WASHINGTON, DC, Oct 31 – L. M. Elliott received the 2018 Grateful American Book Prize for her historical novel, Suspect Red. Published by Hyperion-Disney, the book takes a look at McCarthyism and the Red Scare, in a manner that will excite young readers, according to David Bruce Smith, co-founder of the Prize.

Elliott garnered an Honorable Mention award for Hamilton and Peggy! A Revolutionary Friendship, published by HarperCollins and Katherine Tegen Books. It’s the first time an author received the Prize and an Honorable Mention, simultaneously.

Teri Kanefield got an Honorable Mention for her biography of Andrew Jackson—part of Harry N. Abrams’ The Making of America series, for which the author has already written Alexander Hamilton (2017) and Abraham Lincoln (2018). Susan B. Anthony and Franklin Delano Roosevelt will appear in 2019, and the release date of Thurgood Marshall is pending.

Author and publisher Smith co-founded the Prize with the late Dr. Bruce Cole, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He calls Suspect Red “an historically accurate novel of suspense for young readers that explains a particularly complicated period of America’s history.”

The School Library Journal review of Hamilton and Peggy! A Revolutionary Friendship, noted “The story is drawn from extensive research on each of the characters, through their letters, magazines, newspapers, and personal diaries. Elliott has accomplished something wonderful here, and this is an absolute must-have for all middle and high school collections.”

The goal of the Grateful American Book Prize, as Ms. Elliott described it, is to “restore history as the captivating subject it is. It is a gift to all of us taking on the responsibility (and the joy!) of writing historical pieces for young people. Others in the publishing industry need convincing that such novels have just as much interest-value and potential audience as more pop-culture genres–this Prize does so much to promote that! So I know I speak for all historical novelists when I say we are GRATEFUL!”

The Grateful American Book Prize comes with an award of $13,000, a lifetime pass to the New-York Historical Society, and a medallion created by the American artist, Clarice Smith. The October 11, 2018 presentation was at The Society of the Cincinnati in Washington, D.C. The “Honorable Mention” authors receive the medallion, and $500 each.