2024 NATIONAL MEDAL
for Museum and Library Service Finalist

Biography

Zion Unmatched

In a photographic essay format, showcases Zion Clark, an elite wrestler and wheelchair racer born with no legs, exploring his journey from a childhood in the foster care system to his rising as an Olympic-level athlete.

I Am Helen Keller

"We can all be heroes." That's the inspiring message of this New York Times Bestselling picture book biography series from historian and author Brad Meltzer. When Helen Keller was very young, she got a rare disease that made her deaf and blind. Suddenly, she couldn't see or hear at all, and it was hard for her to communicate with anyone. But when she was six years old, she met someone who would change her life forever: her teacher, Annie Sullivan. With Miss Sullivan's help, Helen learned how to speaksign language and read Braille.

Fastest Woman on Earth: The Story of Tatyana McFadden

This is the story of 17-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden. Born with spina bifida in Russia, Tatyana was raised in an orphanage where she walked on her hands for the first six years of her life. In 1994, she was adopted and moved to the United States, where she started racing and breaking records; and is now considered the best female wheelchair racer of all time, and the fastest woman on Earth.

Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds

What dreams do you carry? Myra Viola Wilds dreamed of opportunity. She left her home in rural Kentucky for the city, learned to read and to write, and became a dressmaker. She hand-stitched gorgeous gowns. She worked so hard she lost her eyesight, and her world went dark. But those well-loved stitches turned into words, and one night Myra woke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem she called “Sunshine.” She kept writing.

Jim!: Six True Stories About One Great Artist: James Marshall

Author and illustrator James Marshall let kids in on the joke. He knew little kids were smart, and he didn't talk down to them in his stories. He was right--kids loved his picture books. Decades after his death, the characters he illustrated--Miss Nelson, Viola Swamp, George and Martha, Goldilocks, Fox and His Friends--are still beloved. James Marshall should be at least as famous as his characters, and now he is, in his own picture book biography.

I am Jazz!

Based on the young co-author's real-life experiences, the story of a transgender child traces her early awareness that she is a girl in spite of male anatomy and the acceptance she finds through a wise doctor who explains her natural transgender status.