THE ILA CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULTS’ BOOK AWARDS
Celebrating 40 Years
of Extraordinary Books
S
ince 1975, the ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards have been presented
to newly published authors who show exceptional promise in the children’s and
young adults’ book fields. Awards are given to fiction and nonfiction titles in three
categories: primary, intermediate, and young adult.
Notable authors like Laurence Yep (winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award), Christopher
Paul Curtis (three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award), and Lois Lowry
(winner of two Newberry Medals for Number the Stars and The Giver) were recognized with
this award early in their illustrious careers.
Check out this inspiring reading list with all the award-winning titles from the last 40 years.
1975
Eileen Dunlop
A Flute in
Mayferry Street
Tuti Degens
Transport 7-41-R
1979
Alison Smith
Reserved for Mark
Anthony Crowder
Oxford University Press
The Viking Press
E.P. Dutton
1978
Lois Lowry
1976
Laurence Yep
Dragonwings
A Summer to Die
1980
Ouida Sebestyen
Houghton Mifflin
Words by Heart
Atlantic Monthly/Little,
Brown
Harper and Row
1978 Honor Books
Thomas Roy
1977
Nancy Bond
A String in the
Harp
The Curse of the
Turtle
1981
Delores Beckman
My Own Private
Sky
Bodley Head, London
E.P. Dutton
Atheneum
Betty Sue Cummings
1977 Honor Books
Joyce Rockwood
Hew Against the
Grain
Atheneum
1982
Michelle Magorian
Good Night,
Mr. Tom
To Spoil the Sun
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
ublished by Kestrel Books
P
(Penguin) in London. Issued
by Harper & Row in the
United States
2
1983
1988
1991
Meredith Ann Pierce
Leslie Baker
The Darkangel
The ThirdStory Cat
Atlantic Monthly/Little,
Brown
Megan
McDonald
Is This a House
for Hermit
Crabs?
Little, Brown
1984
Philip Pullman
Younger Reader Category
The Ruby in the
Smoke
Orchard Press
Marita
Conlon-McKenna
Knopf
Clare Bell
Under the
Hawthorn Tree
Ratha’s Creature
Atheneum
Older Reader Category
1989
oliday House & O’Brien
H
Press
Patricia Polacco
Rechenka’s Eggs
1985
1992
Younger Reader
Category
Janni Howker
Virginia
Grossman and
Sylvia Long
Putnam & Grosset
Badger on the
Barge
Ten Little
Rabbits
Virginia Euwer Wolff
Julia MacRae Books
(London) and Greenwillow
Probably Still Nick
Swansen
Younger Reader Category
Chronicle Books
Older Reader Category
Ben Mikaelsen
Henry Holt
1986
Rescue Josh
McGuire
Pam Conrad
Prairie Songs
Harper & Row
Older Reader Category
1990
Hyperion Books
Anna Egan Smucker
and Steve Johnson
No Star Nights
Younger Reader
Category
1987
Knopf
Margaret I.
Rostkowski
After the Dancing
Days
Young Adult Category
Linda Crew
Children of the
River
Older Reader Category
Delacorte-Dell
Harper & Row
1993
Douglas Wood and
Cheng-Khee Chee
Old Turtle
Younger Reader
Category
Pfeifer-Hamilton
Karen Hesse
Letters From Rifka
Older Reader Category
Marisabina Russo
Henry Holt and Company,
Inc.
The Line Up
Book
Greenwillow Books
3
1994
Elizabeth Alder
Ronder Thomas
Young
The King’s
Shadow
Deborah Hopkinson
Sweet Clara and
the Freedom Quilt
Younger Reader
Category
Older Reader Category
Moving Mama
to Town
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Older Reader Category
Orchard Books
Random House
Older Reader Category
E. P. Dutton
Informational Reader Category
Boyds Mills Press
Gay Matthaei,
Jewel Grutman,
and Adam
Cvijanovic
Just What the
Doctor Ordered:
The History
of American
Medicine
The Case of
the Mummified
Pigs and Other
Mysteries in Nature
Behind the Secret
Window
1995
Brandon Marie Miller
Susan E. Quinlan
Nelly S. Toll
Informational Reader Category
Lerner
1997
Ingrid Slyder
1999
Frances and Ginger
Park
The Fabulous
Flying Fandinis
My Freedom Trip:
A Child’s Escape
From North Korea
Younger Reader
Category
The Ledgerbook of Thomas
Blue Eagle
Cobblehill/Dutton
Younger Reader Category
Margaret Peterson
Haddix
Thomasson-Grant, Inc.
Trudy Krisher
Older Reader Category
Don’t You Dare
Read This, Mrs.
Dunphrey
Bantam Books
Older Reader Category
Spite Fences
Younger Reader Category
Boyds Mills Press
John H. Ritter
Choosing Up
Sides
Older Reader Category
Philomel Books
imon & Schuster Books for
S
Young People
Elizabeth Mann
Stranded
at Plimoth
Plantation 1626
1996
Marie Bradby and
Chris K. Soentpiet
More About
Anything Else
Younger Reader
Category
First in the
Field: Baseball
Hero Jackie
Robinson
Informational
Reader Category
Mikaya Press
Informational Reader Category
HarperCollins Publishers
Derek T. Dingle
The Brooklyn
Bridge
Gary Bowen
Informational Reader Category
Hyperion Books
1998
Milly Lee and
Yangsook Choi
Nim and the
War Effort
Younger Reader
Category
arrar, Straus and
F
Giroux
Orchard Books
4
2000
Sy Montgomery
The Snake
Scientist
Younger Reader
Category
Houghton Mifflin
Alice McGill
Molly Bannaky
Younger Reader
Category
Houghton Mifflin
Christopher Paul
Curtis
Bud, Not Buddy
Older Reader Category
Delacorte Press, Random
House
2002
2003
Paolilli and Dan
Brewer
Celeste Davidson
Mannis
Silver Seeds
One Leaf Rides
the Wind
Primary–Fiction
iking, Penguin Putnam
V
Books
Primary–Fiction
Viking
Joan Plummer
Russell
Nancy
Andrews-Goebel
Aero and Officer
Mike
The Pot That
Juan Built
Primary–Nonfiction
Eleanor Ramrath
Garner
Younger Reader
Category
Hyperion
Dorinda
Makanaonalani
Nicholson and
Larry Nicholson
Carl R. Sams II
and Jean Stoick
My Season With
Penguins
Intermediate–Fiction
Philomel, Penguin
Putnam Books
2001
Sophie Webb
Who Will Tell My
Brother?
Intermediate–
Fiction
Peachtree
Carl R. Sams II Photography
Marlene Carvell
Coolies
Older Reader Category
Younger Reader
Category
Lee & Low Books
Yin
Eleanor’s Story:
An American
Girl in Hitler’s
Germany
Stranger in
the Woods
Primary–Nonfiction
Boyds Mills Press
David J. Smith
If the World Were
a Village: A Book
About the World’s
People
Pearl Harbor
Warriors
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Woodson House
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Kids Can Press
An Na
Chris Crowe
A Step From
Heaven
Mississippi Trial,
1955
Young Adult–Fiction
Young Adult–Fiction
Front Street
Phyllis Fogelman Books
Houghton Mifflin
Peggy Brooke
Wilborn Hampton
Jake’s Orphan
Meltdown: A Race
Against Nuclear
Disaster at Three
Mile Island
Older Reader Category
Dorling Kindersley
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Catherine
Thimmesh and
Melissa Sweet
Candlewick Press
Duane Damon
Headin’ for Better
Times: The Arts
of the Great
Depression
Young
Adult–Nonfiction
Lerner
Girls Think of
Everything
Older Reader Category
Houghton Mifflin
5
2004
2005
Andrea U’ren
2006
Leslie Conner and
Mary Azarian
Mary Smith
Rob Scotton
Russell the
Sheep
Miss Bridie Chose
a Shovel
Primary–Fiction
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Primary–Fiction
HarperCollins
(Primary–Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin
James Warhola
Uncle Andy’s: A
Faabbbulous Visit
with Andy Warhol
Jane Ann Peddicord
Susie Caldwell
Rinehart and Anisa
Claire Hovemann
Primary–Nonfiction
Night Wonders
Primary–Nonfiction
Charlesbridge
Eliza and the
Dragonfly
Penguin
Esmé Raji Codell
David L. Dudley
Primary–Nonfiction
Sahara Special
The Bicycle Man
Dawn Publications
Intermediate–Fiction
Intermediate–Fiction
Maiya Williams
Hyperion Books
Clarion Books
The Golden Hour
Intermediate–Fiction
Amulet Books
Robert Shetterly
Penelope Niven
Carl Sandburg:
Adventures of a
Poet
Joan Marie
Arbogast
Intermediate–
Nonfiction
Buildings in
Disguise
Harcourt
Kathe Koja
Buddha Boy
Young Adult–Fiction
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Boyds Mill Press
Brenda Woods
Americans
Who Tell the
Truth
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Dutton
Paul Volponi
Black and White
Young Adult–Fiction
Viking Press
Emako Blue
Young Adult–Fiction
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Miriam Stone
At the End
of Words: A
Daughter’s Memoir
(Young
Adult–Nonfiction)
Candlewick Press
Wynton Marsalis
and Paul Rogers
JAZZ ABZ:
An A to Z
Collection of
Jazz Portraits
Brent Runyon
The Burn Journals
Young
Adult–Nonfiction
Alfred A. Knopf
6
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Candlewick Press
2007
2008
2009
Mark Rogalski
Lita Judge
Alison L. Randall
Tickets to Ride:
An Alphabetical
Amusement
One Thousand
Tracings: Healing
the Wounds of
World War II
The Wheat Doll
Primary–Fiction
Running Press Kids
Frank Keating
Jennifer Berne
Hyperion
Manfish: The
Story of Jacques
Cousteau
Bill Wise, author,
and Bill Farnsworth,
illustrator
Primary–Nonfiction
Paula Wiseman Book, Simon
& Schuster
Blue
Intermediate–Fiction
Calkins Creek Books, Boyds
Mills Press
Carla Killough
McClafferty
Louis Sockalexis:
Native American
Baseball Pioneer
Farrar Straus Giroux
Christopher Grey
Leonardo’s
Shadow: Or, My
Astonishing Life
as Leonardo da
Vinci’s Servant
Young Adult–Fiction
Atheneum Books, Simon & Schuster
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Henry Holt
Chronicle
K.A. Nuzum
The Leanin’ Dog
Intermediate–Fiction
Lee & Low
HarperCollins
Constance Leeds
The Silver Cup
Intermediate–Fiction
Carlyn Beccia
Viking (Penguin Group)
The Raucous
Royals
Loree Griffin
Burns
Tracking
Trash: Flotsam,
Jetsam, and
the Science of Ocean Motion
Intermediate–
Nonfiction
Houghton Mifflin
Heidi Ayarbe
Freeze Frame
Young Adult–Fiction
HarperCollins
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Houghton Mifflin
Laura Resau
Red Glass
Young Adult–Fiction
Delacorte (Random House)
Margarita Engle
The Poet Slave of
Cuba: A Biography
of Juan Francisco
Manzano
Primary–Nonfiction
Primary–Nonfiction
Something Out
of Nothing: Marie
Curie and Radium
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Peachtree
Primary–Fiction
Theodore
Joyce Moyer
Hostetter
Primary–Fiction
Moying Li
Snow Falling
in Spring
Young
Adult–Nonfiction
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ibtisam Barakat
Tasting the Sky:
A Palestinian
Childhood
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Melanie Kroupa Books
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
7
2010
Liz Garton
Scanlon
Kathryn Erskine
Georgia Bragg
Mockingbird
How They
Croaked: The
Awful Ends of the
Awfully Famous
Intermediate–Fiction
Penguin Young Readers
Group
All the World
Primary–Fiction
Beach Lane
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Swati Avasthi
Rachel Rodriguez
Split
Building on
Nature: The Life of
Antoni Gaudi
(Intermediate–Fiction)
Walker
2013
Deborah Jo Larson
Alfred A. Knopf
One Frozen Lake
Primary–Fiction
Primary–Nonfiction
Henry Holt
Photo credit: Diane Rigda
Michelle Houts
The Beef Princess
of Practical
County
Minnesota Historical Society
2012
Linda McReynolds
and Ryan O’Rourke
Stephen Savage
Where’s Walrus?
Eight Days Gone
Primary–Fiction
Primary–Nonfiction
Scholastic
Charlesbridge
Jeanne Walker
Harvey
Susan Verrico
Intermediate–Fiction
Delacorte
Jacqueline Kelly
The Evolution of
Calpurnia Tate
Intermediate–Fiction
Henry Holt
Rebecca Stead
Privateer’s
Apprentice
My Hands
Sing the Blues:
Romare Bearden’s
Childhood Journey
Intermediate–Fiction
Peachtree
Primary–Nonfiction
James Doyle
Marshall Cavendish
Young Scientist’s
Guide to Defying
Disasters with
Skill and Daring
Sheila O’Connor
When You Reach
Me
Sparrow Road
Young Adult–Fiction
Putnam
Intermediate–Fiction
Wendy Lamb
Photo credit: Joanne Dugan
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Gibbs Smith
Amy McNamara
Flyaway
Lovely, Dark and
Deep
Intermediate–Fiction
Young Adult–Fiction
Chicken House/Scholastic
Simon and Schuster
Lucy Christopher
2011
Fiona Roberton
Wanted: The
Perfect Pet
Primary–Fiction
enguin Young Readers
P
Group
Michael Hall
My Heart Is Like a
Zoo
Primary–Nonfiction
Cynthia Levinson
Ruta Sepetys
We’ve Got a
Job: The 1963
Birmingham
Children’s March
Between Shades
of Gray
Young Adult–Fiction
Philomel
HarperCollins
Young Adult–Nonfiction
Peachtree
8
2014
Rainbow Rowell
Jonathan Auxier
Stacy McAnulty
Eleanor and Park
Dear
Santasaurus
Young Adult–Fiction
The Night
Gardener
St. Martin’s Griffin
Intermediate–Fiction
Amulet Books
Primary–Fiction
Boyds Mill Press
Kathryn Selbert
War Dogs:
Churchill &
Rufus
Cheryl
Mullenbach
2015
Primary–Nonfiction
Liesl Shurtliff
Intermediate–Fiction
Knopf
Brian McLachlan
Draw Out the
Story: Ten Secrets
to Creating Your
Own Comics
Flashlight Press
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Maddi’s Fridge
Charlesbridge
Rump: The
True Story of
Rumpelstilskin
Primary–Fiction
The Industrial
Revolution
for Kids: The
People and Technology That
Changed the World
Lois Brandt,
author, and Vin
Vogel, illustrator
Katherine Hall
Polar Bears
and Penguins:
A Compare and
Contrast Book
Primary–Nonfiction
Abordale Publishing
Intermediate–Nonfiction
Owlkids
9
Chicago Review Press, Inc.
Tawni Waters
Beauty of the
Broken
Young Adult–Fiction
Simon Pulse