DEI Book Awards | Friends Select School

DEI Book Awards

 

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 were 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. 

 

2026 Winners

Slice of Life: The Linda Patterson Award
Fish Fry Friday, by Winsome Bingham (2025)

Best Biography 
André: André Leon Talley―A Fabulously Fashionable Fairy Tale, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders (2025)

Kids' Choice Awards
So-Hee and Lowy, by Anna Kang (2025)

Best Book That Explains Race and Equity
The History of We, by Nicholas Smith (2025)

Best Book That Celebrates Identity
My Name Is a Gift, by Zeshan Akhter (2024)
 

View Photos From the Event

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 

Lower School DEI Book Awards 2025
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)

 

 

 

 

 

Where Next?

 

Mission & History
Quaker Roots & Social Justice
City As A Classroom