Awards

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book celebrates outstanding books, authors, and literary achievement through four signature awards: The Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Best Books for Family Literacy, The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, and Pennsylvania Great Reads from Great Places. Together, these programs recognize excellence in family literacy, children’s poetry, graphic novels, and books that reflect Pennsylvania’s rich literary heritage. By honoring exceptional literary works and connecting readers with engaging and meaningful stories, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book promotes lifelong reading, literacy, and a love of literature across the Commonwealth and beyond.

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The Weight

By Melissa Mendes

Published by Drawn & Quarterly, 2025

Adult Readers

Pennsylvania Center for the Book Awards

Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize 2026 Winner

In “The Weight,” a gritty saga of a rural family, focused on a young girl named Edie, Mendes captures their hardscrabble existence with eloquence and zero sentimentality,” the judges said. “This is an incredibly raw and powerful story that tackles domestic abuse, generational trauma, and alcohol addiction while also showing the power of love and hope to empower us in the face of those cruelties. The drawings are rough and muscular, and the narrative is unceasing in its ability to bring us along with it. It has strong characters that feel real and true: It is a haunting story that is honestly told.”