JBA Young Reader's List

The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers

During his life, John Burroughs' nature essays for children were published in special school editions and caused nature study to blossom in classrooms all over America. The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, recognizing outstanding natural history books for children that contain perceptive and artistic accounts of direct experiences in the world of nature, was established in 1988 to recognize Burroughs' efforts to awaken interest in young naturalists. Each year, the results of the competition are formally recognized at the John Burroughs Association's award ceremony, held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Association hopes that the list will encourage writers, artists, and publishers to produce books that invite young readers to explore the natural world for themselves.

The following is an alphabetical cumulative list of all the books on the John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers. The date in parentheses after the citation is for the year the book was so honored.

Download the sortable Excel version of the JBA Young Readers List here.

The 2011 Nature Books for Young Readers Awardees are:
Sophie Webb, author, YAY Design, illustrator, Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Caitlin O'Connell & Donna M. Jackson, authors, Caitlin O'Connell & Timothy Rodwell, photographers, The Elephant Scientist, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Peter Lourie, author and photographer, The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Joyce Sidman, author, Beth Krommes, illustrator, Swirl by Swirl, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Peggy Thomas, author, Laura Jacques, illustrator, For The Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, Calkins Creek, an Imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.,