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TranslateThe John and Patricia Beatty Award Recipients
The California Library Association's John and Patricia Beatty Award honors the author of a distinguished book for children or young adults that best promotes an awareness of California and its people.
A committee of CLA members selects the winning title from books published in the United States during the preceding year. Patricia Beatty donated the initial cash endowment for the Award which now honors both her husband, John Beatty, who served as professor of English history and humanities at the University of California at Riverside prior to his death in 1975, and Patricia herself who died in 1991. Together the Beattys wrote eleven books of fiction for young readers; Patricia Beatty wrote numerous other books for young people, of which many have California or western settings.
It was Patricia Beatty's hope that the award will encourage the writing of quality children's books that bring us an awareness of California, its heritage or its future. The Beatty Award Medal was designed by Miyo LeFever.
- 2022: Children's Category: Gayle Forman Frankie & Bug, Aladdin, 2021
- 2022: Young Adults Category: Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Dutton Books, 2021
- 2021: Aida Salazar, The Land of the Cranes; Scholastic Press, 2020.
- 2020: Isabel Quintero (author) and Zeke Peña (illustrated), My Papi Has a Motorcycle; Kokila, 2019.
- 2019: Maurene Goo, The Way You Make Me Feel; Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) 2018.
- 2018: Dashka Slater, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.
- 2017: Firoozeh Dumas, It Ain't So Awful, Falafel; Clarion Books, 2016.
- 2016: Dave Eggers (author) and Tucker Nichols (illustrator), This Bridge Will Not Be Gray; McSweeney’s, 2015.
- 2015: Katherine Roy, Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting With the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands; David Macaulay Studio/Roaring Brook Press, 2014
- 2014: H. Joseph Hopkins (author) and Jill McElmurry (illustrator), The Tree Lady; Beach Lane Books, 2013.
- 2013: Barb Rosenstock (author) and Mordicai Gerstein (illustrator), The Camping Trip that Changed America; Dial, 2012
- 2012: Joanne Rocklin, One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street; Abrams, 2011
- 2011: Yvonne Prinz, Vinyl Princess; HarperCollins, 2010
- 2010: S. Terrell French, Operation Redwood; Amulet Books, 2009
- 2009: Lewis Buzbee, Steinbeck’s Ghost; Feiwel and Friends, 2008
- 2008: Joan W. Blos, Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California 1850-1852; Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007
- 2007: Celeste Davidson Mannis, Julia Morgan Built a Castle; Viking, 2006
- 2006: Dorothy Kupcha Leland, Balloon Boy of San Francisco; Tomato Enterprises, 2005
- 2005: Gennifer Choldenko, Al Capone Does My Shirts; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004
- 2004: James Haskins, Cecil Poole, A Life in the Law; Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2003
- 2003: Beverly Gherman, Ansel Adams, America's Photographer; Little, Brown, 2002
- 2002: Tony Johnston, Any Small Goodness; Sky Blue Press, 2001
- 2001: Jerry Stanley, Hurry Freedom: African Americans in the Gold Rush; Crown, 2000
- 2000: Marian Calabro, The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party; Clarion Books, 1999
- 1999: Sid Fleischman, Bandit's Moon; Greenwillow, 1998
- 1998: Francisco Jimenez, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child; University of New Mexico Press, 1997
- 1997: Karen Cushman, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple; Clarion Books, 1996
- 1996: Gary Soto, Summer on Wheels; Scholastic, 1995
- 1995: Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Cat Running; Delacorte, 1994
- 1994: Laurence Yep, Dragon's Gate; HarperCollins, 1993
- 1993: Jerry Stanley, Children of the Dust Bowl; Crown, 1992
- 1992: Diane Siebert, Sierra; HarperCollins, 1991
- 1991: Gary Soto, Baseball in April and Other Stories; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990
- 1990: Rhoda Blumberg, Great American Gold Rush; Bradbury Press, 1989
- 1989: Eleanor Coerr, Chang's Paper Pony; Harper & Row, 1988
