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2021 Printz Award Virtual Celebration

2021 Winner

Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story)

By Daniel Nayeri

Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Levine Querido

In an autobiographical novel, middle-schooler Daniel, formerly Khosrou, tells his unimpressed and at times cruel classmates about his experience as an Iranian refugee.

2021 Honor Books

Apple (Skin to the Core)

by Eric Gansworth

Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Levine Querido



Gansworth—an enrolled member of the Onandaga Nation—revisits his childhood and teen years spent on a Tuscarora reservation in this ambitious and searing memoir. Told in verse and accompanied by original art, Gansworth’s compelling coming of age story is a moving, illuminating exploration of otherness, intergenerational trauma, and resilience.

Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang, color by Lark Pien

First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Gene Luen Yang never would have guessed that he would be working on a graphic novel about a basketball team, but he found inspiration in the men’s varsity team at Bishop O’Dowd High School. The games are only a small portion of the story, though, as readers learn about the history of basketball as well as Yang’s personal journey.

Every Body Looking

by Candice Iloh

Dutton Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House

In this novel in verse, Ada recounts her freshman year as a first generation student attending a Historically Black College, while simultaneously taking the reader through her younger life. Ada feels the pressure to make money from her major, but she ultimately realizes that dance is what connects, energizes, and sustains her.

We Are Not Free

by Traci Chee

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Just months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued the Civilian Exclusion Order, forcing the tight knit community of Japantown teens and their families to incarceration camps. Author Traci Chee deftly manages fourteen narratives all with a unique voice and experience. The lives of these teens may have been forever changed, but as Chee writes, “We are not free. But we are not alone."

Members of the 2021 Printz Award Committee are: Janet Hilbun (Chair), Dana Fontaine, Ariadna Jimenez, Matthew Layne, Ariella Mason, Ellen Mctyre, Rebecca Standal, Kristin Trevino, Bobbie Xuereb, Robert Bittner (Liason)