Teens: National Book Award - Youth Literature

The National Book Award was first presented in 1950. At that time, authors in three categories were honored: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. In the ensuing years, the categories have changed and changed again, sometimes including literature for young people and sometimes not. Since 1996 however, the National Book Foundation has chosen to honor the writers of books for youth with their own category and prize. The winners of the award represent the very finest in writing for children and young adults.

2010s

2011 - Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

2010 - Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

2000s

2009 - Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

2008 - What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

2007 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

2006 - The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, vol 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson

2005 - The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

2004 - Godless by Pete Hautman

2003 - The Canning Season by Polly Horvath

2002 - The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

2001 - True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2000 - Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

1990s

1999 - When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt

1998 - Holes by Louis Sachar

1997 - Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan

1996 - Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez