The Josette Frank Award is an annual children's literary award for fiction that "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".
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.
The award is given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. The prize to the author of the book has been provided by the Florence L. Miller Memorial Fund.
Winners
Two winners have been named in several years, none in 1951.
2015: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (older readers)
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin (younger readers)2014: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
2013: Wonder by R. J. Palacio
2012: Bluefish by Pat Schmatz
2011: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
2010: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
2009: After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
2008: Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
2007: Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
The Manny Files by Christian Burch2006: Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
2004: Ida B and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan
2003: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
2002: Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney
Jericho Walls by Kristi Collier2001: Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart by Vera B. Williams
2000: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
1999: Figuring Out Frances by Gina Willner-Pardo
1998: My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt
1997: No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa by Beverley Naidoo
1996: The Cuckoo's Child by Suzanne Freeman
1995: Music from a Place Called Half Moon by Jerrie Oughton
1994: Earthshine by Theresa Nelson
1993: Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
1992: Blue Skin of the Sea by Graham Salisbury
1991: Shadow Boy by Susan E. Kirby
1990: Secret City, USA by Felice Holman
1989: Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder
1988: The Most Beautiful Place in the World by Ann Cameron
December Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn1987: Rabble Starkey by Lois Lowry
1986: Journey to Jo'burg by Beverley Naidoo
1985: With Westie and the Tin Man by C.S. Adler
1984: One-Eyed Cat by Paula Fox
1983: The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Solomon System by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor1982: Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz
1981: A Spirit to Ride the Whirlwind by Athena Lord
1980: A Boat to Nowhere by Maureen Wartski
1979: The Whipman is Watching by T.A. Dyer
1978: The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel
1977: The Pinballs by Betsy Byars
1976: Somebody Else's Child by Roberta Silman
1975: The Garden is Doing Fine by Carol Farley
1974: Luke Was There by Eleanor Clymer
1973: A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith
1972: A Sound of Chariots by Mollie Hunter
1971: John Henry McCoy by Lillie D. Chafin
1970: Rock Star by James Lincoln Collier
Migrant Girl by Carli Laklan1969: The Empty Moat by Margaretha Shemin
1968: What It's All About by Vadim Frolov
1967: The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
1966: Queenie Peavy by Robert Burch
1965: The Empty Schoolhouse by Natalie Savage Carlson
1964: The High Pasture by Ruth Harnden
1963: The Peaceable Revolution by Betty Schechter
The Rock and the Willow by Mildred Lee1962: The Trouble With Terry by John Lexau
1961: The Road to Agra by Aimee Sommerfelt
The Girl From Puerto Rico by Hila Colman1960: Janine by Robin McKown
1959: Jennifer by Zoa Sherburne
1958: South Town by Lorenz Graham
1957: Shadow Across the Campus by Helen R. Sattley
1956: The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong
1955: Plain Girl by Virginia Sorenson
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima1954: The Ordeal of the Young Hunter by Jonreed Lauritzen
High Road Home by William Corbin1953: In a Mirror by Mary Stolz
1952: Jareb by Miriam Powell
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop1951: No Award
1950: Partners: The United Nations and Youth by Eleanor Roosevelt & Helen Ferris
1949: Paul Tiber: Forester by Maria Gleit
1948: The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
1947: Judy's Journey by Lois Lenski
1946: Heart of Danger by Howard Pease
1945: The Moved-Outers by Florence Cranell Means
1944: The House by Marjorie Hill Allee
1943: Keystone Kids by John R. Tunis