About

An Ice Chunk

An ice chunk, an ice hunk,
I threw it hard. It did not break.
I was amazed for goodness sake.

An ice chunk, an ice hunk,
I threw it hard and it did hit,
It did not break, not one wee bit.

An ice chunk, an ice hunk,
I threw it hard and then I gazed.
For goodness sake, I was amazed.

An ice chunk, an ice hunk.

Poem by John,
age eight

Autobiography

Picture Books

Night Driving

• Awarded the 1997 Marion Vannett Ridgway Award for excellence in an author’s or illustrator’s first picture book
• Chosen one of the best books of the year by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in the New York Times
• Selected for Fanfare 1997, The Horn Book Honor List chosen from the books of 1996
• Named one of The Choice Books of 1996 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center 
• Nominated for a 1997 Minnesota Book Award and named as a finalist for Children’s Books of Distinction by The Hungry Mind Review
• Chosen for a Seal of Quality by The Family Channel Entertainment Guide
• Nominated for Vermont’s 1997 children’s book award, The Red Clover Award
• Selected for Not Just for Children Anymore, A Selection by Booksellers of 110 Children’s Books that Adults will Enjoy and Buy for Themselves, published by The Children’s Book Council
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 1998 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Selected as one of the Best Illustrated Books of the Year by The New York Times

Strong to the Hoop

• Chosen as an American Library Association Notable Book for 2000
• Named one of the Choice Books of 2000 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Picked as A Notable Social Studies Trade Book For Young People for 2000 by the Children’s Book Council
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2000 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, 2000

Vroomaloom Zoom

• Selected as a book of excellence on the Children’s Literature Choice List for 2001
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2001 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Picked for the 2001 2X2 Reading List of the Texas Library Association, a list for children age 2 to Second Grade
• Starred review in School Library Journal

Two Old Potatoes and Me

• Received starred reviews in School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly
• Chosen as one of Nickelodeon Jr.’s Best Family Books for the Year for 2003
• Selected as an Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Honor Book
• Named one of the Choice Books of 2003 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2003 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Named an Honor Book for the Charlotte Zolotow Award, best text in a picture book
• Selected as a featured book for Reading Rainbow, 2005
• Picked as a book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program
• Chosen by The Junior Master Gardener Program and the American Horticultural Society to honor the best of the best in children’s garden fiction. These Growing Good Kids Book Awards CLASSICS represent the TOP 40 books of the last 100 YEARS.
• Shown in season 1, episode 5 of The Last of Us.

Around the World

• Chosen as a Junior Library Guild book
• Selected for the National Basketball Association Read to Achieve program
• Featured title in the Basketball without Borders program

Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball

• Starred Review in the Horn Book
• Recipient of the Silver Triangle Award from Communication Arts
• Selected as one of the Best Books for Kids and Teens of 2013 by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre
• Chosen as one of the Top Ten Sports Book for Youth by Booklist for 2013
• Named one of the Choice Books of 2014 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Selected as a Finalist for the Minnesota Star of the North Book Award for 2014-2015
• Nominated as a Finalist for the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2014 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Selected as a Book of the Month for the Intermediate Division of the Read On Wisconsin Program
• Nominated for the Rocky Mountain Book Award by the Alberta Readers’ Choice Awards for 2015
• Selected as a nominee for the North Carolina Children’s Book Award for 2015
• Selected for the 2015 Multicultural Book Collection by Reading is Fundamental
• Nominated  for a Virginia Readers’ Choice Award for 2015-2016 
• Nominated for a Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award for 2016
• Nominated for the Monarch Illinois Readers’ Choice Award for 2016
• Nominated for the 2015-2016 South Carolina Picture Book Award
• Nominated for Tennessee’s Volunteer State Book Award for 2016-2017
• Selected as a 2016 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award Honor Book
• Included on the National Endowment for the Humanities Nonfiction Favorites List for Young Readers

Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game

• Starred Review in Booklist
• Starred Review in Publishers Weekly
• Selected as one of the Miami Herald’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2015
• Chosen as one of the Best Books for Children by the Raleigh News & Observer, 2015
• Selected as a Recommended Orbis Pictus book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children by the National Council of Teachers of English, 2016
• Selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, 2016
• Named one of the Choice Books of 2016 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Chosen for Outstanding Merit as one of the Best Children’s Books of the Year for 2016 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Winner of the 2016 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award for Distinguished Achievement in Children’s Literature by the Wisconsin Library Association Youth Services Section
• Nominated for the 2017-2018 South Carolina Children’s Book Award
• Picked as a book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program
• 2018 Nominee for the Sequoyah Award of the Oklahoma Library Association
• Voted as the winner of the 2017-2018 Delaware Diamond Award for Grades 3 to 5 by the students of Delaware.
• Nominated for the 2019 Bluestem Award: Illinois’ Grades 3-5 Readers’ Choice Award sponsored by the Illinois School Library Media Association/Association of Illinois School Library Educators.

Their Great Gift: Courage, Sacrifice, and Hope in a New Land

• Starred Review in Publishers Weekly
• Starred Review in School Library Journal
• Starred Review in Kirkus
• Selected as a Reviewer’s Choice in the July 2016 Midwest Book Review
• Named one of the Best Books of the Year for 2016 by the Chicago Public Library
• Chosen as a Best Book of the Year for 2016 by the Center for the Study of Multiracial Children’s Literature
• Winner of the 2017 Correll Book Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Informational Text from the University of Maine
• Selected for the New York City Reads 365 program for First Grade by the New York City Department of Education

My Mighty Journey: A Waterfall’s Story

• Selected as one of the Best Books for 2019 by Debbie Reese of American Indians in Children’s Literature
• Named one of the Best Science and Nature Books of 2019 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8
• Chosen as a 2020 Riverby Award Winner for exceptional nature books for young readers by the John Burroughs Association

If We Were Gone: Imagining a World Without People

• Named by Publishers’s Weekly as a featured book for the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day
• Finalist for the 2020 Undies Award in Best Peek at the Setting category
• Nominated for 2021 Green Earth Book Award by the Nature Generation

Dads

• Selected as one of the Fabulous Photography Books of 2020 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8
• Chosen as one of the Picture Books of 2020 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8

Where We Come From

• Starred Review in School Library Journal
• Selected as one of the Books with a Message of 2022 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8
• Chosen as one of the Picture Books of 2022 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8
• Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in Children’s Literature for 2023
• Chosen for the Original Art Show by The Society of Illustrators for 2023
• Selected by the International Youth Library for the White Raven List of Best Books 2023
• Finalist for the 2023 Heartland Booksellers Award
• Shown in season 1, episode 5 of Paradise.
• Winner of the 2023 Carter G. Woodson Book Award for the most distinguished book appropriate for young readers that depicts ethnicity in the United States
• Selected as the first book for young readers in the One Book Minnesota program of the Friends of the Saint Paul Library for 2024

Stokes: The Brief Career of the NBA’s First Black Superstar

• Chosen as a Junior Library Guild book
• Selected as a nominee for the 2026-2027 South Carolina Book Awards

So Cold!

• Chosen as a Best Informational Fiction Book of 2024 by Betsy Bird of Fuse 8
• Selected as an Outstanding Book of the Year by the Children’s Book Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association 

The World Game: Soccer Circles the Globe

• Chosen as a Junior Library Guild book

4 for 4 Middle-Grade Series

Top of the Order 

• Picked as a Junior Library Guild book 2010
• Named one of the Choice Books of 2010 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center 
• Selected as a Book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program
• Chosen as a Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2010 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, New York
• Selected as a Finalist for the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award, 2013-2014

Eyes on the Goal

• Named one of the Choice Books of 2011 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center 

Take Your Best Shot

• Named one of the Choice Books of 2013 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Young Adult Novels 

Crackback

• Starred review in Booklist
• Selected for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Literature by the Wisconsin Library Association in 2006
• Chosen as a book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program
• Selected as a Junior Library Guild book
• Picked as a 2006 Texas Reading Club choice
• Chosen as an Additional Title of Interest in 500 Great Books for Teens
• Selected for the YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list of 2006
• Picked for the 2007-08 Pennsylvania Young Adult Readers Choice Award
• Selected for the 2007 Young Adults’ Choices list of the International Reading Association
• Chosen by the Young Adult Round Table of the Texas Library Association for the Tayshas Reading List of 2007-2008
• Selected as a Book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program
• Nominated for 2009 Grand Canyon Reader Award
• Finalist for 2010 Nutmeg Award 

Box Out

• Chosen as a Junior Library Guild book
• Starred review in Booklist
• Chosen by Booklist as one of the Top Ten Sports Books for Youth of 2009
• Selected as a Book of the Month for the Read On Wisconsin Program