The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.

2012 Winner:

THE NOTORIOUS BENEDICT ARNOLD: A TRUE STORY OF ADVENTURE, HEROISM, AND BRAVERY
by Steve Sheinkin
Most people know that Benedict Arnold was America's first, most notorious traitor. Few know that he was also one of its greatest war heroes. This accessible biography introduces young readers to the real Arnold: reckless, heroic, and driven. Packed with first-person accounts, astonishing battle scenes, and surprising twists, this is a gripping and true adventure tale.

2012 Finalists:

SUGAR CHANGED THE WORLD: A STORY OF MAGIC, SPICE, SLAVERY, FREEDOM AND SCIENCE
by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
Chronicles the human pursuit of sugar to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. The book describes this history in terms of ages, beginning with the Age of Honey, built on local growth and consumption of comestibles; through the Age of Sugar and its slave-supported "factory" plantation method of production; and into a period of science and freedom, when enslaved workers claimed their human rights and production of sweeteners shifted from the field to the lab.

BOOTLEG: MURDER, MOONSHINE AND THE LAWLESS YEARS OF PROHIBITION by Karen Blumenthal
It began with the best of intentions. Worried about the effects of alcohol on American families, mothers and civic leaders started a movement to outlaw drinking in public places. Over time, their protests, petitions, and activism paid off – when a Constitutional Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol was ratified, it was hailed as the end of public drunkenness, alcoholism, and a host of other social ills related to booze. Instead, it began a decade of lawlessness, when children smuggled (and drank) illegal alcohol, the most upright citizens casually broke the law, and a host of notorious gangsters entered the public eye.

WHEELS OF CHANGE: HOW WOMEN RODE THE BICYCLE TO FREEDOM (WITH A FEW FLAT TIRES ALONG THE WAY)
by Sue Macy
Through vintage photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and songs, Wheels of Change transports young readers to bygone eras to see how women used the bicycle to improve their lives. Witty in tone and scrapbook-like in presentation, the book deftly covers early (and comical) objections, influence on fashion, and impact on social change inspired by the bicycle, which, according to Susan B. Anthony, "has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world."

MUSIC WAS IT: YOUNG LEONARD BERNSTEIN
by Susan Goldman Rubin
Beginning with Lenny's childhood in Boston and ending with his triumphant conducting debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic when he was just twenty-five, Music Was It draws readers into the energetic, passionate, challenging music-filled life of young Leonard Bernstein.

To learn more, please visit the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults website.

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