DEI Book Awards | Friends Select School

DEI Book Awards

Friends Select’s annual DEI Book Awards are presented by our lower school and celebrate the power of storytelling and inclusion. This event was launched in 2023 to continue the legacy of Linda Patterson—a beloved Friends Select educator who retired in 2021 after teaching in Friends Select’s lower school for 32 years—who was committed to encouraging students and colleagues to embrace diversity and creating a learning environment where members of our community can be their authentic selves. The DEI Book Awards continue to honor children’s literature that uplifts diverse voices and promotes equity, justice, and belonging in our communities. 

This year’s DEI Book Awards will be held on Wednesday, May 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the Arch Street Meeting House. Gathering in a space rich with Quaker history reminds us of our ongoing commitment to truth, peace, and inclusion. Come be inspired, connect with others, and recognize the authors and titles making an impact on young minds. 

RSVp for this year's book awards 

For our DEI Book Awards, Friends Select is proud to partner with Hakim’s Bookstore, which is Philadelphia’s oldest Black-owned bookstore, dating back to the late 1950s. Books are available for purchase through this partnership.

2026 Nominations

Slice of Life: The Linda Patterson Award
Love is Powerful, by Heather Dean Brewer (2024)
Monster Hands, by Karen Kane and Jonaz McMillan (2024)
Every Monday Mabel, by Jashar Awan (2025)
Fish Fry Friday, by Winsome Bingham (2025)
Sweet, Sweet Memory, by Jacqueline Woodson (2026) 

Best Biography 
Glenn Burke, Game Changer: The Man Who Invented the High Five, by Phil Bildner (2024)
Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King, by Coretta Scott King (2024)
André: André Leon Talley―A Fabulously Fashionable Fairy Tale, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders (2025)
Extraordinary Magic, by Nina Crews (2024)

Kids' Choice Awards
I’m Sorry You Got Mad, by Kyle Luckoff (2024)
Everybelly, by Thao Lam (2025)
Fireworks, by Matthew Burgess (2025)
So-Hee and Lowy, by Anna Kang (2025)

Best Book That Explains Race and Equity
The History of We, by Nicholas Smith (2025)
Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States, by Rajani LaRocca (2025)
Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron’s, by Carole Boston Weatherford (2024)
Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining, by Tiffany Jewell & Britt Hawthorne 

Best Book That Celebrates Identity
My Name Is a Gift, by Zeshan Akhter (2024)
My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Identity, by Una Memon (2024)
The Gathering Table, by Antwan Eady (2025)
Giving Thanks with Halmoni, by Kathleen Choi and Sook Nyul Choi (2025)
Bedtime Bonnet, by Nancy Redd

PAST WINNERS

2025
Slice of Life: The Linda Patterson Award My Daddy Is a Cowboy, by Stephanie Seals  Best Biography  Fighting With Love: The Legacy of John Lewis, by Lesa Cline-Ransome (author) and James E. Ransome (illustrator) Kids' Choice Award We Are Definitely Human, by X. Fang  Best Book That Explains Race and Equity Barrio Rising, by Maria Dolores Aguila  Best Book That Celebrates Identity Two New Years, by Richard Ho
2024
Best Book That Celebrates Identity Salat in Secret, by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (author) and Hatem Aly (illustrator) Best Book That Explains Race and Equity  That Flag, by Tameka Fryer Brown (author) and Nikkolas Smith (illustrator) Kids’ Choice Award Bathe the Cat, by Alice B. McGinty (author) and David Roberts (illustrator) Best Biography Unstoppable: How Bayard Rustin Organized the 1963 March on Washington, by Michael G. Long (author) Bea Jackson (illustrator) Slice of Life: The Linda Patterson Award Holding On, by Sophia N. Lee (author) and Isabel Roxas (illustrator)
2023
Best Biography Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement, by Angela Joy (author) and Janelle Washington (illustrator) Best Local Authors Hold Them Close: A Love Letter to Black Children, by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (author), Patrick Dougher (illustrator), and Jamel Shabazz (photographer)  Best Book That Explains Race and Equity The Talk, by Alicia D. Williams (author) and Briana Mukodiri Uchendu (illustrator) Read to Me Kunoichi Bunny, by Sara Cassidy (author) and Brady Sato (illustrator) Slice of Life: The Linda Patterson Award Song in the City, by Daniel Bernstrom (author) and Jenin Mohammed (illustrator)