querido

Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Dutton Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House 

Kyle Lukoff, Too Bright to See
Dial Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House

Kekla Magoon, Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People
Candlewick Press

Amber McBride, Me (Moth)
Feiwel and Friends / Macmillan Publishers

Anna-Marie McLemore, The Mirror Season
Feiwel and Friends / Macmillan Publishers

Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrations by Floyd Cooper, Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
Carolrhoda Books / Lerner Publishing Group

Paula Yoo, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement
Norton Young Readers / W. W. Norton & Company

SLJ Reviews of the 2021 National Book Award Longlisters

The judges for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature are Cathryn Mercier (Chair), Pablo Cartaya, Traci Chee, Leslie Connor, and Ibi Zoboi.

Winners in all NBA categories will be announced live at the National Book Awards Ceremony on November 17.