Robert F. Sibert Informational
Book Award 2007

2007 Medal Winner

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
YA 629.45 THI
With heart-stopping prose and stunning NASA photographs, Thimmesh celebrates the men and women who solved a series of unfolding crises that threatened the mission of Apollo 11. The animated text lets the reader experience the tension of the mission from multiple vantage points and takes the reader along as an active participant. Personal interviews and oral histories help recreate the immediacy of the event for a new generation.
“In Thimmesh’s retelling of this famous event, the behind-the-scenes team takes the spotlight – not the astronauts. She extracts details from archival research and recent interviews to highlight the suspense, sacrifice and risk that surrounded those on the moon and those below,” said Sibert Chair Kate Houston Mitchoff.

2007 Honor Books

Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
by Ann Bausum YA 323 BAU

The 1961 Freedom Rides come to life in Bausum’s book through the unflinching personal stories of two men uniting for a common cause: Lewis, the African American Southerner and Zwerg, the Caucasian Midwesterner. The dynamic book design includes Civil Rights song lyrics, first-hand accounts and provocative black-and-white photographs layered with lavender-and-gray panels. Exemplary documentation and end notes further illuminate the journey.

Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop

Biologist Lisa Dabek and her multinational team search for the beautiful, elusive Matschie’s tree kangaroo in the cloud forests of Papua New Guinea in “Quest for the Tree Kangaroo.” Dramatic color photographs vividly portray the quest for this remarkable animal through the mysteriously foggy forest. This is the third Montgomery and Bishop award-winning Scientists in the Field title.

To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel  written by Siena Cherson Siegel, artwork by Mark Siegel

Siegel’s literary debut in To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel dramatizes the struggle and fulfillment of becoming a professional ballerina – lifting the curtain on a dream shared by many young dancers. Partnered by husband Mark Siegel’s evocative and elegant illustrations in graphic novel format, her memoir leaps off the page.