Children's Book Awards

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Barbara J. Feldman

My daughter is getting to that age where everyone else is more of an expert than dear old Mom and Dad. And books I was recommending were being summarily turned down. "Mom, that book is as OLD as I am!" But when this year's Newbery Medal winners were announced, she was reading (and enjoying) one of the books honored as a runner-up. So, she choose another book from this year's picks, and liked that one too. Thank goodness for experts with good taste in new books!

Boston Globe Horn Book Awards

5 stars

First presented in 1967, the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards are given annually to winners in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. The 2002 winners are featured here; past winners are on separate pages, organized by decade. Best clicks are on the Parents' Page, where you'll find Children's Classics (a reading list in PDF for ease of printing) and printable book plates to adorn your own library of books. For a fun look at the history of book plates, read "Where do Book Plates Come From?"

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature

5 stars

This compendium of 3,686 award-winning books, created by reference librarian Lisa Bartle, has an extensive search function that makes it easy to find a good read. Enter your age, gender preference, favorite genre, desired historical period, preferred setting, and even a keyword or phrase, and press "Search." Results include winners from more than thirty different awards. See "Explanation of Awards" for the complete list with links to each award-giving organization.

Newbery Medal

5 stars

The Newbery Medal, named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery, is awarded annually to "the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." It is one of several awards given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. Instituted in 1922, the Newbery Medal was the world's first children's book award, and is probably the most well-known.

Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

3 stars

The National Council of Teachers of English established the Orbis Pictus Award in 1989 to promote excellence in children's nonfiction. The award was named after the 1657 work considered to be the very first book specifically created for chidlren: "Orbis Pictus (The World in Pictures)" by Johannes Amos Comenius. Previous awards are available year by year, and include not only the winner and a handful of runner-ups (called honor books), but also a list of a dozen or so recommended books.

Randolph Caldecott Medal

4 stars

Each year the Caldecott Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children." It was named in 1938 in honor of nineteenth-century English children's book illustrator Randolph Caldecott. This year's winner and honor books are featured on the entry page. For a complete list of past winners and runner-ups (available in HTML and PDF), scroll down to Quick, Printable List.