The Phoenix Award of the Children’s Literature Association recognizes one English-language children’s book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award. I’d like to track down some of these lesser-known classics, so for easy reference I’ve compiled a list of award and honor books to date (with review links where applicable).
Phoenix Award Recipients
2017: Wish Me Luck by James Heneghan
Honor: Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman; Habibi by Naomi Shibab Nye
2016: Frindle by Andrew Clements
2015: One Bird by Kyoko Mori
2014: Jesse by Gary Soto (1994)
Honor: Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury (1994)
2013: The Frozen Waterfall by Gaye Hicyilmaz (1993)
Honor: Malcolm X by Walter Dean Myers
2012: Letters from Rivka by Karen Hesse (1992)
Honor: Morning Girl by Michael Dorris; Taste of Salt by Frances Temple
2011: The Mozart Season by Virgina Euwer Wolff (1991)
Honor: Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn; The Striped Ships by Eloise McGraw
2010: The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff (1990)
2009: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (HarperCollins, 1989)
Honor: Lucie Babbidge’s House by Sylvia Cassedy
2008: Eva by Peter Dickinson (Delacorte, 1988)
Honor: The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
2007: Memory by Margaret Mahy (Dent, 1987)
Honor: Waiting for the Rain by Sheila Gordon
2006: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow, 1986)
Honor: The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman; The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy
2005: The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy (Dent, 1985)
Honor: Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
2004: White Peak Farm by Berlie Doherty (Methuen, 1984)
Honor: Angel Square by Brian Doyle
2003: The Long Night Watch by Ivan Southall (Methuen, 1983)
Honor: A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt
2002: A Formal Feeling by Zibby Oneal (Viking, 1982)
Honor: Story for a Black Night by Clayton Bess
2001: The Seventh Raven by Peter Dickinson (Gollancz, 1981)
Honor: The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky
2000: The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes (Atheneum, 1980)
Honor: The Fledgling by Jane Langton
1999: Throwing Shadows by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum, 1980)
Honor: The Disappearance by Rose Guy; Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
1998: A Chance Child by Jill Paton Walsh (1978)
Honor: The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel; Beauty by Robin McKinley
1997: I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier (1977)
1996: The Stone Book by Alan Garner (1976)
Honor: Abel’s Island by William Steig
1995: Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (1975)
Honor: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
1994: Of Nightingales That Weep by Katherine Paterson (1974)
Honor: Listen for the Fig Tree by Sharon Bell Mathis; My Brother Sam Is Dead by J.L.&C. Collier
1993: Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden (1973)
Honor: A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg
1992: A Sound of Chariots by Mollie Hunter (1972)
1991: A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam (1971)
Honor: A Game of Dark by William Mayne; The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin
1990: Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (1970)
Honor: Ravensgill by William Mayne; Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell
1989: The Night Watchmen by Helen Cresswell (1969)
Honor: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? by Milton Meltzer; Pistol by Adrienne Richard
1988: The Rider and His Horse by Erik Christian Haugaard (1968)
1987: Smith by Leon Garfield (1967)
1986: Queenie Peavey by Robert Burch (1966)
1985: The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff (1965)
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
What an interesting list of books. Diana Wynne Jones is a children's author that I have not read. I was always turned off by the book covers. I hope to read a few of her works this summer. You have a lovely blog! I really like how you focus on children's literature.
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She has had some truly terrible book covers — such an injustice to a fantastic author. I do hope you'll check her out now. I love children's books but I'll be writing about all kinds of books; somehow they just haven't made it onto here yet. Thanks for stopping by!
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