This wiki page lists the winners and honor books since 1922. I didn't read any of the books nominated in that first year. I did read the 1923 winner, Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. I think I have the 1924 winner, Charles Boardman Hawes' The Dark Frigate, lying around somewhere; I really ought to flip through it one of these days. The next year in which a nominated or winning title rings a bell for me is 1927, where the winner, Will James' Smoky the Cowhorse, also has the ring of something I might have bought but forgotten to read. Closing out that decade, the 1929 winner, Eric P. Kelly's The Trumpeter of Krakow, is one I've read and distinctly remember.
Moving onto the 1930s, I see long lists of nominated titles, none of which I have read until the 1933 winner, Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, on which I gave an oral book report to my seventh grade teacher. I can actually remember quite a bit about that book, too. The next notch on by bookmark is Carol Ryrie Brink's Caddie Woodlawn, which won the medal in 1936. A 1938 honor book, Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek, was part of a set of "Little House on the Prairie" books that I certainly read as a youngster, though I don't remember it specifically. As for 1939's nominees, I read honor book Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. The winner that year was Elizabeth Enright's Thimble Summer, which I haven't read, though I have reviewed five of her other books.
Among nominees and winners of the 1940s, I'm pretty sure (on grounds previously stated) that I read Wilder's By the Shores of Silver Lake sometime when I was young; it was a 1940 honor book. The 1941 winner, Armstrong Sperry's Call It Courage, and one honor book from that year, Wilder's The Long Winter, are two that I've definitely read. So are the 1942 winner, Walter D. Edmonds' The Matchlock Gun, and honor book Little Town on the Prairie by Wilder; likewise the 1943 winner, Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Gray Vining (a.k.a. Elizabeth Janet Gray). However, I somehow missed 1943 honor book The Middle Moffat by Estes, despite having read at least one other book in her Moffats series. From 1944, I've read winner Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, Wilder's honor book These Happy Golden Years (probably), but again, surprisingly not Estes' Rufus M. From 1945, I've read the winner Robert Lawson's Rabbit Hill, as well as honor book, Estes' The Hundred Dresses. From 1946, I've read winner, Lois Lenski's Strawberry Girl. Out of 1947's nominees, I've read honor book The Avion My Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher. From 1948, I've read winner The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois. I think I have a book by Marguerite Henry cooling its heels somewhere among my stacks, possibly the 1949 winner, King of the Wind.
From the 1950s, I have definitely read Marguerite de Angeli's 1950 winner, The Door in the Wall, and 1951's winner, Ginger Pye by Estes. I've read the 1953 winner, The Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark, as well as honor book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White – obviously. I mean, seriously! How did that book not win? I've read the 1954 winner, Joseph Krumgold's ...And Now Miguel, but Meindert DeJong's 1955 winner, The Wheel on the School, languishes on my to-be-read pile. I've read the 1956 winner, Jean Lee Latham's Carry On, Mr. Bowditch; the 1957 winner, Virginia Sorensen's Miracles on Maple Hill, as well as (long ago, I'm sure) honor book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. The 1958 winner, Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith, is on my TBR pile, but I did read honor book Gone-Away Lake by Enright. I've read the 1959 winner, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.
From the 1960s, I've read the 1960 winner, Krumgold's Onion John, as well as honor book The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall; I think I have Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain (another honor book) on TBR. I've read both the 1961 winner, Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins, and honor book The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. I think I have Speare's The Bronze Bow, winner of the 1962 medal, on TBR. Of course I've read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, which won in 1963. And the 1964 winner, Emily Neville's It's Like This, Cat. And the 1965 winner, Maia Wojciechowska's Shadow of a Bull. And the 1966 winner, Elizabeth Borton de Treviño's I, Juan de Pareja, as well as Lloyd Alexander's honor book from that year, The Black Cauldron (which probably should have won). I've read Irene Hunt's 1967 winner, Up a Road Slowly, as well as O'Dell's honor book from that year, The King's Fifth. From 1968, I've read the winner, E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, as well as honor book The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. From 1969, I've read winner The High King by Lloyd Alexander, amazingly his only win and one of only two nominations for such a magnificent writer. I've read 18 of his books and I would heap awards on more of them, if I were the ALSC.
From the 1970s, I've read the 1970 winner, Sounder by William H. Armstrong; the 1971 winner, Betsy Byars' Summer of the Swans; Robert C. O'Brien's 1972 winner, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, plus honor books The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin and Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid; and Craighead George's 1973 winner, Julie of the Wolves. That year's honor book, Snyder's The Witches of Worm, is somewhere on TBR. It's a big pile; you'd understand why I haven't read it yet if you saw it. From 1974, I've read both the winner, Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer, and what should have won, honor book The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. I think I have the 1975 winner, Virginia Hamilton's M.C. Higgins, the Great, on TBR. I've read Cooper's 1976 winner, The Grey King. From 1977, I've read the winner, Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and honor book A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond, which I think should have won. I've read the 1978 winner, Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia, as well as honor book Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary. And from 1979, I've read both the winner, Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, and Paterson's honor book, The Great Gilly Hopkins; they're both quite memorable, but I think Paterson's book should have won. I have a lump in my throat right now, thinking of it.
From the 1980s, I've read 1980's winner, Joan Blos' A Gathering of Days; the 1981 winner, Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved; the 1983 winner, Cynthia Voigt's Dicey's Song, plus honor book The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (which would have had my vote, if'n I'd had a vote); Cleary's 1984 winner, Dear Mr. Henshaw, as well as Voigt's honor book, A Solitary Blue; McKinley's 1985 winner, The Hero and the Crown; Patricia MacLachlan's 1986 winner, Sarah, Plain and Tall; Sid Fleischman's 1987 winner, The Whipping Boy; Russell Freedman's 1988 winner, Lincoln: A Photobiography, as well as Gary Paulsen's honor book, Hatchet – whose classic status probably means it should have won; and Paul Fleischman's 1989 winner, Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices.
To start the 1990s, I've read the 1990 winner, Lois Lowry's Number the Stars; Jerry Spinelli's 1991 winner, Maniac Magee, while Avi's honor book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is on TBR; Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's 1992 winner, Shiloh; Cynthia Rylant's 1993 winner, Missing May; Lowry's 1994 winner, The Giver; Sharon Creech's 1995 winner, Walk Two Moons along with the honor books, Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy and Nancy Farmer's The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (an amazing book that should have won); Cushman's 1996 winner, The Midwife's Apprentice; Konigsburg's 1997 winner, The View from Saturday, along with honor books Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White and the should-have-won The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner; Karen Hesse's 1998 winner Out of the Dust along with honor books Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and Spinelli's Wringer; and for 1999, Louis Sachar's winner Holes as well as Richard Peck's honor book, A Long Way from Chicago.
Moving into the 2000s, the next book on the Newbery medal/honor list that I've read is the 2001 winner, Peck's A Year Down Yonder; though I think I may have the 2000 winner, Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis on TBR. Also from 2001, a very good year in children's books I gather, I've read honor books Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos and The Wanderer by Sharon Creech. That's all of the titles for that year! From 2002, I've read Linda Sue Park's winner, A Single Shard, as well as Polly Horvath's honor book, Everything on a Waffle. From 2003, another terrific year, I've read not only Avi's winning novel, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, but also three of the five honor books: Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion, Carl Hiaasen's Hoot and Stephanie S. Tolan's Surviving the Applewhites. Froom 2004, I've read both the winner, DiCamillo's The Tale of Desperaux, and honor book Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes. My only conquest from the 2005 list is honor book Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. I also read the 2006 honor books Whittington by Alan Armstrong and Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. And then there's a three-year gap before the next two that I've read: 2009 winner The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and honor book Savvy by Ingrid Law.
Into the 2010s, the next book I've read is the 2012 winner, Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt. From 2013, I read Katherine Applegate's winner, The One and Only Ivan, as well as Sheila Turnage's honor book, Three Times Lucky. I also wanted to read Laura Amy Schlitz's honor book Splendor and Glooms, but if I recall correctly, I over-borrowed from the library and had to return it before I had the chance. I did read Kwame Alexander's 2015 winner, The Crossover, as well as Cece Bell's honor book, El Deafo. Aaaaaand ... that's literally the last year of which I've read any of the nominated or winning books.
Contemplating why certain decades' Newbery titles are loaded with books I've read, while I've totally missed out on others' winners and honor books, I think part of it comes down to availability. Books of a relatively recent vintage, with a good record of sales and critical acclaim, are probably just easier to find. Some of them, I may have actually read before they won their honors or medals. And then there's the whole marketing component of winning a big award like the Newbery, where you seek them out (as I clearly did, especially in the cases of the older titles on this list) precisely because they were listed, and that provided a certain confidence in their quality. To be sure, some of them, especially from earlier decades, were rather bland and thin stuff, and I started to pick up on a bias toward historical fiction and/or stories about growing up in the old days, on some kind of farm for example. And there are a lot of books about hurting kids, or kids with behavioral issues, kids in the foster care system, etc. Maybe the kind of title that need an award to give it a push because they aren't what the average young reader would necessarily choose. And while I see a decent number of books on the list that I haven't read, but would still be interested in, I have to be honest enough to say that I don't see many titles in recent years of the Newbery awards that call to me. Too many of the titles murmur "booooriiiing" as my eye glides past them.
But before I write off the Newbery Medal as being somewhat irrelevant to what interests me as a reader (despite the abundant examples to the contrary), let's compare its record to that of the Carnegie Medal, a parallel award for children's literature founded in 1936 and given by the British Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLIP). Of its winners, I have the 1936 winner, Arthur Ransome's Pigeon Post, on TBR; I've read 1942's The Little Grey Men by BB, 1946's The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, Mary Norton's The Borrowers from 1952, C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle from 1956, Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden from 1958, Lucy M. Boston's A Stranger at Green Knowe from 1961, Richard Adams' Watership Down from 1972 (but is that really a children's book?), Phlip Pullman's Northern Lights (a.k.a. The Golden Compass) from 1995, David Almond's Skellig from 1998, Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents from 2001, Creech's Ruby Holler from 2002, Frank Cottrell Boyce's Millions from 2004, Gaiman's The Graveyard Book from 2010 (the first book to win both medals), and ... nothing. That's it for the winners.
A much shorter list, but of course I haven't gone into the "commended" books (similar to Newbery honor books), which include Boston's The Children of Green Knowe and Lewis' The Horse and His Boy from 1954; Boston's The Chimneys of Green Knowe, a.k.a. The Treasure of Green Knowe from 1958; Mary Norton's The Borrowers Afloat from 1959; Joan Aiken's The Whispering Mountain from 1968; Cooper's The Dark Is Rising (again) from 1973; Cooper's The Grey King (again) and Diana Wynne Jones' Dogsbody from 1975; Wynne Jones' Charmed Life from 1977; Wynne Jones' The Lives of Christopher Chant from 1988; Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb from 1996; J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone from 1997; Pullman's The Amber Spyglass from 2000; Creech's Love That Dog from 2001; Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts (again), Eva Ibbotson's The Star of Kazan and Pullman's The Scarecrow and His Servant, all for 2004 (and with love and respect toward Millions, the Pullman book should have won that year); Cottrell Boyce's Framed for 2005; Eoin Colfer's Airman and Cottrell Boyce's Cosmic from 2009; Philip Reeve's Fever Crumb (on my TBR pile) for 2010; Cottrell Boyce's Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth for 2017; and again, nothing after that.
Then there are the National Book Awards, which had an award for children's books from 1969 to 1979, then multiple children's book categories for a few years in the 1980s, then nothing specifically in the kids' book department for some time, before starting a new Young People's Literature award in 1996. Many of their winners or finalists are on the above lists as well. Titles I've read or collected on these lists, whether winners or finalists, include Lloyd Alexander's The High King (again) for 1969; Alexander's The Marvelous Adventures of Sebastian and E.B. White's The Trumpet of the Swan in 1971; Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan (again) in 1972; Le Guin's The Farthest Shore, Craighead George's Julie of the Wolves (again) and Keatley Snyder's The Witches of Worm (again) in 1973; Hamilton's M.C. Higgins, the Great (again) in 1975, Taylor's Roll of Thunder (again) in 1977; Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins (again) and Lloyd Alexander's The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha in 1979; Blos' A Gathering of Days (again) in 1980; L'Engle's A Swiftly Tilting Planet and the paperback of Gilly Hopkins in 1980; Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved (again), the paperback of The High King and Raskin's The Westing Game (again) in 1981; Lloyd Alexander's Westmark, Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming, and paperbacks of Jacob Have I Loved and Lloyd Alexander's The Wizard in the Tree, all in 1982; Lloyd Alexander's The Kestrel in 1983; Sachar's Holes (again), Peck's A Long Way from Chicago (again) and Gantos' Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (again) in 1998; Horvath's The Trolls in 1999; Farmer's The House of the Scorpion (again) in 2002; Horvath's The Canning Season in 2003; Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks in 2005; M.T. Anderson's The Pox Party in 2006; William Alexander's Goblin Secrets in 2012; Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep (on my TBR pile) in 2015; and nothing since then. A lot of the titles I'm seeing on this list suggest that the National Book Awards value things I wouldn't particularly look for in a chidlren's book.
How about the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? Starting in 1918, the titles I have collected or read include Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth (1932), Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' The Yearling (1939), John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1953), James Agee's A Death in the Family (TBR; 1958), Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1961), John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (1981), and Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See (again; 2015). Just to compare, how many winners of Pulitzer Prizes for Music have I listened to? There's Howard Hanson's 4th Symphony (1944), Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring (1945), Charles Ives' 3rd Symphony (1947), Walter Piston's 3rd Symphony (1948), Piston's 7th (1961), Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto (1963), Steven Stucky's Concerto for Orchestra (finalist, 1989), John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls (2003; I was actually in the chorus of this piece during a 2006 performance at Carnegie Hall), and nothing since this, probably because I moved out of St. Louis in 2014 and haven't been able to attend the symphony since then.
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is the American Library Association's annual award recognizing outstanding children's books translated into English and published in the U.S. Since 1968, winners and runners-up that I've read include: Astrid Lindgren's Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (trans. by Patricia Crampton) in 1984; Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord (tr. Oliver Latsch) in 2003; and ... nothing. That's it. A very under-represented category in my reading, I guess.
Since 2009, the Young Adult Library Services Association has given William C. Morris Award to a first-time author writing for teens. Which of their winners and/or finalists have I read? From 2009, Elizabeth Bunce's A Curse Dark as Gold and Kristin Cashore's Graceling; from 2011, Lish McBride's Hold Me Closer, Necromancer; from 2013, Rachel Hartman's Seraphina; and that's it to-date. Too niche?
Since 1998, YALSA has also given the Alex Award to books written for adults that have teen appeal. And I mean lots of books, every year. Ones I've read include Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm and Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, both from 1998 (which I read before I started keeping my reviews); Neil Gaiman's Stardust from 2000; Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair in 2003; Gaiman's Anansi Boys and A. Lee Martinez's Gil's All Fright Diner in 2006; John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things in 2007; Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind (TBR) in 2008; Lev Grossman's The Magicians and Gail Carriger's Soulless in 2010; Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and Ernest Cline's Ready Player One in 2012; Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See and Andy Weir's The Martian in 2015; and I must say, a lot of other titles that look like they'd be fun to read. Maybe this is the award show I should be watching.
I skimmed through The Agatha Awards, given by Malice Domestic Ltd. annually since 1988. Of the winners and finalists in the "best first novel" category I've read Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie from 2009. Under "best contemporary novel," since 2013, I've read not a single title. Under "best novel," since 1988, I've read Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark from 2001. Skipping to the "best children/young adult fiction" award (2000 ff.), I've read Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer from 2004; R.L. LaFevers' Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus in 2010 – no, actually, I never got to that installment; Matthew J. Kirby's Icefall in 2011; Chris Grabenstein's Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library in 2013; and Stuart Gibbs' Spy Ski School in 2016. Again, probably too niche.
The Canadian Library Association awarded a Book of the Year for Children award most years (but not all) from 1947 to 2016. Have I read any of the winners? The first one I spotted on the list was 1998's Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel, followed by Oppel's Sunwing in 2000 and Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener in 2015. And that's all of those.
The Ezra Jack Keats Book Award has honored authors and illustrators who were early in their career since 1986. Have I ever read a book on its list of winners? Um ... no.
The Golden Kite Awards have been given annually since 1974 by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, recognizing excellence in children's literature. I see authors on it whose books I've read, but titles? The first is 1983's Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary. In 1986 there's MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (again). In 1995 there's Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy (again). Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts got a Sid Fleischman Humor Award in 2005. The same award went to Alan Silberberg's Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze in 2011. There's Shusterman's Challenger Deep (again) in 2016. And that's all.
The Jane Addams Children's Book Award has been given annually, since 1953, to a book promoting the causes of peace and social equality. Have I read any of the winners? Well ... I did read John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, whose young reader memorial edition received the award in 1964. And Mildred Taylor's Song of the Trees (1976), and Taylor's Roll of Thunder (again, 1977); and Paterson's Gilly Hopkins (again, 1979); and Lowry's Number the Stars (again, 1990); and I think that's it. Not really my niche, I guess.
The Stonewall Book Award recognizes work relating to LGBTQ issues, going back to 1971. There are categories for literature, nonfiction and (starting in 2010) children's/young adult books. Out of curiosity, to see if I've read anything on this list, I skimmmed through it. Again, I see some authors whose books I've read. But titles? In 2012 the "annotated, uncensored" edition of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray appeared in multiple categories. Nothing else jumped out at me. Clearly, not my niche. It's not that I've never read a book with gay themes in it, but apparently none of them went up for this award.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award recognizes excellence in Jewish children's literature going back to 1968. Again, not particularly my niche. But do any of the titles appear in my have-read or TBR lists? I took a look and found Lowry's Number the Stars (again), 1989. I found Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, 2007. And that's about it.
The Tomás Rivera Award recognizes children's books relating to the Mexican American experience, going back to 1996. Again, I'm not seeing anything I've read on the list. Not trying to avoid material relating to that area of interest, but not actively pursuing it either. In fact, I've read books by a couple of authors represented on this list. Just not their award winners.
The Walter Dean Myers Award has been given since 2016 for young adult books by the organization We Need Diverse Books, for what it's worth. Have I read any of them? I've seen books with the WDMA badge on them and that hasn't ever made me feel especially like buying them. But I skimmed this list, too, and found no titles that I've read.
The Coretta Scott King Award has been given since 1970 to authors and illustrators of children's/young adult books by African Americans. Again, I'm familiar with many of the authors listed as winners or honor recipients. Titles? There's Taylor's Song of the Trees (again) in 1977. There's Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy (again) in 2000. And that's about it.
The Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, going back to 2001, also includes both adult and children's/young adult categories. Between them, I find Yann Martel's Life of Pi and Park's A Single Shard (again) in 2001-03. And that's all.
The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction has been going out since 1984, again to American children's books. A lot of the authors on the winner's list are well known to me, but titles that I have read include MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (again) in 1986, Hesse's Out of the Dust (again) in 1998, Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt (again) in 2012, and .... that's it.
Finally, I see a lot of Kirkus Prizes bandied about. Have I read their titles? Focusing on fiction and young readers' lit since 2014, winners I've read include: Cece Bell's El Deafo (again), 2014; Jerry Craft's New Kid, 2019; and nothing else.
I know of some other awards that are regional or that recognize an author's body of work. I don't really feel like holding my well-readness up against their lists. But if you know of an award whose winners I should check my have-read shelf for, let me know. But my general conclusion is that award nominations and wins don't correlate much to my reading habits. I've given awards of my own, some years – particularly when I was reading more books than I have lately. Maybe I should stick to that!
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