Keep in mind that my kids haven't been small enough to pay attention to this category of book for a while. So I have less exposure to the new ones than I'd like. Unless they're by Neil Gaiman because c'mon. It's a book by Neil Gaiman.
Bold means I've read it
Italics means I haven't read it but STILL have an opinion. You know that's how I roll.
** means I love it enough to own it (or loved it enough when I was a kid to own it and then hang onto it long enough to push on my own kids ... Dr. Doolittle, I'm lookin' at you here.)
- 2013: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (HarperCollins Children's Books)
- 2012: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux)
- 2011: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
- 2010: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
- 2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean (HarperCollins) -- loved it! **
- 2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
- 2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)
- 2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins)
- 2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
- 2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
- 2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion Books for Children)
- 2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin)
- 2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (Dial)
- 2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)
- 1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster) My kids had to read this one and I avoided it like the plague after hearing their reactions.
- 1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
- 1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum)
- 1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
- 1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
- 1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry (Houghton) liked it well enough
- 1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Jackson/Orchard)
- 1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
- 1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown)
- 1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
- 1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (Harper)
- 1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
- 1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (Greenwillow)
- 1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper) Ok - this is how important book covers are. I took one look at that cover and swore I'd never read it.
- 1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)** Not my favorite McKinley, but The Blue Sword which was written before this, remains a favorite.
- 1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
- 1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
- 1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (Harcourt)
- 1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
- 1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos (Scribner)
- 1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton) Began it ... never got further than two chapters in
- 1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
- 1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial)
- 1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum) Listened to the audiobook and liked it well enough.
- 1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
- 1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
- 1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper) (I think I've read this.)
- 1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Atheneum)
- 1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Viking)
- 1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Harper)
- 1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Holt)
- 1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum)
- 1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (Follett)
- 1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Farrar)
- 1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Atheneum)
- 1964: It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville (Harper)
- 1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Farrar) ** A classic for good reason. Are there households that don't have a copy of this book?
- 1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton)
- 1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton)
- 1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
- 1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton) I know I read this but I recall nothing of it. Which speaks for itself.
- 1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (Crowell)
- 1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (Harcourt)
- 1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Houghton)
- 1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Harper)
- 1954: ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
- 1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (Viking)
- 1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt)
- 1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Dutton)
- 1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday)
- 1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally) Oh, Scholastic Book Club, where would I be without the many fine books you lured me into buying and reading? This was one and I still recall a lot of it.
- 1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (Viking)
- 1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking)
- 1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (Lippincott)
- 1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Viking) I know I read it. But that's all I know about this book.
- 1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton) This may well be the book that began my love of historical fiction. A damn fine book.
- 1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Viking)
- 1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds (Dodd)
- 1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Macmillan)
- 1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty (Viking)
- 1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Rinehart)
- 1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Viking)
- 1937: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (Viking)
- 1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Macmillan) I seem to recall this as a different sort of "Little House" book. And Laura Ingalls Wilder owned that category for me. So this book was just annoying.
- 1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
- 1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
- 1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
- 1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
- 1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan)
- 1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
- 1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan)
- 1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
- 1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
- 1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
- 1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger (Doubleday)** Not the easiest read these days because the language is old fashioned. But still we all dutifully read the stories when I was a kid since he was a relative ... and they weren't half bad! In fact, I read a couple of them on Forgotten Classics.
- 1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
- 1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Stokes) ** How I laughed at the Pushmepullyou ... and all the various adventures the doctor had.
- 1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright)
