Grateful American Book Prize Winners

Humphrey and Me takes us on a journey through the moral pitfalls that imperil the best hopes of even the most decent men and women and points the way to courage and understanding. This is a story about discerning our unique role in the world: our need for heroes who help us see it, and who teach us how to become heroes to others.

Mattie and the Machine is a fictionalized yet historically accurate account of Margaret E. Knight’s fight to obtain recognition as a 19th century female inventor (she would eventually be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006). This entertaining tale is filled with romance, competition, and treachery, and features a feisty and brilliant female heroine who excels in STEM-related tasks.

Through the help of a ghostly ancestor, sixteen-year-old Malcolm is sent on a journey through Reconstruction-era America to find his place in modern-day Black progress.

In time for the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, master storyteller Alan Gratz (Refugee) delivers a pulse-pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear — and the stunning links between the past and present. Two kids. One devastating day. Nothing will ever be the same.

It’s 1953, and the United States has just executed an American couple convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Everyone is on edge as the Cold War standoff between communism and democracy leads to the rise of Senator Joe McCarthy and his zealous hunt for people he calls subversives or communist sympathizers. Suspicion, loyalty oaths, blacklists, political profiling, hostility to foreigners, and the assumption of guilt by association divide the nation. Richard and his family believe deeply in American values and love of country, especially since Richard’s father works for the FBI. Yet when a family from Czechoslovakia moves in down the street with a son Richard’s age named Vlad, their bold ideas about art and politics bring everything into question.

Richard is quickly drawn to Vlad’s confidence, musical sensibilities, and passion for literature, which Richard shares. But as the nation’s paranoia spirals out of control, Richard longs to prove himself a patriot, and blurred lines between friend and foe could lead to a betrayal that destroys lives.

In January 1963, Sharon Robinson turns 13 the night before George Wallace declares on national television “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” in his inauguration speech as governor of Alabama. It is the beginning of a year that will change the course of American history. This is the story of how one girl finds her voice in the fight for justice and equality.

Learn about Justice Sotomayor’s rise and her amazing work as well as about the Supreme Court in this fascinating memoir that shows that no matter the obstacles, dreams can come true.

This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country.

The year is 1775, and twelve-year-old Gabriel Cooper is an orphaned patriot stuck living in a house of British loyalists. But when the boy discovers a discarded drum in the East River, he sees it as a call to leave his home in New York and join the American colonists’ fight for freedom in Boston. With rich, historic details, Gabriel’s adventure will captivate readers as they join him on the difficult journey to his destiny.

Leander Jordan and Paul Settles are teens who aren’t happy with turns their lives have taken. They join the Union Army and meet in a hospital, totally unaware how much each will change the other. Like a River is told in two voices. Readers will be transported to the homes, waterways, camps, hospitals, and prisons of the Civil–War era. They will also see themselves in the universal themes of dealing with parents, friendships, bullying, failure, and young love.