American Indian Youth Literature Award Ceremony

On June 29, the American Indian Library Association hosted the 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award ceremony at ALA in Las Vegas. The audience cheered the winners and laughed with multiple award-winning author Tim Tingle, whose key note speech was filled with humor and emotion. 

Click here to go to Tu Books site with more photos of the ceremony. Tu Books, an Imprint of Lee and Low Books, published the Young Adult award winning book, Killer of Enemies, by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki).

2014 American Indian Youth Literature Awards

2014 American Indian Youth Literature Awards

The American Indian Library Association is pleased to announce the 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award winners. The awards were created to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians, Alaska Natives, Canadian First Nations, and Native Hawaiians. The winning and honor titles convey the past and present of the American Indian experience and are given in three categories—Picture Book, Middle School and Young Adult. 

Picture Book

Award Winner:

Caribou Song: 
Atihko Nikamon/Ateek Oonagamoon

Tomson Highway, author

John Rombough, illustrator

Fifth House, 2012

Middle School

Award Winner:

How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story

Tim Tingle

The Roadrunner Press, 2013

Middle School
Honor Book:

Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner

Tim Tingle

7th Generation, 2013

Young Adult 

Award Winner:

Killer of Enemies

Joseph Bruchac

Tu Books, 2013

Young Adult 

Honor Book:

If I Ever Get Out of Here

Eric Gansworth

Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013

2010 American Indian Youth Literature Award

The 2010 American Indian Youth Literature Award winners were announced at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in January 2010. Author Thomas King and illustrator Gary Clement were the recipients of the Picture Book Award for their book A Coyote Solstice Tale. The Middle School winner is Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma by Genevieve Simermeyer. Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me by Lurline Wailana McGregor took the Young Adult prize.

The American Indian Youth Literature Awards recognize excellence in books by and about American Indians. By identifying and honoring outstanding writing and illustrations in the field of youth literature, the American Indian Library Association encourages authors, illustrators, editors, publishers and tribal entities to create materials that “present Native Americans in the fullness of their humanity in the present and past contexts.”

Please visit the Children’s Library to read the 2010 winners!

The 2010 Award Winners

Picture Book

A Coyote Solstice Tale by Thomas King, illustrated by Gary Clement. (Groundwood Books, 2009)

The universal lesson that sharing and being together are more important than things comes from a human child and Coyote in this humorous book.


Middle School Book

Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma by Genevieve Simermeyer. (National Museum of the American Indian/Smithsonian Institution in association with Council Oak Books, 2008)

Meet Christopher and spend some time with him as he combines his family’s Native traditions with popular 21st century activities.



Young Adult Book

Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me by Lurline Wailana McGregor. (Kamehameha Publishing, 2008)

Torn between her career as a museum curator in California and her family in Hawai’i, Maona Kawelo must make some difficult choices.