Penguin Random House: Andrea Elliott’s INVISIBLE CHILD Finalist for 2022 Helen Bernstein Book Award

The New York Public Library has announced the finalists for its Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. For 35 years, the Bernstein award has recognized journalism that seeks to raise awareness for significant current, global, or national events. This year, INVISIBLE CHILD: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott and published by Random House, is among the five finalists. The winner will be announced in April and receive a $15,000 prize.

In INVISIBLE CHILD, Andrea Elliott, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times, describes eight years in the life of young Dasani, an imaginative girl who lives in a Brooklyn shelter. In the book, Elliott intertwines Dasani’s childhood story with the history of her ancestors, combining the impact of their journey from slavery to the Great Migration with the trials of Dasani’s coming of age. When Dasani finally escapes New York City to enroll in a boarding school, she is faced with an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself? INVISIBLE CHILD is a compelling narrative focused on the value of family, the power of resilience, and the weight of inequality.