Criteria
The Orbis Pictus award was established by the NCTE (National Council of Teacher’s of English) to promote and recognize excellence in children’s nonfiction books. Additional criteria address accuracy, organization, design, and style as outlined by the website. A nonfiction book is considered to be any book whose content is sharing information, including biographical. However, textbooks, historical fiction, folklore, and poetry are excluded. Though one award is given out, up to five honorable books can be recognized.
History
The award honors the 1657 work of Johannes Amos Comenius entitled Orbis Pictus—The World in Pictures. This is considered to be the first nonfiction book to address children. The award began in 1990.
2006 Orbis Pictus Award
Orbis Pictus Winner
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. New York: Clarion Books, 2005.
Life was hard for children during the Great Depression: kids had to do without new clothes, shoes, or toys, and many couldn't attend school because they had to work. Even so, life still had its bright spots. Take a closer look at the lives of young Americans during this era.
Orbis Pictus Honor Books
Jackson, Donna. ER Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Witness the excitement and drama of life in an animal emergency room as the ER vets work to heal the creatures we consider part of our families.
Jurmain, Suzanne. The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Jurmain tells the story of Prudence Crandall who faced opposition, hatred and violence when she opened a school for African-American girls in Canterbury, Connecticut in the 1830's.
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2005.
Marfe Ferguson Delano covers the life and times of Einstein from his childhood to his death, with a particular emphasis on his scientific contributions. She draws connections between Einstein's ideas and modern technology, so that kids can see how his theories led to technologies they take for granted.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction, 2004.
How could the Holocaust have happened? Bartoletti delivers a chilling answer by exploring Hitler’s rise to power through the first-hand experiences of young followers whose adolescent zeal he so successfully exploited and the more extraordinary few who risked certain death in resisting. The meticulously researched volume traces the Hitler Youth movement from the time it formally gathered strength in the early 1930s through the defeat of the Third Reich. The grace and clarity of the writing make Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow a powerful addition to Holocaust literature for children.
Siy, Alexandra and Dennis Kunkel. Mosquito Bite. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2005.
A game of hide-and-seek forms the backdrop of a mosquito's life cycle. Micrographs show details of the mosquito and what she sees as she searches.
Past Winners
The complete list of winners of the Orbis Pictus Award since the NCTE began awarding it in 1990.
(This is a PDF file. You must have Adobe Acrobat in order to read it.)
The Orbis Pictus award was established by the NCTE (National Council of Teacher’s of English) to promote and recognize excellence in children’s nonfiction books. Additional criteria address accuracy, organization, design, and style as outlined by the website. A nonfiction book is considered to be any book whose content is sharing information, including biographical. However, textbooks, historical fiction, folklore, and poetry are excluded. Though one award is given out, up to five honorable books can be recognized.