Sibert MedalLife after Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale FallLynn BrunelleAn aging blue whale dies and its body descends to the ocean floor. As the whale transforms, it supplies nourishment and shelter to organisms and other sea life over decades. Even after 150 years, parts of the skeleton still harbor life. The book follows this whale fall from the animal’s life through its death and gradual breakdown, showing how an enormous body becomes the foundation of a deep-sea ecosystem.All readersView book detailsRobert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal 2025
The 2025 Sibert Medal recognizes Life after Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall as its winner, alongside 4 Honor books. Presented by the Association for Library Service to Children, the award recognizes distinguished informational books for children through age fourteen. This annual group offers nonfiction choices for young readers, with attention to the presentation of facts through writing, illustration, organization, and supporting material.
2025 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal and Honor BooksSee the original list
Selections5
Published byAssociation for Library Service to Children (ALA)
SectionsAll readers
All readers
5 selections
Sibert MedalLife after Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale FallLynn BrunelleAn aging blue whale dies and its body descends to the ocean floor. As the whale transforms, it supplies nourishment and shelter to organisms and other sea life over decades. Even after 150 years, parts of the skeleton still harbor life. The book follows this whale fall from the animal’s life through its death and gradual breakdown, showing how an enormous body becomes the foundation of a deep-sea ecosystem.All readersView book details
Sibert Honor BookCall Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for LatinosNathalie AlonsoThis picture-book biography follows Roberto Clemente from his childhood in Carolina, Puerto Rico, where he practiced baseball with tree branches and tin cans. At nineteen, he joined a major-league organization and first went to Montreal, where he waited for an opportunity to play. He later joined the Pittsburgh Pirates and made an immediate impact on the field. The book also presents Clemente’s legacy as a Puerto Rican Baseball Hall of Famer whose life included confronting prejudice and hardship.All readersLexile Text Measure 669LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Sibert Honor BookThe Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War IICandace FlemingThis historical account follows young women who arrived at Station X, a run-down mansion surrounded by huts, without knowing what work awaited them. At Bletchley Park, they broke ciphers in secret during World War II. Their codebreaking work helped alter the course of the conflict. The book centers on the hidden wartime efforts of these young women and the need to keep their work confidential.All readersLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Sibert Honor BookThe Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and SurvivalEstelle NadelThis graphic memoir follows Estelle Nadel, then called Enia Feld, a young Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Poland. She is seven when the Nazis invade in 1939. Over the following five years, she survives the deaths of her parents, her oldest brother and sister, and many others. The account includes her brother’s love, help from strangers, and her struggle to hold onto hope amid persecution and loss.All readersLexile Text Measure 420LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
Sibert Honor BookWings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy MillsBilly Mills, Donna Janell BowmanIn this first-person picture-book account, Billy Mills begins at the 10,000-meter starting line at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics before the narrative moves back across his life. An Oglala Lakota child raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation, he finds comfort in running after his mother’s death and amid racist bullying. He later attends Haskell Institute and the University of Kansas, enters the Marines, and receives a borderline-diabetes diagnosis.All readersWord Count 1545View book details