2021 Winner: Children’s Science Picture Book

Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet, by Elizabeth Rusch. (Illustrated by Teresa Martínez.) Charlesbridge, 2019.

Growing up in Mexico City, Mario Molina was a curious boy who studied hidden worlds through a microscope. As a young man in California in the 1980s, he discovered that CFCs, used in millions of refrigerators and spray cans, were tearing a hole in the earth's protective ozone layer. Mario knew the world had to be warned–and quickly. Today, Mario is a Nobel laureate and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His inspiring story shines a ray of hope on the fight against global warming.