Is your child fascinated by facts? Does learning excite and invigorate the young people in your life? To find the best nonfiction available, look no further than titles that have been awarded the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award. First awarded in 2001, the Sibert Award, administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), recognizes exemplary nonfiction texts for children ages 0-14.
As a former member of a Sibert Committee (2022), I have unique insight on the process that goes into selecting the titles. Though conversations and observations that happen within the committee are strictly confidential, each appointed member follows strict guidelines when evaluating eligible books.
Nonfiction is a term that is applied to a broad swath of literature. Books in the genre can shape attitudes, communicate experiences, provide facts, or tell a story--there are even nonfiction books that do all four at once! With this range of possibilities, the committee must focus on how the book engages its intended audience, how information is organized and documented, how clearly concepts are communicated, and how supporting features--such as maps, photographs, and back matter--enhance the text. Those are just the big buckets, too! There are nitty-gritty details that are also pored over.
The nine members of the committee work in cones of silence, reading as widely as possible, and nominating titles that meet the criteria of the award. There is no communication between committee members except during the official discussions, which occur only a few times throughout the year. Final deliberations take up a bulk of the discussion time. It’s during the last push that the committee nitpicks through the criteria and begins to build consensus around the most distinguished titles. Once a winner has been selected (by metrics a little too in-the-weeds to get into here), the committee can select honor titles--worthy runners-up that were in striking distance of getting the medal.
I personally read over 100 nonfiction books that year, re-reading any book that was officially nominated by one of my fellow committee members. By the year’s end, I felt a bit like a walking Wikipedia page--filled with tidbits of knowledge from all the titles I read!
With that understanding of how much work goes into the award, you can confidently select a Sibert-winning book as your next great nonfiction read! Check out this curated list of Sibert books from the last 5 years:
Here is a comprehensive list of all the Sibert Medal and Honor winners from the past 5 years.
