100 Years, 100 Children's Books - Josh's List
Unlike the NYC Public Librarians, I have decided to go year by year with my top choice.
(To be continued)
1913 - Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (runner up - Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. by H.G. Wells.)
1914 - Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. (runner up - Five Plays by Lord Dunsany.)
1915 - The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (runner up - The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather.)
1916 - Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. (runner up - The Lives and Times of archy and mehitabel by Don Marquis.)
1917 - Once on a Time by A. A. Milne. (runner up - Jerry of the Islands: A True Dog Story by Jack London.)
1918 - Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: their adventures wonderful by Mary Gibbs. (runner up - The Magic Pudding: Being The Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff - by Norman Lindsay.)
1919 - A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl by Angel Brazil. (runner up: Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune.)
1920 - The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. (runner up: R.U.R. by Karel Čapek.)
1921 - The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs. (runner up: Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon.)
1922 - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. (runners up - Çalıkuşu (or The Wren) by Reşat Nuri Güntekin; The Chess Set in the Mirror by Massimo Bontempelli.)
1923 - The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot. (runner up - Bambi. Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde (or Bambi, a Life in the Woods) by Felix Salten.)
1924 - The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. (runners up -The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes; When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne.)
1925 - The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. (runner up - The Silver Trumpet by Owen Barfield.)
1926 - Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. (runner up - Smoky the Cow Horse by Will James.)
1927 - The Midnight Folk by John Masefield. (runner up - Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers by Henry Williamson.)
1928 - Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan. (runner up - The Boy Who Was by Grace Taber Hallock.)
1929 - Emil and the Detectives (German: Emil und die Detektive) by Erich Kästner. (runner up - Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field.)
1930 - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. (runner up - Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best.)
1931 - Babar the Elephant (Histoire de Babar) by Jean de Brunhoff. (runner up - Vlak u snijegu (English: A Train in the Snow), (aka Djeca Velikog Sela --"The children of Veliko Selo") by Mato Lovrak.
1932 - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (runner up - Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon.)
1933 - The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack. (runner up - When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.)
1934 - Triplanetary by Edward E. (Doc) Smith. (runner up - Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers. Also the first two stories about Jirel of Jorie by C. L. Moore appeared this year.)
1935 - National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. (runner up - Odd John by Olaf Stapledon.)
1936 - Ballet Shoes: a story of three children on the stage by Noel Streatfield. (runners up - The Island of the Mighty by Evangeline Walton; Nobody's Buddy by John A. Moroso.)
1937 - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. (runners up - The Far-Distant Oxus by Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.)
1938 - The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss. (runners up - Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater; The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White.)
1939 - Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmands. (runners up - Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot; The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.)
1940 - Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight. (Runners up - The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk by Paul Gallico; Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.)
1941 - The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. (runners up - We Couldn't Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold; Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey; Curious George by Hans Augusto & Margret Rey.) (special note - this year marks the first issues of Classics Illustrated, created by Albert Kanter. These were graphic novels before there were graphic novels.)
1942 - The Three Little Kittens by Masha. (runner up - The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.)
1943 - The Gremlins by Roald Dahl (and unrelated to the 1984 movie). (runners up - The Magic Bedknob; Or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons by Mary Norton; Many Moons by James Thurber.)
1944 - Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne. (runner up - Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson.)
1945 - Pippi Långstrump (or Pippi Longstocking) by Astrid Lindgren. (runners up - Stuart Little by E. B. White; Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard.)
1946 - Slan by A. E. van Vogt. (runner up - The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell.)
1947 - Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. (runners up - Zotz! by Walter Karig; Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.)
1948 - Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein. (runner up - Trixie Belden by Julie Campbell Tatham.)
1949 - The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. (runner up - The Magic Chalk by Zinken Hopp)
1950 - The 13 Clocks by James Thurber. (runners up - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis; Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary.)
1951 - The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. (runner up - Foundation by Isaac Asimov.)
1952 - Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. (runners up - City by Cliff Simak; Mists of Dawn by Chad Oliver.)
1953 - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. (runners up - Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras; ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold; Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement.)(special note - this year marks the first issues of Classics Illustrated Junior, also created by Albert Kanter.)
1954 - Half Magic by Edward Eager. (runners up - The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy Boston; The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.)
1955 - Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. (runners up - The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberley; Carbonel: the King of the Cats by Barbara Sleigh.)
1956 - The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery novel by Dodie Smith. (runners up - Old Yeller by Fred Gipson; The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke.)
1957 - David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. (runner up - The Door into Summer is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein.)
1958 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. (runner up - Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.)
1959 - To Sir, With Love by E. R. Braithwaite. (I know, this is not what most people would list as a book for kids, but it made a huge positive impact on me when I was about 10.) (runner up - The Fourth "R" (aka The Brain Machine) by George O. Smith; My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.)
1960 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (runner up - A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley by Alan Garner.)
1961 - The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. (runner up - James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.)
1962 - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. (runners up - Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper; Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.)
1963 - It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville. (runners up - Dolphin Island: A Story of the People of the Sea by Arthur C. Clarke; Witch World by Andre Norton.)
1964 - The Book of Three (1964) by Lloyd Alexander. (runners up - The Whole Man (aka The Telepathist) by John Brunner; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl; Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming; Samax the Gladiator by Robert Faraday.)
1965 - The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key. (runners up - Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper; The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle; The Long Result by John Brunner.)
1966 - Andy Buckram's Tin Men by Carol Ryrie Brink. (runners up - Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes;The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz; )
1967 - Henry 3 by Joseph Krumgold. (runners up - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shōjo (時をかける少女?, literally "Time-Soaring Girl")) by Yasutaka Tsutsui; Pyewacket by Rosemary Weir.)
1968 - Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. (runners up - A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin; The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights by Ted Hughes; Black Alice by Thomas M. Disch and John Sladek (writing as Thom Demijohn); The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.)
1969 - Sounder by William H. Armstrong (runner up - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; The Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff.)
1970 - Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl. (runner up - Red Moon and Black Mountain: the End of the House of Kendreth by Joy Chant; The Guardians by John Christopher.)
1971 - The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines. (runner up - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien; Space Mowgli also known as The Kid (Russian title: Малыш, Malysh) by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.)
1972 - Watership Down by Richard Adams. (runner up - The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster; When HARLIE Was One by David Gerrold.) (NOTE: The Tar-Aiym Krang, while second chronologically, is the first published book in the series and makes the most sense as a starting point.)
1973 - The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern William Goldman. (runner up - Red Shift by Alan Garner.)
1974 - The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards. (runner up - Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien (aka Robert Leslie Conly).)
1975 - The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. (runners up - Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton; Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.)
1976 - Dragonsong is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. (runners up - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor; Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones; The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip.) (NOTES: Dragonsong is arguably the 3rd book in a sequence, but it is the first book in the YA sequence about this world. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a sequel to Song of the Trees, a novella from 1975.)
1977 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. (runner ups - Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones; A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony;Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.)
1978 - Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast by Robin McKinley. (runners up - The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson; Godsfire by Cynthia Felice.)
1979 - Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. (runner up - Anastasia Krupnik (1979) by Lois Lowry.)
1980 - The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas M. Disch. (runners up - Timescape by Gregory Benford; The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.)
1981 - Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. (runners up - The Many-Colored Land by Julian May; The Wave by Todd Strasser.)
1982 - Vlad the Drac by Ann Jungman. (runners up - The Elfin Ship by James Blaylock; When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant.)
1983 - So You Want To Be a Wizard by Diane Duane; (runner up - Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce; Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy.)
1984 - The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Christopher van Allsburg. (runners up - A Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn.)
1985 - Ender's Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card.. (runners up - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.)
1986 - Redwall by Brian Jacques. (runner up - The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman.)
1987 - The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. (runner up - Madame Doubtfire (aka Alias Madame Doubtfire) by Anne Fine; The Runaways by Ruth Thomas.)
1988 - Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh. (runner up - Sorairo Magatama (空色勾玉 Sky-Colored Jade (Dragon Sword and Wind Child in English, 1993)) by Noriko Ogiwara; Nick and the Glimmung by Philip K. Dick.)
1989 - Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. (runners up - An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle; Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples; Truckers by Terry Pratchett.)
1990 - Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. (runner up - The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney.)
1991 - Sophie's World (Norwegian: Sofies verden; published in English in 1995) by Jostein Gaarder. (runner up - Song of the Gargoyle by Zilpha Keatley Snyder; Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (1991) by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley.)
1992 - Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville. (runners up - The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson; Far-Seer by Robert J. Sawyer.)
1993 - Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.(runners up - Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden; The Thread That Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.)
1994 - Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold. (runners up - Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann; Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.)
1995 - Sabriel is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix.
1996 - Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie Tolan. (runners up- GRUNT Pigorian Chant (book and audio CD) by Sandra Boynton; The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.)
1997 - Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce. (runners up - Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.)
1998 - Stardust by Neil Gaiman. (runners up - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling; Benny and Omar by Eoin Colfer; Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis.)
1999 - Monster by Walter Dean Myers. (runners up - Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis; Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix; Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.)
2000 - Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. (runners up - Persepolis (English edition 2004) by Marjane Satrapi; Kyo Kara Maoh! (今日から㋮王! Kyō Kara Maō!?, lit. "Demon King from Today [onward]!") by Tomo Takabayashi; The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot; The Princess of Dhagabad by Anna Kashina.)
2001 - Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable by Mark Dunn. (runners up - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett; The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.)
2002 - Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan. (runners up - Inkheart (German title: Tintenherz) by Cornelia Funke; The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker.)
2003 - Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn. (runners up - Faerie Wars by James Herbert Brennan; he Goose Girl by Shannon Hale; A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.)
2004 - Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems. (runners up - Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted by Joss Whedon; Drum, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.)
2005 - Where's My Cow? by Terry Pratchett. (runners up - Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson; Princess Academy (Princess Academy, #1) by Shannon Hale; The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan.)
2006 - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. (runners up - It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini; On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta; Sold by Patricia McCormick.)
2007 - Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst. (runners up - The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming; The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.)
2008 - Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold. (runners up - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton; The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.)
2009 - Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. (runners up - Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher; Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose; By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters.)
2010 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. (runners up - Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones; The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi.)
2011 - A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber. (Note: This is a YA novel set in the same universe as the author's military science fiction saga, but much earlier.) (runner up - Divergent by Veronica Roth.)
2012 - (Place holder for The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which I have not read, but which I am assured will go on the list.) Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole.
2013 - And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. (runners up - The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint; Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. (Note: Arguably, as the story is not finished yet, it should not go in any single year. It is included here because even through 2013, it is a worthwhile read for many a YA (and fans of such).))
(To be continued)
1913 - Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (runner up - Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. by H.G. Wells.)
1914 - Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. (runner up - Five Plays by Lord Dunsany.)
1915 - The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (runner up - The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather.)
1916 - Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. (runner up - The Lives and Times of archy and mehitabel by Don Marquis.)
1917 - Once on a Time by A. A. Milne. (runner up - Jerry of the Islands: A True Dog Story by Jack London.)
1918 - Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: their adventures wonderful by Mary Gibbs. (runner up - The Magic Pudding: Being The Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff - by Norman Lindsay.)
1919 - A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl by Angel Brazil. (runner up: Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune.)
1920 - The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. (runner up: R.U.R. by Karel Čapek.)
1921 - The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs. (runner up: Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon.)
1922 - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. (runners up - Çalıkuşu (or The Wren) by Reşat Nuri Güntekin; The Chess Set in the Mirror by Massimo Bontempelli.)
1923 - The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot. (runner up - Bambi. Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde (or Bambi, a Life in the Woods) by Felix Salten.)
1924 - The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. (runners up -The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes; When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne.)
1925 - The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. (runner up - The Silver Trumpet by Owen Barfield.)
1926 - Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. (runner up - Smoky the Cow Horse by Will James.)
1927 - The Midnight Folk by John Masefield. (runner up - Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers by Henry Williamson.)
1928 - Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan. (runner up - The Boy Who Was by Grace Taber Hallock.)
1929 - Emil and the Detectives (German: Emil und die Detektive) by Erich Kästner. (runner up - Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field.)
1930 - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. (runner up - Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best.)
1931 - Babar the Elephant (Histoire de Babar) by Jean de Brunhoff. (runner up - Vlak u snijegu (English: A Train in the Snow), (aka Djeca Velikog Sela --"The children of Veliko Selo") by Mato Lovrak.
1932 - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (runner up - Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon.)
1933 - The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack. (runner up - When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.)
1934 - Triplanetary by Edward E. (Doc) Smith. (runner up - Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers. Also the first two stories about Jirel of Jorie by C. L. Moore appeared this year.)
1935 - National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. (runner up - Odd John by Olaf Stapledon.)
1936 - Ballet Shoes: a story of three children on the stage by Noel Streatfield. (runners up - The Island of the Mighty by Evangeline Walton; Nobody's Buddy by John A. Moroso.)
1937 - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. (runners up - The Far-Distant Oxus by Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.)
1938 - The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss. (runners up - Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater; The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White.)
1939 - Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmands. (runners up - Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot; The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.)
1940 - Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight. (Runners up - The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk by Paul Gallico; Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.)
1941 - The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. (runners up - We Couldn't Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold; Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey; Curious George by Hans Augusto & Margret Rey.) (special note - this year marks the first issues of Classics Illustrated, created by Albert Kanter. These were graphic novels before there were graphic novels.)
1942 - The Three Little Kittens by Masha. (runner up - The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.)
1943 - The Gremlins by Roald Dahl (and unrelated to the 1984 movie). (runners up - The Magic Bedknob; Or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons by Mary Norton; Many Moons by James Thurber.)
1944 - Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne. (runner up - Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson.)
1945 - Pippi Långstrump (or Pippi Longstocking) by Astrid Lindgren. (runners up - Stuart Little by E. B. White; Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard.)
1946 - Slan by A. E. van Vogt. (runner up - The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell.)
1947 - Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. (runners up - Zotz! by Walter Karig; Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.)
1948 - Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein. (runner up - Trixie Belden by Julie Campbell Tatham.)
1949 - The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. (runner up - The Magic Chalk by Zinken Hopp)
1950 - The 13 Clocks by James Thurber. (runners up - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis; Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary.)
1951 - The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. (runner up - Foundation by Isaac Asimov.)
1952 - Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. (runners up - City by Cliff Simak; Mists of Dawn by Chad Oliver.)
1953 - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. (runners up - Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras; ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold; Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement.)(special note - this year marks the first issues of Classics Illustrated Junior, also created by Albert Kanter.)
1954 - Half Magic by Edward Eager. (runners up - The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy Boston; The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.)
1955 - Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. (runners up - The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberley; Carbonel: the King of the Cats by Barbara Sleigh.)
1956 - The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery novel by Dodie Smith. (runners up - Old Yeller by Fred Gipson; The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke.)
1957 - David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. (runner up - The Door into Summer is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein.)
1958 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. (runner up - Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.)
1959 - To Sir, With Love by E. R. Braithwaite. (I know, this is not what most people would list as a book for kids, but it made a huge positive impact on me when I was about 10.) (runner up - The Fourth "R" (aka The Brain Machine) by George O. Smith; My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.)
1960 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (runner up - A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley by Alan Garner.)
1961 - The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. (runner up - James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.)
1962 - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. (runners up - Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper; Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.)
1963 - It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville. (runners up - Dolphin Island: A Story of the People of the Sea by Arthur C. Clarke; Witch World by Andre Norton.)
1964 - The Book of Three (1964) by Lloyd Alexander. (runners up - The Whole Man (aka The Telepathist) by John Brunner; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl; Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming; Samax the Gladiator by Robert Faraday.)
1965 - The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key. (runners up - Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper; The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle; The Long Result by John Brunner.)
1966 - Andy Buckram's Tin Men by Carol Ryrie Brink. (runners up - Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes;The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz; )
1967 - Henry 3 by Joseph Krumgold. (runners up - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shōjo (時をかける少女?, literally "Time-Soaring Girl")) by Yasutaka Tsutsui; Pyewacket by Rosemary Weir.)
1968 - Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. (runners up - A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin; The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights by Ted Hughes; Black Alice by Thomas M. Disch and John Sladek (writing as Thom Demijohn); The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.)
1969 - Sounder by William H. Armstrong (runner up - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; The Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff.)
1970 - Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl. (runner up - Red Moon and Black Mountain: the End of the House of Kendreth by Joy Chant; The Guardians by John Christopher.)
1971 - The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines. (runner up - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien; Space Mowgli also known as The Kid (Russian title: Малыш, Malysh) by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.)
1972 - Watership Down by Richard Adams. (runner up - The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster; When HARLIE Was One by David Gerrold.) (NOTE: The Tar-Aiym Krang, while second chronologically, is the first published book in the series and makes the most sense as a starting point.)
1973 - The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern William Goldman. (runner up - Red Shift by Alan Garner.)
1974 - The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards. (runner up - Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien (aka Robert Leslie Conly).)
1975 - The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. (runners up - Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton; Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.)
1976 - Dragonsong is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. (runners up - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor; Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones; The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip.) (NOTES: Dragonsong is arguably the 3rd book in a sequence, but it is the first book in the YA sequence about this world. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a sequel to Song of the Trees, a novella from 1975.)
1977 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. (runner ups - Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones; A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony;Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.)
1978 - Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast by Robin McKinley. (runners up - The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson; Godsfire by Cynthia Felice.)
1979 - Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. (runner up - Anastasia Krupnik (1979) by Lois Lowry.)
1980 - The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas M. Disch. (runners up - Timescape by Gregory Benford; The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.)
1981 - Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. (runners up - The Many-Colored Land by Julian May; The Wave by Todd Strasser.)
1982 - Vlad the Drac by Ann Jungman. (runners up - The Elfin Ship by James Blaylock; When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant.)
1983 - So You Want To Be a Wizard by Diane Duane; (runner up - Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce; Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy.)
1984 - The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Christopher van Allsburg. (runners up - A Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn.)
1985 - Ender's Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card.. (runners up - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.)
1986 - Redwall by Brian Jacques. (runner up - The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman.)
1987 - The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. (runner up - Madame Doubtfire (aka Alias Madame Doubtfire) by Anne Fine; The Runaways by Ruth Thomas.)
1988 - Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh. (runner up - Sorairo Magatama (空色勾玉 Sky-Colored Jade (Dragon Sword and Wind Child in English, 1993)) by Noriko Ogiwara; Nick and the Glimmung by Philip K. Dick.)
1989 - Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. (runners up - An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle; Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples; Truckers by Terry Pratchett.)
1990 - Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. (runner up - The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney.)
1991 - Sophie's World (Norwegian: Sofies verden; published in English in 1995) by Jostein Gaarder. (runner up - Song of the Gargoyle by Zilpha Keatley Snyder; Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (1991) by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley.)
1992 - Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville. (runners up - The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson; Far-Seer by Robert J. Sawyer.)
1993 - Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.(runners up - Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden; The Thread That Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.)
1994 - Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold. (runners up - Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann; Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.)
1995 - Sabriel is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix.
1996 - Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie Tolan. (runners up- GRUNT Pigorian Chant (book and audio CD) by Sandra Boynton; The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.)
1997 - Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce. (runners up - Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.)
1998 - Stardust by Neil Gaiman. (runners up - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling; Benny and Omar by Eoin Colfer; Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis.)
1999 - Monster by Walter Dean Myers. (runners up - Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis; Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix; Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.)
2000 - Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. (runners up - Persepolis (English edition 2004) by Marjane Satrapi; Kyo Kara Maoh! (今日から㋮王! Kyō Kara Maō!?, lit. "Demon King from Today [onward]!") by Tomo Takabayashi; The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot; The Princess of Dhagabad by Anna Kashina.)
2001 - Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable by Mark Dunn. (runners up - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett; The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.)
2002 - Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan. (runners up - Inkheart (German title: Tintenherz) by Cornelia Funke; The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker.)
2003 - Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn. (runners up - Faerie Wars by James Herbert Brennan; he Goose Girl by Shannon Hale; A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.)
2004 - Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems. (runners up - Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted by Joss Whedon; Drum, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.)
2005 - Where's My Cow? by Terry Pratchett. (runners up - Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson; Princess Academy (Princess Academy, #1) by Shannon Hale; The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan.)
2006 - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. (runners up - It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini; On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta; Sold by Patricia McCormick.)
2007 - Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst. (runners up - The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming; The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.)
2008 - Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold. (runners up - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton; The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.)
2009 - Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. (runners up - Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher; Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose; By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters.)
2010 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. (runners up - Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones; The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi.)
2011 - A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber. (Note: This is a YA novel set in the same universe as the author's military science fiction saga, but much earlier.) (runner up - Divergent by Veronica Roth.)
2012 - (Place holder for The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which I have not read, but which I am assured will go on the list.) Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole.
2013 - And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. (runners up - The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint; Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. (Note: Arguably, as the story is not finished yet, it should not go in any single year. It is included here because even through 2013, it is a worthwhile read for many a YA (and fans of such).))