Blueberry Award

Blueberry Awards honor excellence in environmental literature for children

The Blueberry Awards honor children’s literature that strengthens kids’ connections with nature and fosters action for the planet. The Blueberry List, which features books primarily for children ages 3-10, names one overall Blueberry Award Winner, 24 Honor books, and 10 "Changemaker" books recognized for their outstanding achievements in rallying kids to climate action. 

The Evanston Public Library created the Blueberry Award in 2021 to fill a nationwide vacuum – no other children’s literature awards were focused exclusively on celebrating the best nature and climate books. 

Last year’s Blueberry Award winner was Listen to the Language of the Trees, by Tera Kelley, illustrated by Marie Hermansson about how the m ycorrhizal network gives trees the chance to communicate with each other. Kelly and Hermansson’s book, for kids ages 4-8, was selected for its ability to convey via story and inventive pictures complex scientific ideas to kids as young as five. 

Find a list of all our previous year’s winners on the Blueberry Awards page. 

The Blueberry selection committee includes Evanston Public Library staff, the City of Evanston’s Sustainability Manager, D65’s Sustainability Coordinator, and staff from the Evanston Ecology Center. 

The creation of the Blueberry Awards was spearheaded by Library Assistant Martha Meyer, who said that, in a world threatened by climate change and ecological disaster, it’s crucial to give children the chance to form a joyous relationship with the environment and learn from the very best writers, illustrators and photographers in children’s literature.