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".

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'?"

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 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.

Winners

Children's Book Award +Award YearAward DistinctionBook Title (Year Published)AuthorIllustratorPublisher1943Keystone Kids (1943) Harcourt Brace1944 (1944) Helen BlairHoughton Mifflin1945 (1945)Florence Cranell MeansHoughton Mifflin1946Heart of Danger (1946) Doubleday1947Judy's Journey (1947) J. B. Lippincott & Co.1948 (1948) Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika HokusaiJohn Day Company1949Paul Tiber: Forester (1949)Maria Gleit Ralph RayCharles Scribner's Sons1950Partners: The United Nations and Youth (1950) and Helen FerrisJunior Literary Guild/Doubleday1951No Award1952Jareb (1952)Miriam Powell Marc SimontThomas Y. CrowellTwenty and Ten (1952); later republished with minor edits as The Secret Cave (1969, 1973 Scholastic) William Pène du BoisPuffin1953In a Mirror (1953) Harper1954High Road Home (1954)Coward-McCann/Junior Literary GuildThe Ordeal of the Young Hunter (1954)Jonreed Lauritzen Hoke DenetsosieLittle, Brown and Company1955Crow Boy Plain Girl 1956 Maurice SendakHarper & Row1957Shadow Across the CampusHelen Roney SattlerDodd Mead1958South TownLorenz Graham 1959Jennifer 1960JanineRobin McKown Messner1961Winner (translated from Norwegian by Evelyn Ramsden)Ulf AasCriterionSpecial CitationHila Colman1962John Lexau 1963WinnerBetty Schechter Special CitationMildred Lee 1964Ruth Peabody HarndenVee Guthrie1965 John Kauffman1966WinnerQueenie PeavySpecial CitationCurious George Goes to the HospitalMargret Rey and H. A. ReyMargret Rey and H.A. ReyHoughton Mifflin1967 1968WinnerWhat It's All About (translated from Russian by Joseph Barnes)Vadim Frolic MacmillanSpecial CitationWhere's Daddy? A Story about DivorceBeth GoffSusan PerlBeacon Press1969Margaretha Shemin Coward-McCann1970Migrant GirlCarli Laklan Rock Star 1971WinnerJohn Henry McCoyLillie D. ChaffinEmanuel SchongutSpecial CitationThe Pair of ShoesAline GlasgowSymeon ShiminDial BFYR1972 1973 1974Luke Was There Diane DeGroat1975Carol Farley Lynn Sweat1976Somebody Else's ChildRoberta Silman Chris Conover1977 1978 1979T. A. Dyer 1980 1981Athena Lord 1982Homesick: My Own Story Margot TomesPutnam1983Winner Special Citation 1984One-Eyed Cat 1985WinnerWith Westie and the Tin Man MacmillanSpecial CitationAin't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace SeekersMilton MeltzerHarper and Row1986Journey to Jo'burg 1987Rabble Starkey 1988WinnerThomas AllenKnopfSpecial CitationDecember Stillness1989Shades of Gray 1990Secret City, USAFelice Holman 1991Shadow BoySusan E. Kirby 1992Blue Skin of the Sea 1993Make Lemonade 1994EarthshineTheresa Nelson 1995WinnerMusic from a Place Called Half MoonJerrie Oughton Special CitationThe Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 Christopher Paul CurtisDelacorte Press1996Suzanne Freeman

Josette Frank Award Award YearBook Title (Year Published)AuthorIllustratorPublisherAward Distinction1997No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa 1998My Louisiana Sky 1999None2000Figuring Out FrancesGina Willner-Pardo 2001Because of Winn-Dixie 2002Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart 2003Goddess of Yesterday WinnerJericho WallsKristi Collier Special Citation2004 2005Ida B and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World 2006Each Little Bird That Sings 2007Clementine Marla FrazeeWinnerChristian Burch Special Citation2008Home of the Brave 2009After Tupac and D Foster 2010 WinnerWhere the Mountain Meets the Moon Special Citation2011Out of My MindSharon Draper2012Bluefish 2013Wonder 2014Rose Under Fire Little, Brown Books for Young Readers2015Rain ReignFeiwel & Friendsfor younger readersI'll Give You the SunDial BFYRfor older readers2016 Dial BFYR2017 (2016)Wendelin Van DraanenKnopf Books for Young Readers2018Piecing Me Together (2017) Bloomsbury USA Children's2019A Heart in a Body in the World (2018)Deb CalettiAtheneum Books for Young Readers2020When the Ground Is Hard (2019) G. P. Putnam's Sons2021When Stars Are Scattered (2020) and Omar MohamedVictoria Jamieson (illustrator) and Imam Geddy (color)Dial BFYR2022Milo Imagines the World (2021)Matt de la PeñaChristian RobinsonG. P. Putnam's Sonsfor younger readersFirekeeper's Daughter (2021)Angeline BoulleyMacmillanfor older readers2023I Must Betray You (2022)Ruta SepetysPhilomel Books2024The Labors of Hercules Beal (2023)Gary D. SchmidtClarion/HarperCollins

References

External links

Bank Street School of Education (home)