Nancy Bo Flood, author of Soldier Sisters, Fly Home (Charlesbridge), has won the 2016 Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Book Launch Award, which provides authors or illustrators with $2,000 in funds to supplement the promotion and marketing of newly published works for children. Flood proposes to use her grant to visit Navajo schools, both to promote writing and literacy and to show students a positive portrayal of their own culture in contemporary literature. Kathleen Burkinshaw was the Honor Award winner for The Last Cherry Blossom (Sky Pony Press).
"In today's publishing world, most books need help to be discovered and find an audience," SCBWI executive director Lin Oliver said.