2026 Orbis Pictus Award

The 2026 Orbis Pictus Award, given by the National Council of Teachers of English for outstanding nonfiction for children, went to Just in Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault by Megan Clendenan, illustrated by Brittany Cicchese. The committee named five honor books: Teri Kanefield's Rebels, Robbers, and Radicals, a history of the Bill of Rights; Livia Blackburne's Dreams to Ashes, about the 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre; Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka Con La Papa by Sara Andrea Fajardo, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal; The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Selina Alko; and Erin Entrada Kelly's At Last She Stood, the story of a Filipina woman who spied for the resistance during World War II. The committee also chose eight recommended titles for classroom use.