Orbis Pictus Award facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Orbis Pictus Award
Presented by	National Council of Teachers of English
Country	United States
First awarded	1990

The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children recognizes books which demonstrate excellence in the "writing of nonfiction for children." It is awarded annually by the National Council of Teachers of English to one American book published the previous year. Up to five titles may be designated as Honor Books. The award is named after the book considered to be the first picture book for children, Orbis Pictus (The World in Pictures), by John Amos Comenius, which was published in 1657. The award has recognized one book annually without exception since it was inaugurated in 1990.

Criteria

• The book must be "nonfiction literature which has as its central purpose the sharing of information". Biographies are welcome, but not "textbooks, historical fiction, folklore, or poetry".
• The book must have been published during the previous calendar year in the United States.
• The book must meet the literary criteria of accuracy, organization, design and style.
• Additionally, the book "should be useful in classroom teaching grades K-8, should encourage thinking and more reading, model exemplary expository writing and research skills, share interesting and timely subject matter, and appeal to a wide range of ages."

Recipients

Orbis Pictus Award winners

Year	Title	Writer	Illustrator
2018	Grand Canyon	Jason Chin	Jason Chin
2017	Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White	Melissa Sweet	Melissa Sweet
2016	Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans	Don Brown	Don Brown
2015	The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia	Candace Fleming
2014	A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin	Jen Bryant	Melissa Sweet
2013	Monsieur Marceau: Actor without Words	Leda Schubert	Gérard DuBois
2012	Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade	Melissa Sweet
2011	Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring	Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan	Brian Floca
2010	The Secret World of Walter Anderson	Hester Bass	E. B. Lewis
2009	Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator	Shelley Tanaka	David Craig
2008	M.L.K.: Journey of a King	Tonya Bolden
2007	Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea	Sy Montgomery	Nic Bishop (photos)
2006	Children of the Great Depression	Russell Freedman
2005	York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition	Rhoda Blumberg
2004	An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793	Jim Murphy
2003	When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson: The Voice of a Century	Pam Muñoz Ryan	Brian Selznick
2002	Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850	Susan Campbell Bartoletti
2001	Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California	Jerry Stanley
2000	Through My Eyes	Ruby Bridges
1999	Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance	Jennifer Armstrong
1998	An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly	Laurence Pringle	Bob Marstall
1997	Leonardo da Vinci	Diane Stanley
1996	The Great Fire	Jim Murphy
1995	Safari Beneath the Sea: The Wonder World of the North Pacific Coast	Diane Swanson
1994	Across America on an Emigrant Train	Jim Murphy
1993	Children in the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp	Jerry Stanley
1992	Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh	Robert Burleigh	Mike Wimmer
1991	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	Russell Freedman
1990	The Great Little Madison	Jean Fritz

Multiple awards

Two writers and no distinct illustrators have won the Orbis Pictus Award more than once.

• Jim Murphy, 1994, 1996, and 2004
• Russell Freedman, 1991 and 2006