Children's Book Awards
Rated The Best By The Best

So you can FIND the best

Thank heaven for the various children's book awards! The government estimates that 2500 children's books are published each year. That's a lot of books to sift through.

These prestigious awards help us find the books that are judged tops each year. So think of each of the kids' books below as the best among thousands!

Almost as many awards as there are books!

The truth is, there are a lot of children's book awards out there. I tried to put the best of the best on this page.

Newbery Medal | Caldecott Medal | National Book Award | Carnegie Medal | Laura Ingalls Wilder Award | Golden Kite Awards | Margaret A. Edwards Award | Gryphon Award |

There are some other kids' book awards scattered about this site. These tend to be more specialized awards - children's book awards for science fiction, children's book awards for African-American children's books, etc.

You'll find them in the more specialized sections of the site.

A few of the books below are worthy of particular mention. These are the books that were not only deserving of at least one of the top children's book awards but are also among the Best Selling Children's Books of the 20th Century.

I'll note them accordingly.

So here are the top children's book awards. Click on the link to whichever of the children's book awards you're interested in, or just scroll through them all. Happy searching!

Top Children's Book Awards:

Newbery Medal | Caldecott Medal | National Book Award | Carnegie Medal | Laura Ingalls Wilder Award | Golden Kite Awards | Margaret A. Edwards Award | Gryphon Award |

Children's Book Awards - The Newbery Medal

Perhaps the most prestigious of the children's book awards, chosen by The American Library Association. The medal is presented annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the United States in the preceding year.

• 2008 - Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
• 2007 - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
• 2006 - Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
• 2005 - Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
• 2004 - The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
• 2003 - Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
• 2002 - A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
• 2001 - A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
• 2000 - Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• 1999 - Holes by Louis Sachar (multiple children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1998 - Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• 1997 - The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
• 1996 - The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
• 1995 - Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (reviewed on this site)
• 1994 - The Giver by Lois Lowry (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1993 - Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
• 1992 - Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• 1991 - Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• 1990 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1989 - Paul Fleischman Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by
• 1988 - Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
• 1987 - The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
• 1986 - Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1985 - The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
• 1984 - Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
• 1983 - Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
• 1982 - A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
• 1981 - Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
• 1980 - A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by Joan Blos
• 1979 - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• 1978 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1977 - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1976 - The Grey King by Susan Cooper
• 1975 - M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
• 1974 - The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
• 1973 - Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1972 - Robert C. O'Brien Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
• 1971 - The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
• 1970 - Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1969 - The High King by Lloyd Alexander
• 1968 - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1967 - Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
• 1966 - I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Treviņo
• 1965 - Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
• 1964 - It's Like This, Cat by Emily C. Neville
• 1963 - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1962 - The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
• 1961 - Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1960 - Onion John by John Krumgold
• 1959 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1958 - Rifles for Watie by Harold V. Keith
• 1957 - Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
• 1956 - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
• 1955 - The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
• 1954 - ... And Now Miguel by John Krumgold
• 1953 - Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
• 1952 - Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
• 1951 - Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
• 1950 - The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
• 1949 - King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
• 1948 - The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pčne du Bois
• 1947 - Miss Hickory by Carolyn S. Bailey
• 1946 - Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
• 1945 - Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
• 1944 - Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1943 - Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
• 1942 - The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
• 1941 - Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
• 1940 - Daniel Boone by James Daugherty
• 1939 - Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
• 1938 - The White Stag by Kate Seredy
• 1937 - Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
• 1936 - Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
• 1935 - Dobry by Monica Shannon
• 1934 - Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
• 1933 - Elizabeth Lewis Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by
• 1932 - Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer
• 1931 - The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
• 1930 - Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
• 1929 - The Trumpeter of Krakow: A Tale of the Fifteenth Century by Eric P Kelly
• 1928 - Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Mukerji
• 1927 - Smoky, the Cow Horse by Will James
• 1926 - Shen of the Sea by Arthur Chrisman
• 1925 - Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
• 1924 - The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
• 1923 - The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
• 1922 - The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Van Loon

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Children's Book Awards - The Caldecott Medal

Also judged by the American Library Association, this is the most famous of the children's book awards recognizing the best illustrator of a children's book in a given year.

(However, I'm afraid the list below cites the children's book author, not the children's book illustrator.)

• 2008 - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• 2007 - Flotsam by David Wiesner
• 2006 - The Hello, Goodbye Window, by Norton Juster
• 2005 - Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
• 2004 - The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
• 2003 - My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
• 2002 - The Three Pigs by David Wiesner
• 2001 - So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George
• 2000 - Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
• 1999 - Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
• 1998 - Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky
• 1997 - Golem by David Wisniewski
• 1996 - Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
• 1995 - Smoky Night, by Eve Bunting
• 1994 - Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
• Honor Books:
• 1993 - Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
• 1992 - Tuesday by David Wiesner
• 1991 - Black and White by David Macaulay
• 1990 - Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young
• 1989 - Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman (Knopf)
• 1988 - Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• 1987 - Hey, Al by Arthur Yorinks
• 1986 - The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1985 - Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges
• 1984 - The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice & Martin Provensen
• 1983 - Shadow, translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown
• Original text in French by Blaise Cendrars
• 1982 - Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
• 1981 - Fables by Arnold Lobel
• 1980 - Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
• 1979 - The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
• 1978 - Noah's Ark by Peter Spier
• 1977 - Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove
• 1976 - Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears retold by Verna Aardema
• 1975 - Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott
• 1974 - Duffy and the Devil retold by Harve Zemach
• 1973 - The Funny Little Woman retold by Arlene Mosel
• 1972 - One Fine Day, retold by Nonny Hogrogian
• 1971 - A Story A Story, retold by Gail E. Haley
• 1970 - Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
• 1969 - The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship retold by Arthur Ransome (Farrar)
• 1968 - Drummer Hoff adapted by Barbara Emberley
• 1967 - Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness
• 1966 - Always Room for One More by Sorche Nic Leodhas, pseud. [Leclair Alger]
• 1965 - May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
• 1964 - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1963 - The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
• 1962 - Once a Mouse, retold and illustrated by Marcia Brown
• 1961 - Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins
• 1960 - Nine Days to Christmas by Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida
• 1959 - Chanticleer and the Fox by adapted from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Barbara Cooney
• 1958 - Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
• 1957 - A Tree is Nice by Janice Udry
• 1956 - Frog Went A-Courtin' retold by John Langstaff
• 1955 - Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper translated from Charles Perrault by Marcia Brown
• 1954 - Madeline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans
• 1953 - The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward
• 1952 - Finders Keepers by Will, pseud. [William Lipkind]
• 1951 - The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous
• 1950 - Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi
• 1949 - The Big Snow by Berta & Elmer Hader
• 1948 - White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt
• 1947 - The Little Island by Golden MacDonald, pseud. [Margaret Wise Brown]
• 1946 - The Rooster Crows by Maude & Miska Petersham
• 1945 - Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field
• 1944 - Many Moons by James Thurber
• 1943 - The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
• 1942 - Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1941 - They Were Strong and Good, by Robert Lawson
• 1940 - Abraham Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
• 1939 - Mei Li by Thomas Handforth
• 1938 - Animals of the Bible, A Picture Book selected by Helen Dean Fish

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Children's Book Awards - The National Book Award

The National Book Awards have long been considered the United States' preeminent literary prize for adult fiction, nonfiction and poetry. In 1996 they began naming children's book awards as well. This is the Young People's Literature award.

• 2007 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• 2006 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. I by M.T. Anderson
• 2005 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
• 2004 Godless by Pete Hautman
• 2003 The Canning Season by Polly Horvath
• 2002 The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
• 2001 True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
• 2000 Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
• 1999 When Zachary Beaver Came To Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
• 1998 Holes by Louis Sachar (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1997 Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan
• 1996 Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez

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Children's Book Awards - The Carnegie Medal

The reason this is one of my favorite children's book awards is because it's the highest honor for a children's book published in Britain. (Where, rumor has it, they speak the same language as Americans.)

In other words, here's a whole pile of classic children's books that we in the states have had too little exposure to.

• 2007 - Meg Rosoff, Just in Case
• 2005 - Mal Peet, Tamar
• 2004 - Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions
• 2003 - Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light
• 2002 - Sharon Creech, Ruby Holler
• 2001 - Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
• 2000 - Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth
• 1999 - Aidan Chambers, Postcards From No Man's Land
• 1998 - David Almond, Skellig
• 1997 - Tim Bowler, River Boy
• 1996 - Melvin Burgess, Junk
• 1995 - Philip Pullman, Northern Lights (US title: The Golden Compass)
• 1994 - Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard
• 1993 - Robert Swindells, Stone Cold
• 1992 - Anne Fine, Flour Babies
• 1991 - Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
• 1990 - Gillian Cross, Wolf
• 1989 - Anne Fine, My War with Goggle Eyes
• 1988 - Geraldine McCaughrean, Pack of Lies
• 1987 - Susan Price, The Ghost Drum
• 1986 - Berlie Doherty, Granny Was a Buffer Girl
• 1985 - Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm
• 1984 - Margaret Mahy, The Changeover
• 1983 - Jan Mark, Handles
• 1982 - Margaret Mahy, The Haunting
• 1981 - Robert Westall, The Scarecrows
• 1980 - Peter Dickinson, City of Gold
• 1979 - Peter Dickinson, Tulku
• 1978 - David Rees, The Exeter Blitz
• 1977 - Gene Kemp, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler
• 1976 - Jan Mark, Thunder and Lightnings
• 1975 - Robert Westall, The Machine-Gunners
• 1974 - Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold
• 1973 - Penelope Lively, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
• 1972 - Richard Adams, Watership Down
• 1971 - Ivan Southall, Josh
• 1970 - Leon Garfield & Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea
• 1969 - K. M. Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
• 1968 - Rosemary Harris, The Moon in the Cloud
• 1967 - Alan Garner, The Owl Service
• 1966 - No award
• 1965 - Philip Turner, The Grange at High Force
• 1964 - Sheena Porter, Nordy Bank
• 1963 - Hester Burton, Time of Trial
• 1962 - Pauline Clarke, The Twelve and the Genii (US Title: The Return of the Twelve)
• 1961 - Lucy Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe
• 1960 - I. W. Cornwall, The Making of Man
• 1959 - Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers
• 1958 - Philippa Pearce, Tom's Midnight Garden
• 1957 - William Mayne, A Grass Rope
• 1956 - C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle
• 1955 - Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom
• 1954 - Ronald Welch, Knight Crusader
• 1953 - Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
• 1952 - Mary Norton, The Borrowers
• 1951 - Cynthia Harnett, Nicholas and the Wool-Pack
• 1950 - Elfrida Vipont Foulds, The Lark on the Wing
• 1949 - Agnes Allen, The Story of Your Home
• 1948 - Richard Armstrong, Sea Change
• 1947 - Walter de la Mare, Collected Stories for Children
• 1946 - Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse
• 1945 - No award
• 1944 - Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon
• 1943 - No award
• 1942 - BB [Denys Watkins-Pitchford], The Little Grey Men
• 1941 - Mary Treadgold, We Couldn't Leave Dinah
• 1940 - Kitty Barne, Visitors from London
• 1939 - Eleanor Doorly, Radium Woman
• 1938 - Noel Streatfeild, The Circus Is Coming
• 1937 - Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street
• 1936 - Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post

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Children's Book Awards - The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award

Most children's book awards honor a book. This one honors a body of work. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award "honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

About half of these writers appear on the Best Selling Children's Book of the 20th Century list, and many of their individual books appear among the other children's book awards.

So the best aspect of this children's book award is that all these writers wrote numerous books. If you can get your child to fall for just one classic children's book by one of these prolific writers, you can then keep putting that writer's books in front of your child.

That makes your job as a parent promoting reading rather easy!

• 2007 - James Marshall
• 2005 - Laurence Yep
• 2003 - Eric Carle (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 2001 - Milton Meltzer
• 1998 - Russell Freedman
• 1995 - Virginia Hamilton
• 1992 - Marcia Brown
• 1989 - Elizabeth George Speare (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1986 - Jean Fritz
• 1983 - Maurice Sendak (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1980 - Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1975 - Beverly Cleary (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1970 - E.B. White (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1965 - Ruth Sawyer
• 1960: Clara Ingram Judson
• 1954: Laura Ingalls Wilder (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)

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Children's Book Awards - The Golden Kite Award - Chapter Books

Most children's book awards are chosen by adult readers. The Golden Kites are chosen by the Society of Children's Book Writers And Illustrators. In other words, this is the only children's book prize awarded by the writer's peers!

These are the chapter book children's book awards. Page down a bit for the Golden Kite picture book awards.

• 2006 - Tony Abbott FIREGIRL
• 2005 - Mary E. Pearson A ROOM ON LORELEI STREET
• 2004 - Christopher Paul Curtis BUCKING THE SARGE
• 2003 - Jerry Spinelli MILKWEED
• 2002 - Jaīra Placide FRESH GIRL
• 2001 - Virginia Euwer Wolff TRUE BELIEVER
• 2000 - Kathleen Karr THE BOXER
• 1999 - Laurie Halse Anderson SPEAK
• 1998 - Joan Bauer RULES OF THE ROAD
• 1997 - Donna Jo Napoli STONES IN WATER
• 1996 - Eloise McGraw THE MOORCHILD
• 1995 - Christopher Paul Curtis THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM - 1963
• 1994 - Karen Cushman CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY
• 1993 - Virginia Euwer Wolff MAKE LEMONADE
• 1992 - Mary E. Lyons LETTERS FROM A SLAVE GIRL
• 1991 - Jean Thesman THE RAINCATCHERS
• 1990 - Avi THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE
• 1989 - Kristiana Gregory JENNY OF THE TETONS
• 1988 - George Ella Lyon BORROWED CHILDREN
• 1987 - Lois Lowry RABBLE STARKEY
• 1986 - Margaret Rostkowski AFTER THE DANCING DAYS
• 1985 - Patricia MacLachlan SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL (Children's Book Awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1984 - Belinda Hurmence TANCY
• 1983 - Gloria Skurzynski THE TEMPERING
• 1982 - Beverly Cleary RALPH S. MOUSE
• 1981 - M.E. Kerr LITTLE, LITTLE
• 1980 - Patricia MacLachlan ARTHUR, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME
• 1979 - Carole S. Adler THE MAGIC OF THE GLITS
• 1978 - Stella Pevsner AND YOU GIVE ME A PAIN, ELAINE
• 1977 - Bernice Rabe THE GIRL WHO HAD NO NAME
• 1976 - Eve Bunting ONE MORE FLIGHT
• 1975 - Carol Farley THE GARDEN IS DOING FINE
• 1974 - Jane Yolen THE GIRL WHO CRIED FLOWERS
• 1973 - Bette Green SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER

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Children's Book Awards - The Golden Kite Awards - Picture Books

This is the picture book part of the Golden Kite children's book awards.

• 2006 - Walter Dean Myers JAZZ
• 2005 - Pat Mora DOŅA FLOR
• 2004 - Deborah Hopkinson APPLES TO OREGON
• 2003 - Amy Timberlake THE DIRTY COWBOY
• 2002 - Sarah Wilson GEORGE HOGGLESBERRY, GRADE SCHOOL ALIEN
• 2001 - J. Patrick Lewis THE SHOE TREE OF CHAGRIN
• 2000 - Jane Kurtz RIVER FRIENDLY, RIVER WILD
• 1999 - Deborah Hopkinson A BAND OF ANGELS
• 1998 - Kristine O'Connell George OLD ELM SPEAKS: TREE POEMS
• 1997 - Marguerite W. Davol THE PAPER DRAGON
• 1996 - Diane Stanley SAVING SWEETNESS

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Children's Book Awards - The Margaret A. Edwards Award

This and the Laura Ingalls Wilder award are the top children's book awards honoring children's book authors who have published a large body of work. The Margaret A. Edwards award comes from the Young Adult Library Services Association.

Get your child hooked on one book by one author and then unearth the whole treasure trove of more books by that author to read.

The Edwards authors write for adolescents, helping them to become self-aware and think about their role in "relationships, society, and in the world."

• 2007 - Lois Lowry
• 2006 - Jacqueline Woodson
• 2005 - Francesca Lia Block
• 2004 - Ursula K. Le Guin
• 2003 - Nancy Garden
• 2002 - Paul Zindel (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 2001 - Robert Lipsyte
• 2000 - Chris Crutcher
• 1999 - Anne McCaffrey
• 1998 - Madeleine L'Engle (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1997 - Gary Paulsen (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1996 - Judy Blume (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1995 - Cynthia Voigt
• 1994 - Walter Dean Myers
• 1993 - M.E. Kerr
• 1992 - Lois Duncan
• 1991 - Robert Cormier (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)
• 1990 - Richard Peck
• 1988 - S.E. Hinton (Children's book awards winner AND a best seller of the 20th century)

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Children's Book Awards - The Gryphon Award

Most children's book awards are aimed at either picture books or chapter books.

This prize honors books intended for an audience from kindergarten through grade 4. Think of them as books intended to bridge the way from books meant to be read aloud to kids to books kids are meant to read on their own.

They call it "transitional reading," and it's a very new award.

• 2008 - Billy Tartle in Say Cheese! by Michael Townsend
• 2007 - The True Story of Stellina by Matteo Pericoli
• 2006 - Stinky Stern Forever by Michelle Edwards
• 2005 - Little Rat Rides by Monika Bang-Campbell
• 2004 - Bow Wow Meow Meow: It's Rhyming Cats and Dogs by Douglas Florian

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Remember: this list comprises only a tiny portion of all the children's book awards that are out there. Search children's book awards (naturally!) if you want to find some other awards.

Heck, the American Library Association alone has at least five or six more children's book awards!

And check out the rest of this site to find children's book awards for more specific subjects and audiences. Start at the Best Children's Books - Find, Read or Write Home Page or my Find the Best Children's Books page.