The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has announced the finalists for the Golden Kite Awards and the Sid Fleischmann Humor Award. The Golden Kites, the only children's literary award judged by a jury of peers, are given in seven categories. Category winners, who will be named February 24 live on Zoom, receive $2,500 and $1,000 to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. Each honor book gets $500 and $250 to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. This year's finalists are:
Middle grade
The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali (HarperCollins)
Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Iveliz Explains it All by Andrea Beatriz Arango, illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Shine On, Luz Veliz! by Rebecca Balcárcel (Chronicle)
The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Joanna Cacao (Graphix/Scholastic)
Young adult
Beneath the Wide Silk Sky by Emily Inouye Huey (Scholastic)
Berliners by Vesper Stamper (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg (Scholastic)
Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins)
The Name She Gave Me by Betty Culley (HarperTeen)
Nonfiction text for younger readers
Because of You, John Lewis by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Keith Henry Brown (Scholastic)
The Greatest Song of All: How Isaac Stern United the World to Save Carnegie Hall by Megan Hoyt, illustrated by Katie Hickey (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins)
H is for Harlem by Dinah Johnson, illustrated by April Harrison (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by David Litchfield (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Washed Ashore by Kelly Crull (Millbrook Press/Lerner)
Nonfiction text for older readers
Absurd Words: A Kid's Fun and Hilarious Vocabulary Builder for Future Word Nerds by Tara Lazar (Sourcebooks)
Glowing Bunnies!?: Why We're Making Hybrids, Chimeras, and Clones by Jeff Campbell (Zest Books/Lerner Publishing Group)
How to Build a Human by Pamela S. Turner, illustrated by John Gurche (Charlesbridge)
Save the People!: Halting Human Extinction by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Nicole Miles (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Superpower?: The Wearable-Tech Revolution by Elaine Katchala, illustrated by Belle Wuthrich (Orca Book Publishers)
Illustrated book for older readers
The Adventures of Team Pom: Squid Happens by Isabel Roxas (Flying Eye Books)
Esme's Birthday Conga Line, illustrated by Marissa Valdez, written by Lourdes Heuer (Tundra Books/PRH Canada)
Lowriders to the Rescue, illustrated by Raúl the Third, written by Cathy Camper (Chronicle)
Demon in the Wood, illustrated by Danielle Pendergast, written by Leigh Bardugo (Roaring Brook Press)
Our Friend Hedgehog: A Place to Call Home by Lauren Castillo (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Picture book illustration
Baby Squeaks by Anne Hunter (Tundra Books)
Covered in Color: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Fabrics of Freedom, illustrated by Susanna Chapman by Elisa Boxer (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Kumo the Bashful Cloud, illustrated by Nathalie Dion, written by Kyo Maclear (Tundra Books)
Standing in the Need of Prayer, illustrated by Frank Morrison, written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Crown Books for Young Readers)
Picture book text
Fly by Brittany J. Thurman, illustrated by Anna Cunha (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum)
Growing an Artist: The Story of A Landscaper and His Son by John Parra (Paula Wiseman Books/S&S)
The Talk by Alicia D. Williams, illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum)
Twelve Dinging Doorbells by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Ebony Glenn (Kokila/Penguin Books for Young Readers)
Walter Had a Best Friend by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier (Beach Lane Books/S&S)