Balgassi's chapter book, Peacebound Trains (illustrated by the award winning Chris Soentpiet), was named a Smithsonian Notable Children's Book, International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society, San Francisco Chronicle Best Children's Book, Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist, National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and American Booksellers Association Pick of the Lists. Peacebound Trains was featured on the United States of America Korean War Commemoration site, complete with a Teacher Activity Guide. It is the only book to receive this honor. The book's publisher is Clarion Books, a Houghton Mifflin imprint.

Balgassi's middle-grade novel, Tae's Sonata, is also under the publishing umbrella of Clarion Books. Tae's Sonata was named a National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, an American Booksellers Association Pick of the Lists, and nominated for the Maine Student Book Award. The novel won the 2000 Lamplighter Classic Award. In 2006, Hampton-Brown, a branch of National Geographic School Publishing, selected Tae's Sonata for its inZone Books collection.