Awards

2005 James Madison Book Award Honor for nonfiction books
Photo By Brady: A Picture of the Civil War

2005 ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award: Fiction - Humane Heroes
Magnus at the Fire

2004 Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature
Recognizing a New York State author who has demonstrated, through a body of work, a consistently superior quality which supports the curriculum and the educational goals of New York State schools.

2002 Book Links Lasting Connections
The Kindling

2002 A Best Book for Young Adults
NCSS/CBC Notable Book in Social Studies
Shattered

2001 Best Children's Book of the Year, Bank Street College
Spirit of Endurance: The True Story of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic

2000 Riverbank Review Children's Books of Distinction - nonfiction
In My Hands

2000 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
In My Hands

2000 Association of Booksellers for Children's Choices Award in nonficton
In My Hands and The Century for Young People

1999 Children's Bookseller's Cuffies Award for best autobiography
In My Hands

1999 Boston Globe Horn Bok Honor in nonfiction
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

1999 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for outstanding nonfiction
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

1999 Riverbank Review Children's Books of Distinction - nonfiction
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

1998 Riverbank Review Children's Books of Distinction - young adult fiction
Mary Mehan Awake

1997 Hungry Mind Review Children's Books of Distinction - young adult fiction
The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan

1995 IRA and CBC Children's Choices
That Terrible Baby

1992 The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor for fiction