Presented since 1983, the Jefferson Cup honors distinguished biography, historical fiction or American history books for young people, and the authors who write them.

2009 George Washington Carver by Tonya Bolden JB CARVER 2008
George Washington Carver is so well known as the "Peanut Man" that his multitude of other accomplishments are frequently overlooked. This fascinating biography brings his childhood, his struggle for education, his scientific genius and his academic legacy to life in this well-written and beautifully illustrated book.

2008 Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford J811 W 2007
In free verse, a fictional girl narrates the events that preceded the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

2007 Blood on the River: James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone YFIC CAR
When 12-year-old Samuel Collier boards a ship bound for the New World, he learns that he can be whomever he wants in the settlement of Jamestown.

2006 Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell YFIC CAR
Upon the death of their mother, Mattie and Sarah, two Mohawk sisters, are sent to the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians, which was established to "civilize" the Indian by stripping them of their language, culture, and religion.

2005 A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff JFIC GIF
It is war time in 1879 and in a small German town the local soldiers patrol the streets and use the cathedral's bell tower to spy on the French across the river.

2004 Grape Thief by Kristine Franklin YFIC FRA
Twelve-year-old Slava Petrovich, known as "Cuss," faces a growing sense of responsibility, deep loyalty to his family, and the traditions of faith and hard work in this portrait of the hardships and the hopes of an American immigrant family in the early 1900s.

2003 Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe YFIC CRO
In the summer of 1955, 16-year-old Hiram is living with his beloved grandfather in Greenwood, Mississippi, when a horrific crime is committed.

2002 Storm Warriors by Elisa Carbone YFIC CAR
A brave African-American lifesaving team befriends and inspires a lonely boy on North Carolina's Outer Banks in the late 1890s.

2001 Blizzard: The Storm That Changed America by Jim Murphy J974 M 2000
Presents a history, based on personal accounts and newspaper articles, of the massive snow storm that hit the Northeast in 1888, focusing on the events in New York City.

2000 Preacher's Boy by Katherine Paterson JFIC PAT
In 1899, 10-year-old Robbie, son of a preacher in a small Vermont town, gets himself into all kinds of trouble when he decides to give up being Christian in order to make the most of his life before the end of the world.

1999 Soldier's Heart: A Novel of the Civil War by Gary Paulsen JFIC PAU
Fifteen-year-old Charley Goddard is swept up in the excitement of the Civil War and eagerly enlists in the Union Army. The horrors of war do their damage to both Charley's body and mind; he returns from the war with soldier's heart.

1998 Leon's Story by Leon Walter Tillage JB TILLAGE 1997
Born in 1936, Leon Walter Tillage reflects on his life as the son of a North Carolinian sharecropper. Tillage describes his experiences with the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws, and the Civil Rights Movement.

1997 The Ornament Tree by Jean Thesman YFIC THE
Fourteen-year-old Bonnie Shaster moves to Seattle in 1918 to live with her genteel, elderly cousins whose reduced financial circumstances have forced them to take in an eclectic group of boarders.

1996 The Great Fire by Jim Murphy J977.311 M 1995
The magnitude of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is described through personal accounts, fascinating details, and period illustrations.

1995 Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco JFIC POL
A 15-year-old white Union soldier meets a young black Union soldier who nurses him back to health. Later, the two young men are captured by the Confederate Army.

1994 Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy JB STEVENSON 1993
This absorbing history of the building of the transcontinental railroad is presented with recollections by Robert Louis Stevenson, while photographs and engravings capture the hardships and excitement of railroad travel in 1879.

1993 Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch by Jerry Stanley
J331.544 S 1992
During the Great Depression, families left Oklahoma and traveled to California in anticipation of finding work. Some of these families settled in "Weedpatch Camp," where they established a school for their children, complete with a swimming pool.

1992 The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman JB WRIGHT
The Wrights' invention of the airplane is captured in their own words and illustrated with numerous photographs.

1991 Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Russell Freedman JB ROOSEVELT
A lively account of Roosevelt's life, complete with numerous photographs and interesting anecdotes.

1990 Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder JFIC REE
Twelve-year-old Will has lost his entire immediate family in the Civil War and must move to Virginia to live with an uncle who refused to fight.

1989 Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave by Virginia Hamilton JB BURNS
A biography of Anthony Burns, who escaped from slavery and was recaptured back into slavery, combines fact and fiction and includes an afterward to assist the reader in distinguishing between the two.

1988 Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman JB LINCOLN
Awarded the Newbery Medal in 1988, this biography of Lincoln includes numerous photographs and fascinating facts about his life.

1987 After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski YFIC ROS
Set in rural Kansas in World War I, a 13-year-old girl visits wounded soldiers in a veterans' hospital and befriends a young soldier who is badly burned.

1986 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan JFIC MAC
In this Newbery Medal story about loss and acceptance, two young prairie children await the arrival of their father's mail-order bride.

1985 In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord JFIC LOR
Shirley Temple Wong arrives in America in the Year of the Boar (1947) and discovers the delights of baseball.

1984 Who Speaks for Wolf? by Paula Underwood Spencer
Captured in verse and illustrated with paintings and drawings, a Native-American grandfather instructs his grandson in how their people came to understand the value of living in harmony with each other and nature.

1983 Jewish Americans: A History in Their Words by Milton Meltzer J305.8924 M
With historical information providing the framework for personal narratives, the story of Jewish Americans is conveyed in their own words through letters, speeches and interviews.