Dance of the Banished by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has been selected as an Outstanding International Book by the United States Board on Books for Young People for 2016. This is a high honour given to a shortlist of books first published outside of the United States that are “deemed most outstanding of those published during the calendar year.” (USBBY website). These books:
- Represent the best of children´s literature from other countries
- Introduce American readers to outstanding authors and illustrators from other countries
- Help American children see the world from other points of view
- Provide a perspective or address a topic otherwise missing from children´s literature in the U.S.
- Exhibit a distinct cultural flavor
- Are accessible to American readers.
Dance of the Banished is also the winner of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, a White Ravens Selection, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a Best Books for Kids & Teens selection.