2024 Cardinal Cup Award Winner and Honors Announced
The Cardinal Cup Committee, previously the Jefferson Cup Committee, is pleased to announce their 2024 winner, honor titles, series of note, and overfloweth selections. The 8-person committee selected these books from 214 historical fiction, historical nonfiction, and biography titles that ranged from picture books to young adult titles. The complete book list can be downloaded below.
Winner
The 2024 Cardinal Cup winner is Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo, published by Holiday House.
This heartwarming middle-grade historical fiction tells the story of 11-year-old Cora living in a rural Appalachian community in 1937 Kentucky. Cora is eager to be a journalist. When she learns that the electric cooperative is coming to her small mountain community if enough people sign up, she starts a school newspaper to convince everyone why electricity would be helpful. But her mother, still grieving the death of her daughter, is adamantly opposed to electricity and the possibility of losing their mountain way of life. Cora, and young readers, learn that it is important to consider opposing viewpoints to come to fair conclusions. The book also includes information on mountain herbalism, the Frontier Nursing Service, and the Pack Horse Library Project to create a well-rounded view of Appalachia in the 30s.
Honors
The 2024 Cardinal Cup Committee has selected two honor titles. The titles are A Flag for Juneteenth by Kim Taylor (Neal Porter Books) and For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransom (Holiday House).
Series of Note
The Cardinal Cup Committee recognizes a series of note. The Committee must read at least two titles from a book series for it to be eligible for this honor. The Series of Note is Penguin Random House's Race to the Truth. All titles in the series aim to tell the truth about traditionally one-sided discussions of complicated aspects of American history. The books include narrative non-fiction, photographs, maps, and questions to invite discussion and critical thinking, encourage deeper thinking about historical biases, and are just as engaging as they are important.
About Cardinal Cup Award
Established in 1982 and presented since 1983, the Cardinal Cup Committee’s goal is to promote reading about America’s past; to encourage the quality writing of United States history, biography, and historical fiction for young people, and to recognize authors in these disciplines. From 2012-2021 two books were selected: one for geared toward young adult readers and one for young readers. Beginning in 2022, the Committee returned to the original model, honoring the most distinguished biography, historical fiction, or American history book for young people. In 2023, the Committee and award were renamed. The Cardinal Cup Committee’s mission remains the same, with a commitment to celebrating titles that honor the diverse history of the United States.
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