We are pleased to announce the 2023 Association for Mormon Letters Awards finalists in Middle Grade Novel, Young Adult Novel, and Picture Books, as well as a Special Award in Children’s Literature. The final awards will be announced and presented on July 20, as part of the 2024 Association for Mormon Letters Virtual Conference. We will be announcing the other category finalists over the coming week. The finalists and winners are chosen by juries of authors, academics, and critics. The announcements include book blurbs and author biographies, usually adapted from the author and publisher websites.
Middle Grade Novel
Chad Morris and Shelley Brown. Virtually Me. Shadow Mountain.
A new virtual reality school where students get a fresh start. The pandemic was rough on everyone, especially since school went from being a fun place where you could hang out with your friends to a bunch of heads in small rectangles all trying to talk at once. For Bradley, Edelle, Hunter, Jasper, and Keiko, that’s about to change. A mysterious box arrives at each of their houses, and they’re invited to attend a virtual school. More than just being online, they’ll be able to create an avatar of themselves and interact with their friends and other classmates in real time using VR headsets.
Chad Morris and Shelly Brown are the proud parents of five children. They have written several middle grade novels, including Squint, which won the AML 2018 Middle Grade Novel award, and Mustaches for Maddie, was a finalist for AML and Whitney awards. Their novel The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry won the 2023 Middle Grade Whitney Award.
Chad Morris and Shelley Brown. The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry. Shadow Mountain.
Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry lives with her family deep in the wild woods. Living off the grid is pretty exciting, but her happy life in the wild ends abruptly when her younger brother gets sick, and they move to the city to be closer to the hospital. Juniper and her older sister end up living with cousins they hardly know and attending public school for the first time, which is harder to navigate than the wild woods ever were. Juniper feels like a wolf cub separated from her pack. As the hospital bills for her brother start piling up, Juniper knows they’ll need to be paid before the family can go back to the woods, so she decides to make enough money to help out. With her cousin Alayna’s support, Juniper starts posting videos filled with her wisdom from the woods.
Sandra Soderborg. Sky Ropes. Chronicle Books.
Three truths and a . . . lie?: Breanna is strong. She is confident. She does not have a phobia of heights that comes from a traumatic history of abuse with her father. She will not be participating in her school’s required teamwork camp, featuring the Sky Ropes-the highest ropes course in the state. Fast-paced and unforgettable, this story follows one girl’s journey to overcome her trauma, discover what friendship really means, and learn that being brave is not always about being fearless.
Sandra Soderborg is a contemporary middle grade writer based in Ann Arbor, MI. Sky Ropes is her debut novel.
Mike Thayer. The Talent Thief. Feiwel & Friends.
Tiffany Tudwell is cursed. She once tripped over a backpack and fell face-first into a trashcan. She had pink eye on picture day. One time she tried to hold back a sneeze and farted on the cutest boy in class. She longs for the spotlight, but it’s safer to stay hidden in the shadows where the curse can’t reach her and no one can make fun of her. Until the night two meteors collide over her backyard giving Tiffany the ability to steal people’s talents for a day—like stealing mean girl Candace’s beautiful singing voice in the middle of play rehearsal, or drawing an incredible self-portrait after borrowing the teacher’s pencil. Her power even gets the attention of the most popular boy in school, the smooth-talking Brady Northrup. But her powers can’t solve everything—or can they? When a local philanthropist announces a fundraiser contest, Tiffany, with Brady’s help, decides to use her powers to save her dad’s failing planetarium. And maybe discover her own talent along the way…
Mike Thayer is a proud father of three, lucky husband of one, passionate author, budding podcaster, lifelong gamer, viral blogger, degreed engineer, decent impressionist, inept hunter, erstwhile jock, and nerd. His previous books include The Double Life of Danny Day and The Techno Wizard series.
Elaine Vickers. Half Moon Summer. Peachtree.
Two seventh graders discover it takes more than grit and a good pair of shoes to run 13.1 miles. You’ve got to have a partner who refuses to let you quit. Drew was never much of a runner. Until his dad’s unexpected diagnosis. Mia has nothing better to do. Until she realizes entering Half Moon Bay’s half-marathon could solve her family’s housing problems. And just like that they decide to spend their entire summer training to run 13.1 miles. Drew and Mia have very different reasons for running, but these two twelve year olds have one crucial thing in common (besides sharing a birthday): Hope. For the future. For their families. And for each other.
Elaine Vickers (also known as E. B. Vickers) is an award-winning author of picture books and middle grade and young adult novels. She had one book in each category published in 2023. She grew up reading, running, and exploring in a small town in Utah. Several years and one PhD later, she found her way back to her hometown, where she spends her time writing, teaching college chemistry, and exploring with her family. Her middle grade novel Paper Chains, young adult novel Fadeaway, and picture book Thankful have been previous AML award finalists.
Young Adult Novel
Rosalyn Eves. An Improbable Season. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
When Thalia, Kalliope, and Charis set off to Regency London for their first Season, they each have clear goals—few of which include matrimony. Thalia means to make her mark among the intelligentsia and publish her poetry, Charis hopes to earn her place among the scientific elite, and Kalliope aims to take the fashionable ton by storm. But this Season, it doesn’t take long for things to fall apart. Kalli finds herself embroiled in scandal and reliant upon an arranged marriage to redeem her reputation, Thalia’s dreams of publication are threatened by her attraction to a charming rake, and Charis finds herself an unexpected social hit—and the source of a family scandal that her heart might not survive. Can this roller-coaster Season find its happily ever after?
Rosalyn Eves teaches English at Southern Utah University and writes young adult novels in her spare time. She earned a PhD in English from Penn State, where she wrote about women’s spatial rhetorics in the nineteenth-century American West. Her debut novel Blood Rose Rebellion won a Whitney Award for best YA Fantasy in 2017. Her historical YA novel Beyond the Mapped Stars won both AML and Whitney Awards in 2021.
Martine Leavitt. Buffalo Flats. Margaret Ferguson Books.
Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Leavitt has traveled by covered wagon from Utah to the Northwest Territories of Canada, where her father and brothers are now homesteading and establishing a new community with other Latter-Day Saints. Rebecca is old enough to get married, but what kind of man would she marry and who would have a girl like her—a girl filled with ideas and opinions? Rebecca decides to set her sights on something completely different. She loves the land and wants her own piece of it. The novel is inspired by true-life histories of the author’s ancestors, exploring Latter-Day Saints culture and the hardships of pioneer life. It is about a stubborn, irreverent, and resourceful young woman who remains true to herself and discovers that it is the bonds of family, faith, and friendship—even romance–that tie her to the wild and unpredictable land she loves so fiercely.
Martine Leavitt is the author of award-winning books for young readers, including Calvin (winner of the Governor General’s Award), My Book of Life by Angel (winner of the Canadian Library Association YA Book of the Year) and Keturah and Lord Death (finalist for the National Book Award). She received AML Awards in Young Adult Literature for The Dragon’s Tapestry and The Prism Moon (1993) and The Taker’s Key (1998). She teaches in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Martine lives in High River, Alberta.
Elizabeth Lowham. Beauty Reborn. Shadow Mountain.
Beauty’s life is the stuff of fairy tales. The youngest in her family, Beauty isn’t trying to catch Stephan’s eye. He is the lord baron’s heir, well above her family’s modest station, but when he kisses her hand at a party, Beauty is swept away by his charm, his wit, and his passionate declarations of love, and doesn’t see the truth of Stephan’s intentions until it is too late. Until he stops asking for Beauty’s love―and simply takes it from her one night despite her refusal. Beauty locks away the secret of what happened to her, and when her father emerges from the enchanted forest with a stolen rose in his hand and the tale of a vicious beast on his breath, Beauty seizes the chance to run as far from Stephan as possible. She has some experience with beasts, after all. Certainly the one in the forest couldn’t be any worse than the one she’s already encountered. Breaking the Beast’s curse might be the key to discovering her own path to healing―and finding the courage to allow herself to feel reborn.
Elizabeth Lowham dreams of a future house that is seventy-percent library with at least three lavish window seats. Her reality is five bookshelves and a rocking chair, which isn’t so bad. Apart from reading and writing, her hobbies include sewing, sketching, dancing, eating, and other -ing verbs. Plus yoga. She has a bachelor of arts in English and works as an author, editor, and solicited screenwriter. She is a sexual abuse survivor who believes stories have a unique power to lift and heal for author and reader alike. She lives with her husband and son in the Loveland area of Colorado. Beauty Reborn is her debut novel.
Brandon Sanderson. Tress of the Emerald Sea. Dragonsteel/Tor.
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?
Brandon Sanderson’s many books include Elantris (2005 AML Novel Award), the Mistborn series, and The Stormlight Archive series, the middle-grade Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series, and the young adult novel The Rithmatist (2014 AML YA Speculative Award) . He was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. He has won or been a finalist for an AML Award nine times. His March 2022 Kickstarter campaign of “secret projects,” including Tress of the Emerald Sea, became the most successful in history.
Kasie West. Borrow My Heart. Random House.
When a girl overhears a guy getting verbally destroyed by his friends for being catfished, she jumps in to save the day—and pretends to be his online crush. A young adult romance from the critically acclaimed author of Places We’ve Never Been.
Kasie West is the author of many YA novels, including The Fill-In Boyfriend, P.S. I Like You, and Listen to Your Heart. Her books have been named ALA-YALSA Quick Picks, Junior Library Guild selections and ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults books. She has won two Whitney Awards and has been an AML Young Adult novel finalist for On the Fence. In the summer months you can often find Kasie on the California Coast with her family escaping the heat of the Central Valley.
Picture Book
Amy June Bates (author and illustrator). The Welcome Home. Paula Wiseman Books.
Mr. and Mrs. Gargleson-Bittle are looking for a change. Their life has become too quiet, and little changes like eating waffles only help for a moment. They decide to get a pet—but what kind should they have? First they welcome a snail into their home, then an elephant named Louise, then an aardvark named Sam. One by one they come, and while the house is definitely no longer quiet, Mr. and Mrs. Gargleson-Bittle still have room and love for more. Could this waggy, lick-your-face puppy be what makes their 
family complete?
Amy June Bates has illustrated books including the Sam the Man series; Sweet Dreams and That’s What I’d Do, both by singer-songwriter Jewel; and Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan. She is the author-illustrator of The Big Umbrella. She lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with her husband and three children.
Angie Lucas. Illustrated by Pierre Collet-Derby. My Big Embarrassing Elephant. Marble Press.
Maya and her family have a problem. They try ignoring it, dancing around it, even sweeping it under the rug. Yet the elephant in the room remains. And Maya is at her wit’s end figuring out how to hide it from everyone. Then a new friend moves in next door, and Maya begins wondering if there might be a better way to deal with the whole situation? This clever story about friendship in the face of overwhelming problems is given hilarious life by Pierre Collet-Derby.
Angie Lucas used to edit magazines, compose ad copy, and ghostwrite articles for tech CEOs. Now she writes little stories about big childhood challenges. Through picture books about grief and loss, embarrassing family secrets, and getting lost in a grocery store, she hopes to spark essential conversations between kids and their caregivers. A lifelong language lover and unapologetic word nerd, Angie also loves yoga, freshly sharpened pencils, fresh mountain air, and volunteering in her faith community. The mother of one child through marriage, one through adoption, and one through birth, Angie lives with her precious patchwork family near Salt Lake City, Utah.
Susan Evans McCloud. Illustrated by Alexandra Bulankina. Jesus Once Was a Little Child. Cedar Fort.
Jesus grew and learned until he saw clearly what it was he had been sent here to do. All the little children on earth had forgotten their heavenly home. Only Jesus could teach them. Susan Evans McCloud brings out elements that enrich a child’s understanding by illuminating Jesus’ relationship with his heavenly Parents, showing tenderness and faith in the prayers he shared with his mother, Mary, and the love and wisdom of the Son of God, as he taught the Elders in the Temple.
Susan Evans McCloud a prolific and versatile writer, with over fifty published books which range from historical fiction to mystery, non-fiction, and children’s literature. Her first work published in the LDS market was a poem in the Ensign in 1972. She has created many programs or songs for the general Church Young Women, Seminary, genealogy and other programs, and is the author of two hymns in the 1985 LDS Hymnbook, “Lord I Will Follow Thee” and “As Zion’s Youth in Latter Days.”
Heidi Poelman. Illustrated by Angie Alape. Women in Science Who Changed the World. Familius.
From the innovations of Janaki Ammal to the careful observations of Jane Goodall, Women in Science Who Changed the World is a young child’s first introduction to the diverse, extraordinary women who used their brilliant minds to change the world of science forever. Simple text and adorable illustrations tell the contributions of eight scientists: Maria Sibylla Merian, Wang Zhenyi, Mary Anning, Marie Curie, Janaki Ammal, Katherine Johnson, Jane C. Wright, and Jane Goodall.
Heidi Poelman received her degrees in communication from Brigham Young University (BA) and Wake Forest University (MA). She is the author of several books for families, including Courageous People Who Changed the World, Inventors Who Changed the World, A is for Abinadi, I Can Love Like Jesus, Jesus Worked Miracles, and The Two-Minute Secret to Staying in Love. Heidi and her husband, Scott, live in Utah with their four bright-eyed children. Learn more at.
Elaine Vickers. Illustrated by Ana Aranda. How to Make a Memory. Paula Wiseman Books.
This poignant story takes readers through the bittersweet celebration of the last day of school, the pause before blowing out birthday candles, the magical closeness of gathering around a campfire: those tiny moments that enrich life.
Special Award in Children’s Literature
Josh and Sarah Sabey. Illustrated by Maddie Baker. The Book of Mormon Storybook. Independently published.
A collection of fifty Book of Mormon stories, adapted for children and parents. They focus on telling the story so that the characters’ humanity and the core doctrinal principles they depended on shine forth: primarily, God so loved the world. These are stories about a real God who loves real people.
Sarah and Josh Sabey are writers, filmmakers, and spouses. Their films cover important issues in non-polarizing ways. Their first film, American Tragedy, reached the top ten most watched films on Amazon Prime.