| 2019 | Merci Suarez Changes Gears. By Meg Medina. |
| 2018 | Hello, Universe. By Erin Entrada Kelly. |
| 2017 | The Girl who Drank the Moon. By Kelly Barnhill. |
| 2016 | Last Stop on Market Street. By Matt de la Peña. |
| 2015 | The Crossover. By Kwame Alexander. |
| 2014 | Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. By Kate DiCamillo. |
| 2013 | The One and Only Ivan. By Katherine Applegate. |
| 2012 | Dead End in Norvelt. By Jack Gantos. |
| 2011 | Moon over Manifest. By Clare Vanderpool. |
| 2010 | When You Reach Me. By Rebecca Stead. |
| 2009 | The Graveyard Book. By Neil Gaiman. |
| 2008 | Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village. By Laura Amy Schlitz. |
| 2007 | The Higher Power of Lucky. By Susan Patron. |
| 2006 | Criss Cross. By Lynne Rae Perkins. |
| 2005 | Kira-Kira. By Cynthia Kadohata. |
| 2004 |
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. By Kate DiCamillo. |
| 2003 | Crispin: The Cross of Lead. By Avi. |
| 2002 | A Single Shard. By Linda Sue Park. |
| 2001 | A Year Down Yonder. By Richard Peck. |
| 2000 | Bud, Not Buddy. By Christopher Paul Curtis. |
| 1999 | Holes. By Louis Sachar. |
| 1998 | Out of the Dust. By Karen Hesse. |
| 1997 | The View from Saturday. By E.L. Konigsburg. |
| 1996 | The Midwife's Apprentice. By Karen Cushman. |
| 1995 | Walk Two Moons. By Sharon Creech. |
| 1994 | The Giver. By Lois Lowry. |
| 1993 | Missing May. By Cynthia Rylant. |
| 1992 | Shiloh. By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. |
| 1991 | Maniac Magee. By Jerry Spinelli. |
| 1990 | Number the Stars. By Lois Lowry. |
| 1989 | Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. By Paul Fleischman. |
| 1988 | Lincoln: A Photobiography. By Russell Freedman. |
| 1987 | The Whipping Boy. By Sid Fleischman. |
| 1986 | Sarah, Plain and Tall. By Patricia MacLachlan. |
| 1985 | The Hero and the Crown. By Robin McKinley. |
| 1984 | Dear Mr. Henshaw. By Beverly Cleary. |
| 1983 | Dicey's Song. By Cynthia Voigt. |
| 1982 | A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers. By Nancy Willard. |
| 1981 | Jacob Have I Loved. By Katherine Paterson. |
| 1980 | A Gathering of Days. By Joan W. Blos. |
| 1979 | The Westing Game. By Ellen Raskin. |
| 1978 | Bridge to Terabithia. By Katherine Paterson. |
| 1977 | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. By Mildred D. Taylor. |
| 1976 | The Grey King. By Susan Cooper. |
| 1975 | M.C. Higgins, the Great. By Virginia Hamilton. |
| 1974 | The Slave Dancer. By Paula Fox. |
| 1973 | Julie of the Wolves. By Jean Craighead George. |
| 1972 | Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. By Robert C. O'Brien. |
| 1971 | Summer of the Swans. By Betsy Byars. |
| 1970 | Sounder. By William Armstrong. |
| 1969 | The High King. By Lloyd Alexander. |
| 1968 | From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. By E.L. Konigsburg. |
| 1967 | Up a Road Slowly. By Irene Hunt. |
| 1966 | I, Juan de Pareja. By Elizabeth Borton de Trevino. |
| 1965 | Shadow of a Bull. By Maia Wojciechowska. |
| 1964 | It's Like This, Cat. By Emily Neville. |
| 1963 | A Wrinkle in Time. By Madeleine L'Engle. |
| 1962 | The Bronze Bow. By Elizabeth George Speare. |
| 1961 | Island of the Blue Dolphins. By Scott O'Dell. |
| 1960 | Onion John. By Joseph Krumgold. |
| 1959 | The Witch of Blackbird Pond. By Elizabeth George Speare. |
| 1958 | Rifles for Watie. By Harold Keith. |
| 1957 | Miracles on Maple Hill. By Virginia Sorensen. |
| 1956 | Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. By Jean Lee Latham. |
| 1955 | The Wheel on the School. By Meindert De Jong. |
| 1954 | ...And Now Miguel. By Joseph Krumgold. |
| 1953 | Secret of the Andes. By Ann Nolan Clark. |
| 1952 | Ginger Pye. By Eleanor Estes. |
| 1951 | Amos Fortune, Free Man. By Elizabeth Yates. |
| 1950 | The Door in the Wall. By Marguerite De Angeli. |
| 1949 | King of the Wind. By Marguerite Henry. |
| 1948 | The Twenty-One Balloons. By William Pène Du Bois. |
| 1947 | Miss Hickory. By Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. |
| 1946 | Strawberry Girl. By Lois Lenski. |
| 1945 | Rabbit Hill. By Robert Lawson. |
| 1944 | Johnny Tremain. By Esther Forbes. |
| 1943 | Adam of the Road. By Elizabeth Janey Gray. |
| 1942 | The Matchlock Gun. By Walter D. Edmonds. |
| 1941 | Call It Courage. By Armstrong Sperry. |
| 1940 | Daniel Boone. By James Henry Daugherty. |
| 1939 | Thimble Summer. By Elizabeth Enright. |
| 1938 | The White Stag. By Kate Seredy. |
| 1937 | Roller Skates. By Ruth Sawyer. |
| 1936 | Caddie Woodlawn. By Carol Ryrie Brink. |
| 1935 | Dobry. By Monica Shannon. |
| 1934 | Invincible Louisa. By Cornelia Meigs. |
| 1933 | Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. By Elizabeth Foreman Lewis. |
| 1932 | Waterless Mountain. By Laura Adams Armer. |
| 1931 | The Cat Who Went to Heaven. By Elizabeth Coatsworth. |
| 1930 | Hitty, Her First Hundred Years. By Rachel Field. |
| 1929 | The Trumpeter of Krakow. By Eric P. Kelly. |
| 1928 | Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. By Dhan Gopal Mukerji. |
| 1927 | Smoky, the Cow Horse. By Will James. |
| 1926 | Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children. By Arthur Bowie Chrisman. |
| 1925 | Tales from Silver Lands. By Charles J. Finger. |
| 1924 | The Dark Frigate. By Charles Boardman Hawes. |
| 1923 | The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. By Hugh Lofting. |
| 1922 | The Story of Mankind. By Hendrik Van Loon |