The National Book foundation has given yearly awards for the best American fiction, nonfiction and poetry since 1950. In the past sixteen years they have also awarded books in a Young People’s Literature category. This list includes all winners and finalists of the award since it began in 1996. Each year’s winner is listed first in bold. The list includes highly acclaimed books that have become Children’s/YA classics, as well as some lesser-known titles of interest.
2010
- Mockingbird – Kathryn Erskine
- Dark Water – Laura McNeal
- Lockdown – Walter Dean Myers
- One Crazy Summer – Rita Williams-Garcia
- Ship Breaker – Paolo Bacigalupi
2009
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice – Phillip Hoose
- Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith – Deborah Helligman
- Jumped – Rita Williams-Garcia
- Lips Touch: Three Times – Laini Taylor
- Stitches – David Small
2008
- What I Saw and How I Lied – Judy Blundell
- Chains – Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks – E. Lockhart
- The Spectacular Now – Tim Tharp
- The Underneath – Kathi Appelt
2007
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
- Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One – Kathleen Duey
- Story of a Girl – Sara Zarr
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick
- Touching Snow – M. Sindy Felin
2006
- The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. I) – M.T. Anderson
- American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang
- Keturah and Lord Death – Martine Leavitt
- Sold – Patricia McCormick
- The Rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin
2005
- The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy – Jeanne Birdsall
- Autobiography of My Dead Brother – Walter Dean Myers
- Each Little Bird That Sings – Deborah Wiles
- Inexcusable – Chris Lynch
- Where I Want to Be – Adele Griffin
2004
- Godless – Pete Hautman
- Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem – Laban Carrick Hill
- Honey, Baby, Sweetheart – Deb Caletti
- Luna: A Novel – Julie Anne Peters
- The Legend of Buddy Bush – Sheila P. Moses
2003
- The Canning Season – Polly Horvath
- An American Plague: The Time and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 – Jim Murphy
- Breakout – Paul Fleischman
- Locomotion – Jacqueline Woodson
- The River Between Us – Richard Peck
2002
- The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer
- 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East – Naomi Shihab Nye
- Feed – M.T. Anderson
- Hush – Jacqueline Woodson
- This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie – Elizabeth Partridge
2001
- True Believer – Virginia Euwer Wolff
- A Step from Heaven – An Na
- Carver: A Life in Poems – Marilyn Nelson
- The Tiger Rising – Kate DiCamillo
- We Were There Too! Young People in U.S. History – Phillip Hoose
2000
- Homeless Bird – Gloria Whelan
- Forgotten Fire – Adam Bagdasarian
- Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California – Jerry Stanley
- Many Stones – Carolyn Coman
- The Book of the Lion – Michael Cadnum
1999
- When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Kimberly Willis Holt
- Monster – Walter Dean Myers
- Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Birchbark House – Louise Erdich
- The Trolls – Polly Horvath
1998
- Holes – Louis Sachar
- A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories – Richard Peck
- Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key – Jack Gantos
- No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War – Anita Lobel
- The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods – Ann Cameron
1997
- Dancing on the Edge – Han Nolan
- Mean Margaret – Tor Seidler
- Sons of Liberty – Adele Griffin
- The Facts Speak for Themselves – Brock Cole
- Where You Belong – Mary Ann McGuigan
1996
- Parrott In the Oven: Mi Vida – Victor Martinez
- A Girl Named Disaster – Nancy Farmer
- Send Me Down a Miracle – Han Nolan
- The Long Season of Rain – Helen Kim
- What Jamie Saw – Carolyn Coman
More info: http://www.nationalbook.org/
