A roundup of "best of" lists and children's literature prizes for books published in 2009.
- See also the other lists Best Children's Books 2010: A List of Lists and Awards and The Best of the Best: Kids' Books '08.
About.com: Year's best children's Christmas books
Alex Awards. Books written for adults & good for young people aged 12 and older, too.
Amazon Editors' Picks: Top 100 Books List of mostly adult books does include some YA and middle-grade novels.
Amazon Top 10 Picture Books, Middle Readers, and Teens
Amelia Bloomer List. "Recommended feminist literature" for children.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for children and young adults: Finalists and winners
American Indian Youth Literature Awards
Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (includes several kids' categories)
Association of Booksellers for Children: ABC Best Books for Children Catalog (PDF file)
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Notable Children's Books
The Audies, sponsored by the Audio Publishers of America. Several children's categories of audiobooks.
AudioFile. Best audio books, including a category for "children & family listening"
Aurealis Awards. Finalists. List of Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror books includes several YA and children's categories.
The Australian (children's books at the end of the list)
Awful Library Books: Best Awful Library Books of 2009. This list features older books but is too funny not to include here.
Bank Street children's book awards, including the Josette Frank, Flora Stieglitz Straus, and Claudia Lewis awards, plus PDF versions of Bank Street's extensive Books of the Year lists, categorized by age
Barnes and Noble Review. Chapter books. Gifts for Young Readers.
Belpre illustrator and author awards
Best Hockey Books for Kids, at Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey Legends.com
Bisto Children's Book of the Year Awards (Ireland)
Blue Peter Book Awards shortlist. Sponsored by CBBC (Children's BBC) and Booktrust; some shortlisted books first published first in 2007 and 2008. (UK)
Boing Boing Gift Guide 2009: Kids. Some 2009 books, some older.
Bookends: Best nonfiction
Booklist: Top of the List, and Editors' Choice
Booklist: Top Ten Arts Books for Youth; Top Ten Religion Books for Youth; Top Ten Sci-Tech Books for Youth
Booklist: Lasting Connections. "30 picture books, novels, and nonfiction books that most effectively connect to the K–8 curriculum..."
BookPage's BookCase blog: teen reads
Booktrust Early Years Awards (UK)
Booktrust Teenage Prize shortlist and winner (UK)
Boston Globe--Horn Book Award for Excellent in Children's Literature
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: 2009 Guide to Gift Books (book are from 2007 to 2009), and Blue Ribbons (best of '09)
Canadian Children's Literature Awards, including TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, Nora Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Nonfiction, and Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People
Canadian Toy Testing Council's Top Ten Great Books for Children (some books from 2008)
Carnegie Medal long list, shortlist, and winner (UK)
Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video (US)
Carter G. Woodson Award (sponsored by the National Council for Social Studies)
CBC Radio: Recommended reads (Canada)
CBS: "The Early Show." "Holiday Reads for Your Kids."
Children's Book Council of Australia: Book of the Year shortlist and notable books. Winners. Also, the Crichton Award (for new children's book illustrators) short list
Children's Choice Book Awards. Finalists and winners.
CLA (Canada Library Association) Young Adult Book Award shortlist
Comic Book Resources: Best comics collections reprints.
Coretta Scott King Award. (See also Steptoe Award for New Talent, below.)
Costa Book Awards: Shortlists, including one for Costa Children's Award (UK). Category winners.
Cryptomundo (blog): Top Ten Cryptozoology Books. Includes books for children.
Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards) long list, finalists, and winners
Daily Mail: Teenage fiction
Dragons in 2009 children's books, at Charlotte's Library
Drawn! Illustration and Cartoon Art. John Martz's favorite comic and art books include a kids' title
E.B. White Read Aloud Awards finalists
Edgar award nominees, sponsored by Mystery Writers of America. Several children's categories included.
Eisner Comic Industry Awards nominations and winners. Many categories.
Ezra Jack Keats Awards for new children's book writers and illustrators
Financial Times. Many categories, with children's and teens' books at the end of the list. (UK)
Geoffrey Billson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People finalists (Canada)
Giverny Award for children's science picture book
Golden Fuse Awards. A humorous look at the year in kids' books.
Golden Kite Awards, from SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)
Good Comics for Kids, a School Library Journal blog: Best comics for kids
Governor General's Literary Awards (Canada). Including several children's categories. Translation winner is also a kids' book.
Graphic Novel Reporter Best of 2009: A Survey of Comics Readers. Adult-oriented list does contain some books for children.
Greenaway Medal long list, short list, and winner (UK)
Growing Good Kids Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, sponsored by the American Horticultural Society and the Junior Master Gardener Program
Gryphon Award, for books for children from kindergarten to 4th grade
The Guardian: children's and illustrated books gift list
Guerilla Girls on Tour (feminist theatrical collective) best books. Includes a children's and YA section.
Guys Lit Wire. Best graphic novels.
Horn Book Fanfare. See also Holiday High Notes.
Hudson Booksellers. List includes a Young Readers category.
Huffington Post: picture books.
The Independent. Best children's books for Christmas. Also best teenage fiction. (UK)
The Independent: The 50 Best Winter Reads (UK). Includes some books for children.
The Inkys long list and winner. Young adult books. Awards sponsored by the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library Victoria. (Australia)
Instructor Magazine. Teachers' Picks: Books. First-Rate Biographies.
iParenting Media Awards: Books (some for children, others for parents)
Jacket Knack: Best children's book covers, Julie Larios's picks; Carol Brendler's picks
June Franklin Naylor Award for Best Book for Children on Texas History
Kansas City Star. Top 100 books of the year list includes a young readers' section.
Kirkus Reviews (PDF file)
Lane Anderson Award for Canadian science books shortlist (includes a children's category)
Largehearted Boy. "Online 'Best of 2009' Book Lists." An awe-inspiring, ginormous list of lists of all kinds of books.
Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
LIANZA Children's Book Awards (Library & Information Association of New Zealand)
Library Journal's Best YA for Adults
Los Angeles Times Book Award, for Young Adult Literature
Los Angeles Times' Wordplay column
Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award finalists (Canada)
MER Prizes (South Africa) Scroll down on the page for the youth literature shortlist.
Meridian Magazine (Latter Day Saints)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature
NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work. Nominees in books for children and for youth/teens (and other categories)
National Book Award for Young People's Literature: Finalists and winner
National Outdoor Book Awards. A children's category is included; some books published in '08.
National Parenting Publications (NAPPA) Awards for books and storytelling/audiobooks
NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
New Brunswick (NJ) Home News. Holiday books.
New York Public Library. 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
New York Times: Best Illustrated Children's Books
New York Times: Notable Children's Books
The New Yorker: "What We Read This Year" (staff picks), at the magazine's Book Bench blog, includes one children's book
Northern California Book Awards
Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Nonfiction finalists
NPR: Critic Alan Cheuse's best of the season list includes one classic book for children
NPR: Big And Beautiful: Best Gift Books. List of coffee-table tomes includes one kid-oriented book.
NPR: Nancy Pearl's Under-the-Radar holiday books include several children's/YA titles
NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12
Omnivoracious (Amazon blog) Best Book Covers of 2009 A couple of children's books in a long list.
Oprah's Book Club. (2009 and older titles) Infant-2 years; 3-5 years; 6-9 years; 10-12 years; 12 years and up
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards. One picture book at the end of the list.
PEN Center USA Literary Awards (includes a category for children's books)
Planet Esme: Christmas picture books
Please Touch Museum's Book Awards
Poetry for Children Blog: Kids' poetry expert Sylvia Vardell's 2009 favorites
Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlists (Australia)
Quebec Writers' Federation Awards, including a prize for children's literature.
Quill & Quire. A list of Canada's best books includes a young readers section.
Rainbow Books 2010. A GLBTQ list of books for children and teens, from the American Library Association's Rainbow Project. Includes titles from last few years.
Readings (Melbourne-based independent bookstores) Best Teen Fiction, Best Middle Fiction, Best Junior Fiction, Best Picture Books, Best Kids' Non-Fiction (Australia)
Roald Dahl Funny Prize. One book published in '08 and one in '09. (UK)
Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books shortlist
San Angelo Standard-Times: Texas books, including mentions of a couple of kids' titles
San Antonio Express-News. New editions of Christmas classics.
SciFiChik Her list of science fiction and fantasy bests of '09 includes a section on YA/children's books.
Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Gift books: Children's Multicultural Books; new editions of children's classics; teen readers; and children's nonfiction
Sheffield Children's Book Award (UK)
Siebert Informational Book Award
Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers' Top Ten Hispanic Books of 2009 list includes some children/YA titles
Southland Times. A couple of kids' books on a general list. (New Zealand)
Spur Awards, sponsored by the Western Writers of America
Steptoe Award for New Talent. (Part of Coretta Scott King awards.)
Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Awards
Storytelling World Resource Awards (books from past five years are eligible)
Sydney Taylor Book Awards, sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
Tablet Magazine: Best Jewish picture books and chapter books
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award nominees. Categories for books in English and French.
Telegraph (UK)
Times Argus (Barre, VT) Gift books.
The Times' Christmas books: children's fiction (UK)
Vodafone Crossword Book Award (India)
Waterstone's Children's Book Prize finalists (UK)
William C. Morris YA Debut Novel Award finalists and winner.
Words World and Wings: Best Santa Claus picture books of the year
The Working Waterfront: Maine children's books
YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults finalists and winner
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Your Friendly Librarian. Books grouped by intended age of readers.
Ypluse. Best and worst books of the year.
Many thanks to my fellow bloggers and Twitter people for help compiling this list; a huge shout-out goes to Largehearted Boy, who so generously shares his work. He's got best music lists, too!
Best Children's Books of 2009: The Big List of Lists. ©Susan Thomsen, 2009, 2010. All rights reserved.
I encourage my nephews and neices to read and to stimulate the imagination from what they read. Every occassion during the year they get a book token and a visit to the book shop to choose the next big read.
Posted by: caribbean Holidays | October 31, 2009 at 01:57 PM
Thanks for compiling these lists! What a great resource!
- AZ
Posted by: AZ | November 03, 2009 at 03:21 PM
Thanks for compiling these lists every year, Susan!
Posted by: jama | November 07, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Great resource! Thanks!
Posted by: Mary Lee | November 08, 2009 at 04:11 PM
AZ, Jama, and Mary Lee, you're welcome! Once the holidays starting coming around, I start itching to make a list now!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | November 08, 2009 at 04:47 PM
this is SUCH a great resource. you rawk!
Posted by: marjorie | November 20, 2009 at 03:38 PM
You're very welcome, Marjorie. I have a few I need to add today!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | November 21, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Thanks for putting this list together Susan, this is great. I wonder how long it's going to take until we see interactive digital storybooks on this list... Maybe next year we might see some StoryPlease stuff on here?
Hey, we can dream, right? ;)
[edited]
Posted by: StoryPlease team | December 07, 2009 at 09:57 PM
Hey, StoryPleasers. I think we'll be seeing ebooks on the Best of 2010 list next year!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | December 08, 2009 at 07:59 AM
Great List. A link is going up on site! Shutta
Posted by: Shutta Crum | December 11, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Thanks! I have a lot of fun compiling the list.
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | December 11, 2009 at 11:12 AM
I'm disappointed to see that ghostgirl and ghostgirl: homecoming didn't make the list. Have you had a chance to read them?
Posted by: Thelia | December 16, 2009 at 10:19 PM
my bro-in-law just asked for a book for a 14-yr-old reluctant reader (girl, likes soccer and violin, not so much into boys). your list of lists is getting my detective skillz tingling! thanks again for providing such a major service.
Posted by: marjorie | December 17, 2009 at 09:50 AM
Majorie, sure thing! I'm using other (grown-up) Best Of lists to buy books for my mom and dad. The Philadelphia Inquirer has a good one in which many staff people suggested titles.
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | December 17, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Thelia, which list are you referring to? There are many on this page.
This is not a list of individual books. I've left that up to others!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | December 17, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Great list! I just linked to it from my own top 10 YA books of 2009 list. :)
Posted by: Kelly | December 31, 2009 at 08:57 AM
Hi Susan,
Happy New Year! The January 2010 issue of BookLinks has a list of Lasting Connections, a list of the 30 picture books, novels, and nonfiction books that most effectively connect to the K–8 curriculum. You can find it online at:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3961964
Posted by: Tricia | January 01, 2010 at 09:53 AM
Thanks for the nice words and the link, Kelly!
Tricia, excellent! Thank you.
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | January 01, 2010 at 11:46 AM
a list of lists, this is great!
Posted by: cheeky | January 03, 2010 at 07:07 AM
Wow, that was an excellent list!
Posted by: Nursery Rhymes | January 03, 2010 at 08:55 AM
Thanks for doing this round-up, Susan!
I posted my best books of 2009 list at Bildungsroman - both at the live blog and the archive website.
Posted by: Little Willow | January 03, 2010 at 10:50 PM
Fantastic list. Thanks!
And thanks for calling yourself Chicken Spaghetti, which made me smile.
Posted by: Joan Holub | January 05, 2010 at 08:06 PM
Thanks so much for this amazing resource!
Posted by: Sarah N. | January 08, 2010 at 06:22 AM
Here's another award:
Red Maple Award (Canadian)
There's a number of selections on the finalist list. Canadian youth are encouraged to read and vote on what they think is the best.
Posted by: Kim Wagner | April 10, 2010 at 10:43 PM
Hi Susan! I just want to let you know that I am very that I found your site. I just notice that my nephews’ and niece’s children bookcase don’t have enough books in them and I thought of giving them some as a gift. Your list is definitely what I needed. I am very grateful that I came across your site. I really admire you for sparing some time to put up this list. I believe a lot of people can benefit from this. I hope you continue sharing more helpful stuff here on your blog. Keep it up and thanks again!
Posted by: childrens bookcase | October 24, 2010 at 09:47 AM
Hello! It's my first time to comment here and I am glad I've found this blog of yours. :) Nice blog setup..
Posted by: Annie Leibovitz | July 12, 2011 at 02:54 PM