2020 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

The 2020 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction went to Thanhhà Lại for Butterfly Yellow, published by HarperCollins. Set in Texas in 1981, the novel follows Hằng, a young Vietnamese refugee who arrives in the United States determined to find the little brother she was separated from during the evacuation of Saigon, and LeeRoy, an aspiring cowboy who ends up driving her across the state. Lại, who also wrote the National Book Award winner Inside Out and Back Again, drew on the experience of refugee families who came to the United States after the war. The award named a single winner, with no honor books, and the author received $5,000.