2024 NATIONAL MEDAL
for Museum and Library Service Finalist

Non-Fiction

Human Kindness : True Stories of Compassion and Generosity That Changed the World

Over the whole history of humankind, kindness has been key to the survival of our species, and to making our world a better place. Learn about Harriet Tubman, who risked her life to help others escape from slavery, the Nomads Clinic, which sends doctors trekking into the Himalayas to tend to patients, The Linda Lindas, a group of young musicians who use their talent to speak up for the rights of others, Joshua Coombes, a hairdresser who gives free haircuts to the homeless, and many others.

The Library Book

On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

The Code Breaker

"Walter Isaacson's #1 New York Times bestselling history of our third scientific revolution: CRISPR, gene editing, and the quest to understand the code of life itself, is now adapted for young readers"-- Provided by publisher.