Co-created with Andrew Aydin, drawn by Nate Powell, and published by Top Shelf Productions, the series is a firsthand account of Congressman Lewis’s experience during the Civil Rights Movement. Previous volumes of the series have earned multiple Eisners and Harvey Awards, the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. The trilogy has been optioned for an animated series as well (see “John Lewis' 'March' Trilogy Optioned”).

“This is amazing to me,” said Congressman Lewis in response to news. “I’m overwhelmed and deeply moved that March: Book Three is a finalist for the National Book Award. It is my hope that this honor inspires many more young people, and people not so young, to read March and to learn the transformative lessons of our ongoing struggle to create the beloved community.”

March joins a very short list of graphic novels that have been nominated for the National Book Award. Other nominees in the Young People’s Literature category include Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona (see “'Nimona' Nominated for National Book Award”), Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese (see “'American Born Chinese'”) and Boxers & Saints, and David Small’s Stitches (see “'Stitches' a National Book Award Finalist”). In 2014, Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant became the first graphic novel to be nominated in the nonfiction category (see “'Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?' Makes Short List”).