National Book Awards Winners & Finalists

Celebrating excellence in American literature, the first National Book Award for Fiction was presented to Nelson Algren for The Man with the Golden Arm in 1950. Since 1989, the National Book Foundation -- a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the reach of great American literature -- has overseen the awards. Award categories include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature. This collection of study guides highlights an assortment of fiction and nonfiction titles for adults, both past award winners and finalists.

A First Time for Everything

by Dan Santat

Publication year 2023

Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction

Themes Friendship, Love, Perseverance, Fear, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Future, The Past, Self Discovery, Community, Art, Beauty, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Children`s Literature, Romance, Biography, Coming of Age, Travel Literature

... Read A First Time for Everything Summary

A Gathering of Days

by Joan W. Blos

Publication year 1979

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Joy, Childhood & Youth, Daughters & Sons

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832 is the best-known book by children’s author and educator Joan W. Blos. The novel is presented as the fictional journal of Catherine Hall, a young girl living in New Hampshire before the Civil War. Through Catherine’s journal entries, the novel portrays the daily life, challenges, and changes in a young girl’s world over two years, including personal loss, the complexities of friendship, and an encounter... Read A Gathering of Days Summary

A Girl Named Disaster

by Nancy Farmer

Publication year 1996

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Loneliness, Femininity, Animals, Environment, Place, Family, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger

Tags Coming of Age, Survival Fiction, Children`s Literature, World History, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure

A Girl Named Disaster (1996) is a novel by Nancy Farmer. At the start of the novel, 11-year-old Nhamo lives in her remote Mozambique village with her late mother’s family. When the local doctor, or muvuki, decides that Nhamo is to blame for her family’s recent misfortune, her aunt and uncle decide to marry her off in an arranged marriage. Desperate to avoid this fate, Nhamo flees the village and sets out in a boat... Read A Girl Named Disaster Summary

Ain't I A Woman

by bell hooks

Publication year 1981

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Politics & Government, Gender Identity, Femininity, Equality

Tags Women`s Studies, World History, Race & Racism, Gender & Feminism, Social Justice, Politics & Government

... Read Ain't I A Woman Summary

All My Rage

by Sabaa Tahir

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Truth & Lies, Friendship, Immigration, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance

Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction

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All The Pretty Horses

by Cormac McCarthy

Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Justice, Animals

Tags Historical Fiction, Western, Trauma & Abuse, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction

All the Pretty Horses (1992) is a novel by Cormac McCarthy and a winner of the National Book Award. The book follows a young man, John Grady Cole, and his best friend Lacey Rawlins as they run away to Mexico in the late 1940s. A bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, All the Pretty Horses is the first novel in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy and helped increase the American novelist’s popularity and... Read All The Pretty Horses Summary

A Long Way from Chicago

by Richard Peck

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grandparents, Memory, Truth & Lies, Nostalgia

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Great Depression, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, World History, Humor

Written by Richard Peck in 1998 and told as a series of related short stories, A Long Way From Chicago is a novel about two siblings and their adventures with their grandmother over the span of six summers from 1929 to 1935. The work was a Newbery Honor book in 1999, and its sequel, A Year Down Yonder, won the Newbery Medal for children’s literature in 2001. Richard Peck (1934-2018) was the award-winning American novelist... Read A Long Way from Chicago Summary

A Man In Full

by Tom Wolfe

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Masculinity, Race, Social Class, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality

Tags American Literature, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Philosophy

A Man in Full, published in 1998, is the critically acclaimed second novel of journalist and author Tom Wolfe. Regarded as an example of the Great American Novel, the book captures American life at the end of the 20th century in its tragicomic complexity. Wolfe situates the novel largely in Atlanta and traces the fortunes of failing real-estate tycoon Charlie Croker, still caught in the ways of the Old South. When the daughter of Charlie’s... Read A Man In Full Summary

An American Plague

by Jim Murphy

Publication year 2014

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Politics & Government, Science & Technology

Tags Health, US History, Politics & Government, Race & Racism, American Revolution, Children`s Literature, Science & Nature, World History

Published in 2003, Jim Murphy’s An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 is a historical nonfiction book for young adults that provides a detailed look into Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793. As Murphy documents how yellow fever emerged and spread throughout the city, he demonstrates how society operated in what was then the nation’s capital and largest city in the late 1700s. He focuses on urban... Read An American Plague Summary

A People’s History of the United States

by Howard Zinn

Publication year 1980

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Colonialism, Social Class, Immigration, Community, Economics, Hate & Anger, Perseverance, Conflict, Safety & Danger, Justice, Equality, Power & Greed

Tags US History, Politics & Government, Social Justice, Race & Racism, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction

Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is one of the most famous American history books published in recent decades. It has sold over two million copies. First published in 1980, the book was nominated for the American Book Award and has gone through at least six major revisions. Although controversial when first published, the book has become comfortably mainstream. It is mentioned by name in the film Good Will Hunting and the... Read A People’s History of the United States Summary

Apple

by Eric Gansworth

Publication year 2020

Genre Memoir in Verse, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Coming of Age, Colonialism, Community, Indigenous Identity

Tags Race & Racism, Social Justice, LGBTQ+, Biography

... Read Apple Summary

Arc of Justice

by Kevin Boyle

Publication year 2004

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Crime & Law, Jazz Age, Race & Racism, World History, Biography, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice depicts the racial turmoil in Detroit in 1925 through the story of Dr. Ossian Sweet, an African-American physician who faces murder charges after trying to defend his home in an all-white neighborhood from mob violence. The grandson of a slave, Ossian moves northward during the Great Migration to get his education at Wilberforce and Howard Universities. After graduating Howard's medical school, Ossian sets up practice and residence in Black Bottom... Read Arc of Justice Summary

A Severe Mercy

by Sheldon Vanauken

Publication year 1977

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Marriage, Beauty, Grief, Death, Self Discovery, Love, Trust & Doubt

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Grief & Death, Biography

Sheldon Vanauken’s celebrated memoir A Severe Mercy is a moving portrait of deep love confronted with suffering and death. Published in 1977, A Severe Mercy was written by Vanauken from the compilation of many years’ worth of journal entries, hand-written letters, and firsthand accounts of the people and events that the narrative relates. As a Yale- and Oxford-trained scholar and professor of English and an accomplished poet and author, Vanauken brings his literary expertise to... Read A Severe Mercy Summary