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Reycraft Books Celebrates Multiple Award Wins

The imprint recently received its 61st award, just four years after its launch.

New Rochelle, NY, June 23, 2023—Leading children’s trade publisher Reycraft Books is pleased to announce awards recently presented to a number of its titles, bringing the total to 61 just four years after the imprint’s launch. From fiction to nonfiction to poetry to humor, these titles exemplify the primary mission with which Reycraft Books was founded: To publish books of interest to all children, including those from traditionally underrepresented communities, created by authors and illustrators from around the globe with unique stories to tell.

Since Fall 2022 alone, Reycraft Books has won 25 awards, with several titles receiving as many as four honors. The awards and the winning Reycraft Books titles are as follows:

Junior Library Guild Gold Award

• The Sculptors of Light: poems about Cuban women artists, by Margarita Engle (author) and Cecilia Puglesi (illustrator)
• Las escultoras de la Luz: poemas sobre artistas cubanas, by Margarita Engle (author) and Cecilia Puglesi (illustrator)
• The Bumble Brothers: Crazy for Comics, by Steve Metzger (author) and Brian Schatell (illustrator)
• Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace, by Anne Renaud (author) and Ana Salopek (illustrator)
• Moon Tree: The Story of One Extraordinary Tree, by Carolyn Bennett Fraiser (author) and Simona Mulazzani (illustrator)
• Voices of the People, by Joseph Bruchac (author) and Various (illustrators)

School Library Journal

2022 Fabulous Photography Books:
• Mercado: The Heart of the Barrio, by Judy Goldman (author) and Ilán Rabchinskey (photographer)
2022 Best Poetry Books:
• Voices of the People, by Joseph Bruchac (author) and Various (illustrators)
2022 Science and Nature Books for Kids:
• Footprints Across the Planet, by Jennifer Swanson
• Ribbit! The Truth About Frogs, by Annette Whipple
2022 Folk, Fairy and Religious Tales:
• The Legend of the Spirit Serpent, by Adaiah Sanford (author) and Ken Daley (illustrator)

Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year, 2023 (Plus “Outstanding Merit”)

• Voices of the People, by Joseph Bruchac (author) and Various (illustrators)
• My Hands Tell a Story, by Kelly Starling Lyons (author) and by Tonya Engel (illustrator)

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

2023 Notable Verse Novel:
• Blood Brothers, by Rob Sanders

2023 Charlotte Huck Award Recommendation, Outstanding Fiction for Children:
• My Hands Tell a Story, by Kelly Starling Lyons (author) and by Tonya Engel (illustrator)

Kirkus

Best Middle-Grade Nonfiction of 2022:
• Voices of the People, by Joseph Bruchac (author) and Various (illustrators)

New York Public Library

Best Books for Kids 2022:
• My Hands Tell a Story, by Kelly Starling Lyons (author) and by Tonya Engel (illustrator)

Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature

Best Books of 2022:
• My Hands Tell a Story, by Kelly Starling Lyons (author) and by Tonya Engel (illustrator)
• The Legend of the Spirit Serpent, by Adaiah Sanford (author) and Ken Daley (illustrator)

EUREKA! Silver Award 2022, California Reading Association Nonfiction Children Book Award:

• Footprints Across the Planet, by Jennifer Swanson

Nautilus Gold Award

Children’s Picture Book, Non-Fiction:
• Footprints Across the Planet, by Jennifer Swanson

Florida Book Awards

2022 Young Children’s Literature:
• Footprints Across the Planet, by Jennifer Swanson

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

2023 Crystal Kite Award
• Moon Tree: The Story of One Extraordinary Tree, by Carolyn Bennett Fraiser (author) and Simona Mulazzani (illustrator)

Evanston Public Library

101 Great Books for Kids 2022: Young Children’s Literature:
• The Legend of the Spirit Serpent, by Adaiah Sanford (author) and Ken Daley (illustrator)

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids & Teens Spring 2023 issue:

• Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace, by Anne Renaud (author) and Ana Salopek (illustrator)

“We started this imprint with the goal of publishing stories that have not yet been told, as well as stories that have been told but have not been truly heard,” Reycraft Books Associate Publisher Wiley Blevins said. “We’re thrilled to see these stories being embraced so enthusiastically by readers, and grateful for the wonderful honors that have been bestowed upon them.”

The award-winning titles are available for purchase or pre-order at ReycraftBooks.com, Amazon.com, and other retailers.