2010
Jerry Pinkney. The Lion and the Mouse

In this wordless retelling of an Aesop fable set in the African Serengeti, an adventuresome mouse proves that even small creatures are capable of great deeds when she rescues the King of the Jungle.

2009

Beth Krommes, Illustrator.  The House in the Night

Written by Susan Marie Swanson. Illustrations and easy-to-read text explore the light that makes a house in the night a home filled with light.

2008

Brian Selznick.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret

When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

2007

David Wiesner.  Flotsam

The story of what happens when a camera becomes a piece of flotsam.

2006

Chris Raschka with text by Norton Juster.  Hello, Goodbye Window

The story of a little girl who finds a magic gateway in the kitchen window of her grandparents' house, and the voyage of discovery she takes.

2005

Kevin Henkes.  Kitten's First Full Moon

When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.

2004

Mordicai Gerstein.  The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

In 1974, French aerialist Philippe Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky.

2003

Eric Rohmann. My Friend Rabbit

Something always seems to go wrong when Rabbit is around, but Mouse lets him play with his toy plane anyway because he is his good friend.

2002

David Wiesner. The Three Pigs

The three pigs escape the wolf by going into another world where they meet the cat and the fiddle, the cow that jumped over the moon, and a dragon.

2001

David Small with text by Judith St. George. So You Want to Be

President?  Presents an assortment of facts about the qualifications and characteristics of U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

2000

Simms Taback. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

A very old overcoat is recycled numerous times into a variety of garments.

1999

Mary Azarian with text by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Snowflake Bentley

A biography of a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of individual snowflakes in order to study their unique formations.

1998

Paul O. Zelinsky. Rapunzel

A retelling of a folktale in which a beautiful girl with long golden hair is kept imprisoned in a lonely tower by a sorceress. Includes a note on the origins of the story.

1997

David Wisniewski. Golem

A saintly rabbi miraculously brings to life a clay giant who helps him watch over the Jews of sixteenth-century Prague.

1996

Peggy Rathmann. Officer Buckle and Gloria

The children at Napville Elementary School always ignore Officer Buckle 's safety tips, until a police dog named Gloria accompanies him when he gives his safety speeches.

1995

David Diaz with text by Eve Bunting. Smoky Night

When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality.

1994

Allen Say. Grandfather's Journey

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

1993

Emily Arnold McCully. Mirette on the High Wire

Mirette learns tightrope walking from Monsieur Bellini, a guest in her mother's boarding house, not knowing that he is a celebrated tightrope artist who has withdrawn from performing because of fear.

1992

David Wiesner. Tuesday

Frogs rise on their lily pads, float through the air, and explore the nearby houses while their inhabitants sleep.

1991

David Macaulay. Black and White

Four brief "stories" about parents, trains , and cows, or is it really all one story? The author recommends careful inspection of words and pictures to both minimize and enhance confusion.

1990

Ed Young. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China

Three sisters staying home alone are endangered by a hungry wolf who is disguised as their grandmother.

1989

Stephen Gammell with text by Karen Ackerman. Song and Dance Man

Grandpa demonstrates for his visiting grandchildren some of the songs, dances, and jokes he performed when he was a vaudeville entertainer.

1988

John Schoenherr with text by Jane Yolen. Owl Moon

On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to see the Great Horned Owl.

1987

Richard Egielski with text by Arthur Yorinks. Hey, Al

A city janitor and his treasured canine companion are transported by a large colorful bird to an island in the sky, where their comfortable paradise existence threatens to turn them into birds as well.

1986

Chris Van Allsburg. The Polar Express

A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.

1985

Trina Schart Hyman with text by Margaret Hodges. Saint George and

the Dragon  Retells the segment from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, in which George, the Red Cross Knight, slays the dreadful dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside for years and brings peace and joy to the land.

1984

Alice and Martin Provensen. The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel

with Louis Blériot  A biography of the man whose fascination with flying machines produced the Bleriot XI, which in 1909 became the first heavier-than-air machine to fly the English Channel.

1983

Marcia Brown with original text by Blaise Cendrars. Shadow

Free verse evocation of the eerie, shifting images of Shadow which represents the beliefs and ghosts of the past and is brought to life wherever there is light, fire, and a storyteller.

1982

Chris Van Allsburg. Jumanji

Left on their own for an afternoon, two bored and restless children find more excitement than they bargained for in a mysterious and mystical jungle adventure board game.

1981

Arnold Lobel. Fables

Twenty original fables about an array of animal characters from crocodile to ostrich.

1980

Barbara Cooney with text by Donald Hall. Ox-Cart Man

Describes the day-to-day life of an early nineteenth-century New England family throughout the changing seasons.

1979

Paul Goble. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

Though she is fond of her people, a girl prefers to live among the wild horses where she is truly happy and free.

1978

Peter Spier with text by Jacob Revius. Noah's Ark

Retells briefly and in rhyme how a pair of every manner of creature climbed on board Noah's ark and thereby survived the Flood.

1977

Leo and Diane Dillon with text by Margaret Musgrove. Ashanti to Zulu:

African Traditions  Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

1976

Leo and Diane Dillon with text by Verna Aardema. Why Mosquitoes

Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale  A retelling of a traditional West African tale that reveals how the mosquito developed its annoying habit.

1975

Gerald McDermott. Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale

An adaptation of the Pueblo Indian myth which explains how the spirit of the Lord of the Sun was brought to the world of men.

1974

Margot Zemach with text by Harve Zemach. Duffy and the Devil

The spinning and knitting the devil agrees to do for her win Duffy the Squire's name and a carefree life until it comes time for her to guess the devil 's name.

1973

Blair Lent with text by Arlene Mosel. The Funny Little Woman

While chasing a dumpling, a little lady is captured by wicked creatures from whom she escapes with the means of becoming the richest woman in Japan.

1972

Nonny Hogrogian. One Fine Day

After the old woman cuts off his tail when he steals her milk, the fox must go through a long series of transactions before she will sew it back on again.

1971

Gail E. Haley. A Story--A Story

Recounts how most African folk tales came to be called "Spider Stories."

1970

William Steig. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

In a moment of fright, Sylvester the donkey asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then can not hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.

1969

Uri Shulevitz with text by Arthur Ransome. The Fool of the World and

the Flying Ship  When the Czar proclaims that he will marry his daughter to the man who brings him a flying ship, the Fool of the World sets out to try his luck and meets some unusual companions on the way.

1968

Ed Emberley with text by Barbara Emberley. Drummer Hoff

A cumulative folk song in which seven soldiers build a magnificent cannon, but Drummer Hoff fires it off.

1967

Evaline Ness. Sam, Bangs & Moonshine

Relates the experiences of a little girl as she learns to tell the difference between makebelieve and real life.

1966

Nonny Hogrogian with text by Sorche Nic Leodhas. Always Room for

One More  Relates the experiences of a little girl as she learns to tell the difference between make believe and real life.

1965

Beni Montresor with text by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers. May I Bring

a Friend?  A well-mannered little boy has permission to bring his animal friends to visit the king and queen.

1964

Maurice Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are

A naughty little boy, sent to bed without his supper, sails to the land of the wild things where he becomes their king.

1963

Ezra Jack Keats. The Snowy Day

A young black boy spends an adventurous day in the city when it snows.

1962

Marcia Brown. Once a Mouse

As it changes from mouse, to cat, to dog, to tiger, a hermit's pet also becomes increasingly vain.

1961

Nicolas Sidjakov with text by Ruth Robbins. Baboushka and the Three

Kings  An old woman who was too busy to travel with the Wise Men to find the Child now searches endlessly for Him each Christmas season.

1960

Marie Hall Ets with text by Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida. Nine

Days to Christmas  Ceci anxiously awaits her first posada, the special Mexican Christmas party, and the opportunity to select a piñata for it.

1959

Barbara Cooney with text adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer. Chanticleer

and the Fox   A sly fox tries to outwit a proud rooster through the use of flattery.

1958

Robert McCloskey. Time of Wonder

McCloskey brings to life the spell of rain, gulls, the quiet of the night, the sudden terror of a hurricane, and the peace of a Maine island as a family packs up to leave.

1957

Marc Simont with text by Janice May Udry. A Tree is Nice

Some of the reasons why trees are so good to have around are funny. Some are indisputable facts. But in all of them there is a sense of poetic simplicity and beauty which will be sure to entrance any young child.

1956

Feodor Rojankovsky with text by John Langstaff. Frog Went A-Courtin'

Illustrates the well-known American folk song about the courtship and marriage of the frog and the mouse.

1955

Marcia Brown with text by Charles Perrault. Cinderella, or, The Little

Glass Slipper   In her haste to flee the palace before the fairy godmother's magic loses effect, Cinderella leaves behind a glass slipper.

1954

Ludwig Bemelmans. Madeline's Rescue

A hound rescues a schoolgirl from the Seine, becomes a beloved school pet, is chased away by the trustees, and returns with a surprise.

1953

Lynd K. Ward. The Biggest Bear

Johnny goes hunting for a bearskin to hang on his family's barn and returns with a small bundle of trouble.

1952

Nicolas Mordvinoff with text by William Lipkind. Finders Keepers

Two dogs each claim a bone they have found and ask passersby for help in deciding ownership.

1951

Katherine Milhous. The Egg Tree

Katy's Easter morning discovery renews the tradition of the Easter egg tree.

1950

Leo Politi. Song of the Swallows

Sad when the swallows leave for the winter, young Juan prepares to welcome them back to the old California Mission at Capistrano on St. Joseph's Day the next spring.

1949

Berta and Elmer Hader. The Big Snow

Despite their elaborate preparations for the winter, the animals and birds are delighted by a surprise banquet after a big snow.

1948

Roger Duvoisin with text by Alvin Tresselt. White Snow, Bright Snow

When it begins to look, feel, and smell like snow, everyone prepares for a winter blizzard.

1947

Leonard Weisgard with text by Golden MacDonald pseudonym for Margaret Wise Brown. The Little Island

Depicts the changes that occur on a small island as the seasons come and go, as day changes to night, and as a storm approaches.

1946

Maud and Miska Petersham. The Rooster Crows

A collection of traditional American nursery rhymes, finger games, skipping rhymes, jingles, and counting-out rhymes.

1945

Elizabeth Orton Jones with text by Rachel Field. Prayer for a Child

A prayer for boys and girls all over the world. It is full of the intimate gentleness for familiar things, the love of friends and family, and the kindly protection of God.

1944

Louis Slobodkin with text by James Thurber. Many Moons

This is the tale of a little princess who wanted the moon, and how she got it. Every family will relish the perplexed wise men, the enraged king, the understanding jester, and the practical way in which the little princess solved the problem that baffled all her elders.

1943

Virginia Lee Burton. The Little House

A country house is unhappy when the city, with all its buildings and traffic, grows up around her.

1942

Robert McCloskey. Make Way for Ducklings

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard love their home in the Boston Public Garden, and once they get there, so do the Mallard's children.

1941

Robert Lawson. They Were Strong and Good

Relates the story of the author's grandparents and parents, who, though not famous, helped build the United States.

1940

Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. Abraham Lincoln

Text and illustrations present the life of the boy born on the Kentucky frontier who became the sixteenth president of the United States.

1939

Thomas Handforth. Mei Li

After spending an eventful day at the fair held on New Year's Eve, Mei Li arrives home just in time to greet the Kitchen God.

1938

Dorothy P. Lathrop. Animals of the Bible

Thirty richly detailed black-and-white drawings illustrate the favorite stories of the Creation, Noah's Ark, the first Christmas, and many others.