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Josette Frank Award

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The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally".[1]

Gary D. Schmidt, winner of the 2024 Josette Frank Award for his novel The Labors of Hercules Beal, wrote in his acceptance letter, "If it can be said that awards such as the Josette Frank award fight for children, then Bank Street has, for many years, fought valiantly for children. You’ve held high standards of artistic excellence AND encouraged writers and illustrators who want to talk about the world that real children inhabit, even if it’s a pretty broken world that fills those pages. Just listing those titles suggests how the award has honored books that are honest accounts, that point to a world that doesn’t always value children and their experience, a world that often wars against them. But these books assert that in that world are children whose lives are mighty and lovely, and that their immediate experience is not always to be determined by the brokenness children find around them every single day. What could possibly be more important in today’s literature than a book that a child could pick up, read, and come away saying, 'I can grow too'?"[2]

Known as the Children's Book Award from 1943 to 1997, it was renamed in honor of Josette Frank, the editor of many anthologies for children and a former Executive Director of the Child Study Association of America.[1][3] The prize to the author of the book has been provided by the Florence L. Miller Memorial Fund.

The Josette Frank Award is one of several prominent awards that the Children's Book Committee gives each year. The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, established in 1994, is presented to "a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people." The Claudia Lewis Award, given for the first time in 1998, honors the best poetry book of the year. The Margaret Wise Brown Board Book Award, a biennial award, presented to published or adapted board books, was established in 2023 and honored books published in 2021-2022.[4]

Winners

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Children's Book Award

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Award Year Award Distinction Book Title (Year Published) Author Illustrator Publisher
1943 Keystone Kids (1943) John R. Tunis Harcourt Brace
1944 The House (1944) Marjorie Hill Allee Helen Blair Houghton Mifflin
1945 The Moved-Outers (1945) Florence Cranell Means Houghton Mifflin
1946 Heart of Danger (1946) Howard Pease Doubleday
1947 Judy's Journey (1947) Lois Lenski J. B. Lippincott & Co.
1948 The Big Wave (1948) Pearl S. Buck Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai John Day Company
1949 Paul Tiber: Forester (1949) Maria Gleit Ralph Ray Charles Scribner's Sons
1950 Partners: The United Nations and Youth (1950) Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Ferris Junior Literary Guild/Doubleday
1951 No Award
1952 Jareb (1952) Miriam Powell Marc Simont Thomas Y. Crowell
Twenty and Ten (1952); later republished with minor edits as The Secret Cave (1969, 1973 Scholastic)[5] Claire Huchet Bishop William Pène du Bois Puffin
1953 In a Mirror (1953) Mary Stolz Harper
1954 High Road Home (1954) William Corbin Coward-McCann/Junior Literary Guild
The Ordeal of the Young Hunter (1954) Jonreed Lauritzen Hoke Denetsosie Little, Brown and Company
1955 Crow Boy Taro Yashima
Plain Girl Virginia Sorenson
1956 The House of Sixty Fathers Meindert DeJong Maurice Sendak Harper & Row
1957 Shadow Across the Campus Helen Roney Sattler Dodd Mead
1958 South Town Lorenz Graham
1959 Jennifer Zoa Sherburne
1960 Janine Robin McKown Messner
1961 Winner The Road to Agra (translated from Norwegian by Evelyn Ramsden) Aimee Sommerfelt Ulf Aas Criterion
Special Citation The Girl From Puerto Rico Hila Colman
1962 The Trouble With Terry John Lexau
1963 Winner The Peaceable Revolution Betty Schechter
Special Citation The Rock and the Willow Mildred Lee
1964 The High Pasture Ruth Peabody Harnden Vee Guthrie
1965 The Empty Schoolhouse Natalie Savage Carlson John Kauffman
1966 Winner Queenie Peavy Robert Burch
Special Citation Curious George Goes to the Hospital Margret Rey and H. A. Rey Margret Rey and H.A. Rey Houghton Mifflin
1967 The Contender Robert Lipsyte
1968 Winner What It's All About (translated from Russian by Joseph Barnes) Vadim Frolic Macmillan
Special Citation Where's Daddy? A Story about Divorce Beth Goff Susan Perl Beacon Press
1969 The Empty Moat Margaretha Shemin Coward-McCann
1970 Migrant Girl Carli Laklan
Rock Star James Lincoln Collier
1971 Winner John Henry McCoy Lillie D. Chaffin Emanuel Schongut
Special Citation The Pair of Shoes Aline Glasgow Symeon Shimin Dial BFYR
1972 A Sound of Chariots Mollie Hunter
1973 A Taste of Blackberries Doris Buchanan Smith
1974 Luke Was There Eleanor Clymer Diane DeGroat
1975 The Garden is Doing Fine Carol Farley Lynn Sweat
1976 Somebody Else's Child Roberta Silman Chris Conover
1977 The Pinballs Betsy Byars
1978 The Devil in Vienna Doris Orgel
1979 The Whipman is Watching T. A. Dyer
1980 A Boat to Nowhere Maureen Wartski
1981 A Spirit to Ride the Whirlwind Athena Lord
1982 Homesick: My Own Story Jean Fritz Margot Tomes Putnam
1983 Winner The Sign of the Beaver Elizabeth George Speare
Special Citation The Solomon System Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1984 One-Eyed Cat Paula Fox
1985 Winner With Westie and the Tin Man C.S. Adler Macmillan
Special Citation Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace Seekers Milton Meltzer Harper and Row
1986 Journey to Jo'burg Beverley Naidoo
1987 Rabble Starkey Lois Lowry
1988 Winner The Most Beautiful Place in the World Ann Cameron Thomas Allen Knopf
Special Citation December Stillness Mary Downing Hahn
1989 Shades of Gray Carolyn Reeder
1990 Secret City, USA Felice Holman
1991 Shadow Boy Susan E. Kirby
1992 Blue Skin of the Sea Graham Salisbury
1993 Make Lemonade Virginia Euwer Wolff
1994 Earthshine Theresa Nelson
1995 Winner Music from a Place Called Half Moon Jerrie Oughton
Special Citation The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 Christopher Paul Curtis Delacorte Press
1996 The Cuckoo's Child Suzanne Freeman

Josette Frank Award

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Award Year Book Title (Year Published) Author Illustrator Publisher Award Distinction
1997 No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa Beverley Naidoo
1998 My Louisiana Sky Kimberly Willis Holt
1999 None
2000 Figuring Out Frances Gina Willner-Pardo
2001 Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
2002 Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart Vera B. Williams
2003 Goddess of Yesterday Caroline B. Cooney Winner
Jericho Walls Kristi Collier Special Citation
2004 The Goose Girl Shannon Hale
2005 Ida B and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World Katherine Hannigan
2006 Each Little Bird That Sings Deborah Wiles
2007 Clementine Sara Pennypacker Marla Frazee Winner
The Manny Files Christian Burch Special Citation
2008 Home of the Brave Katherine Applegate
2009 After Tupac and D Foster Jacqueline Woodson
2010 The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Jacqueline Kelly Winner
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin Special Citation
2011 Out of My Mind Sharon Draper
2012 Bluefish Pat Schmatz
2013 Wonder R. J. Palacio
2014 Rose Under Fire Elizabeth Wein Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
2015 Rain Reign Ann M. Martin Feiwel & Friends for younger readers
I'll Give You the Sun Jandy Nelson Dial BFYR for older readers
2016 The War That Saved My Life Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Dial BFYR
2017 The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones (2016) Wendelin Van Draanen Knopf Books for Young Readers
2018 Piecing Me Together (2017) Renée Watson Bloomsbury USA Children's
2019 A Heart in a Body in the World (2018) Deb Caletti Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2020 When the Ground Is Hard (2019) Malla Nunn G. P. Putnam's Sons
2021 When Stars Are Scattered (2020) Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed Victoria Jamieson (illustrator) and Imam Geddy (color) Dial BFYR
2022 Milo Imagines the World (2021) Matt de la Peña Christian Robinson G. P. Putnam's Sons for younger readers
Firekeeper's Daughter (2021) Angeline Boulley Macmillan for older readers
2023 I Must Betray You (2022) Ruta Sepetys Philomel Books
2024 The Labors of Hercules Beal (2023) Gary D. Schmidt Clarion/HarperCollins

References

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  1. ^ a b "Awards". The Children's Book Committee. Bank Street College of Education (bankstreet.edu). Retrieved 2015-10-29. With linked lists of past winners by decade.
  2. ^ Schmidt, Gary (2024-01-01). "Gary D. Schmidt Josette Frank Award 2024 Acceptance Letter". Children's Book Committee.
  3. ^ "Josette Frank Award". University of Nebraska at Kearney. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  4. ^ Hare, Peter. "Awards". Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  5. ^ "Twenty and Ten (1952) – A Beastiary of Books". beastiaryofbooks.sites.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
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