Learning with Candace Fleming: Award-Winning Nonfiction, Curiosity, and Big Questions from Jonestown to Rhinos

In 2026, Candace Fleming did something no one else has ever done—she became the first author to receive both the Children’s Literature Legacy Award and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Young Adult Lifetime Achievement in the same year, while also winning the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown. We celebrate that extraordinary moment, then go straight to what really matters to Candace: kids, questions, and story-rich nonfiction that invites readers to think.

We talk about why she still shows up in classrooms as a “nonfiction cheerleader,” helping students see that great nonfiction starts with passion and curiosity, not a pile of facts. She shares how she encourages kids to move beyond “Google it” retrieval toward authentic research by starting with something they love, asking big, weird questions, and following those questions wherever they lead.

The conversation explores the craft behind tackling complex, often heavy topics for young readers. Candace discusses Death in the Jungle and her current middle grade project on rhino poaching in South Africa, where wildlife forensics, economics, colonial history, and the story of one orphaned calf intersect. We reflect on nonfiction as an imaginative, deeply personal form of writing, and what it means to nurture original thinking and voice in an AI world.

This episode offers a rare window into an unprecedented awards year and the curiosity-driven process behind some of today’s most compelling nonfiction for young readers.

Chapters:

• 01:42: What this triple recognition really means
• 04:26: Writing across age groups & interests
• 07:01:  School visits, passion, & kid-chosen topics
• 10:22:  Retrieval vs research, big questions, & nonfiction as imaginative work
• 12:17:   Nonfiction in an age of AI: voice, perspective, & original thinking
• 15:16:   Rhino poaching: crime scenes, orphaned calves, & complex issues 
• 25:54:  A  “lighter” World War II family story
• 27:27:   Finding hope

Learn More:

• Visit Candace's website and follow her on Instagram.
• Listen to Episode 18.
• Check out Candace's books.
• Learn more about CBCC & Wild Tomorrow.