Mildred L. Batchelder Award

2023 - Winner(s)

During Mussolini’s reign, Lia and her family leave their home because of the persecution of Jews. Based on her adult memoir, Levi retells her story...

2023 - Honor(s)

Told in the alternating voices of two brothers, this picture book reveals the everyday life and deprivation faced by the siblings during the Spanish Civil...

2023 - Honor(s)

In a story spanning three generations, a family, whose wealth brings them great honor, becomes a target for abuse and persecution during China’s Cultural Revolution...

2023 - Honor(s)

João dreams of floating through watery landscapes covered by elaborate embroideries until a hole swallows them. Startled awake, he weaves words together into a comforting...

2022 - Honor(s)

2022 - Honor(s)

2022 - Winner(s)

Upon seeing a ghostly figure slip out of his home, Kazu grows convinced it’s connected to an ancient temple and the sudden appearance of a...

2022 - Honor(s)

2022 - Honor(s)

2022 - Honor(s)

2021 - Winner(s)

Originally published in Italian as “Favole al telefono,” the book was written by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Valerio Vidali, translated by Antony Shugaar and published...

2021 - Honor(s)

Published by HarperAlley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, written by Julia Billet, illustrated by Claire Fauvel and translated from French by Ivanka Hahnenberger.

2020 - Winner(s)

2020 - Honor(s)

2020 - Honor(s)

2020 - Honor(s)

2020 - Honor(s)

2019 - Winner(s)

2019 - Honor(s)

2019 - Honor(s)

2019 - Honor(s)

2019 - Honor(s)

2018 - Honor(s)

In this engaging picture book biography, richly detailed text and illustrations, along with extensive back matter, bring the story of world-famous Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai...

2018 - Honor(s)

Edmond Bigsnout, a dapper and hungry wolf, heads out in search of a city bunny to eat. The wolf’s quest for a tasty dinner is...

2018 - Honor(s)

Author and artist Roger Mello has created a fantastical tale that invites readers to engage their imaginations in following the fate of a chain of...

2018 - Winner(s)

When the sea captain she works with is wrongly convicted of murder, Sally Jones, a gorilla who can read, write, and understand humans, embarks on...

2017 - Honor(s)

Bart, a quirky Norwegian 13-year-old, faces many odds: an alcoholic, overweight mother who loves him dearly; life in a run-down apartment; classmates who bully him...

2017 - Honor(s)

Once upon a time, there was a ship, a family and a village that each underwent changes. Told in three parts through watercolor illustrations and...

2017 - Winner(s)

In this book, four children naively attempt to outwit Death who arrives for their grandmother. Using a parable featuring the marriage of Joy and Delight...

2017 - Honor(s)

Using spare text and vivid illustrations, this wistful picture book invites wonder about the broader world beyond the horizon of what is known. A child...

2016 - Winner(s)

2016 - Honor(s)

2016 - Honor(s)

2016 - Honor(s)

2015 - Honor(s)

In this evocative graphic novel, a grandmother recounts her childhood experiences hiding from the Nazis in World War II France. Surrounded by cruelty, Dounia also...

2015 - Honor(s)

In this intricately plotted book, Fing’s loving but fractious family moves into a new house outside of town and gradually discovers a “tragical tragedy” concerning...

2015 - Winner(s)

2014 - Winner(s)

When his older brother enlists in 1943, Linus Muller assumes family responsibilities that introduce him to “Mister Orange,” Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. At once a...

2014 - Honor(s)

Separated from his parents for the first time, almost 8-year-old Myron dreads vacationing at his grandparents' house in the French countryside. Even more intimidating, family...

2014 - Honor(s)

During one long Norwegian night, a father and son explore their powerful emotions of love and loss, but also hope and healing. Lunde skillfully evokes...

2014 - Honor(s)

With powerful text and stark illustrations, this novella provides a harrowing account of Jewish suffering in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Misha's poetic...

2013 - Winner(s)

2013 - Honor(s)

2013 - Honor(s)

2012 - Winner(s)

Originally published in Dutch in 2008 as “Soldaat Wojtek."

2012 - Honor(s)

2011 - Honor(s)

2011 - Honor(s)

2011 - Winner(s)

2010 - Winner(s)

Originally published in Swedish in 1996, “A Faraway Island” tells the story of two Jewish sisters from Vienna, Austria, 12 year old Stephie and her...

2010 - Honor(s)

2010 - Honor(s)

2010 - Honor(s)

2009 - Winner(s)

The book tells the story of Balsa, a skilled female warrior, who accepts the task of protecting a young prince from otherworldly demons and his...

2009 - Honor(s)

Hole introduces us to six-year-old Garmann during his last summer before starting school. The humorous and poetic text, combined with surreal and multi-layered artwork, creates...

2009 - Honor(s)

A betrayed woman facing death, a most unlikely hero, and a sarcastic talking white tiger in colonial-era India come together in a magical story within...

2008 - Honor(s)

This companion volume to “Nicholas,” a 2006 Batchelder Honor Book, presents the further hilarious escapades of a schoolboy and his classmates in an all-boys school...

2008 - Winner(s)

The book tells the story of a boy named Wataru whose chaotic life leads him to enter the videogame-infused world of Vision to alter his...

2008 - Honor(s)

This book is a timeless fable featuring willful young Christine's attempts to understand the nature of true learning and friendship. After imagining encounters with a...

2007 - Winner(s)

This contemporary version of the Tom Thumb story follows charismatic Yann, youngest and smallest of seven brothers, as he silently leads his siblings across the...

2007 - Honor(s)

After his parents are murdered by itinerant criminal Angel, young Paolo and the killer haltingly discover their capacity for love and forgiveness. The two tempt...

2007 - Honor(s)

A young elf and an irascible dragon, with the help of twobewildered but kindly humans and later a feisty orphan, attempt to fulfill aprophecy that...

2006 - Winner(s)

The book tells the story of a young farmhand’s experience as a soldier in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia beginning in the winter of 1811. Betrayed...

2006 - Honor(s)

A favorite among French schoolchildren for nearly half a century, the Nicholas stories introduce American readers to the hilarious escapades of a schoolboy and his...

2006 - Honor(s)

Zenatti’s memoir tackles the unusual topic of compulsory military service in Israel, revealing the complex fabric of Israeli society. Her account of her first year...

2005 - Winner(s)

“The Shadows of Ghadames” paints a vivid picture of a young woman’s coming of age in 19th-century Libya, as 11-year-old Malika questions the restrictions she...

2005 - Honor(s)

“The Crow-Girl,” by Bodil Bredsdorff, was translated into English by Faith Ingwersen. The book was originally published in Danish in 1993 as “Krageungen: Børnene i...

2005 - Honor(s)

In this story of 1930s’ Germany, a boy who initially enjoys the advantages of an affluent upbringing is forced into a life of deception after...

2004 - Honor(s)

Reminiscent of a scrapbook, this extraordinary book chronicles what Michael Collins did, saw, and thought about in space. What was it like to go to...

2004 - Winner(s)

Run, Boy, Run is the extraordinary account of one boy's survival of the Holocaust. At the age of eight, Srulik is left alone in the...

2003 - Winner(s)

Two orphaned brothers, Prosper, 12, and Bo, 5, come to Venice on the run from relatives who intend to separate them. A band of street...

2003 - Honor(s)

An innovative book design captures the heart of this allegorical tale of a persistent and clever hen that pursues dreams leading to better conditions for...

2002 - Winner(s)

Ten-year-old Johann recalls the hardships and triumphs of the immigrant experience in 1902, as his German family emigrates in search of the "paradise" said to...

2002 - Honor(s)

Monsieur Noël welcomes his fifth grade class with permission slips for such unlikely activities as sleeping late, forgetting homework, and making lots of noise, which...

2001 - Honor(s)

Lehmann's novel relates moments in the lives of three teens who purchase a computer game that recreates a virtual reality of a time machine of...

2001 - Winner(s)

Samir, a Palestinian boy, enters an Israeli hospital for surgery. At first he is fearful and antagonistic, but he develops a bond with Yonatan, an...

2000 - Winner(s)

Set in East Africa, the book is a story about a rejected hunter who becomes the reluctant leader of a baboon troop and learns about...

2000 - Honor(s)

for Collector of Moments by Quint Buchholz. Translated from the German by Peter F. Neumeyer.

2000 - Honor(s)

for Vendela in Venice by Christina Björk; illustrated by Inga-Karin Eriksson. Translated from the Swedish by Patricia Crampton.

2000 - Honor(s)

for Asphalt Angels by Ineke Holtwijk. Translated from the Dutch by Wanda Boeke.

1999 - Winner(s)

In “Thanks to My Mother,” 8-year-old Schoschana Rabinovici recounts her harrowing childhood experiences from the time that the German Army invades her home in Lithuania...

1999 - Honor(s)

1998 - Winner(s)

1998 - Honor(s)

1998 - Honor(s)

1997 - Winner(s)

The Friends tells the story of three sixth-grade friends who spend their spare time spying on an elderly neighbor, whom they expect to die. Instead...

1996 - Winner(s)

"Yulek Goldenberg searches for a homeland," said Barbara Immroth, chair of the Mildred L. Batchelder Committee. "The Lady with the Hat follows World War II...

1996 - Honor(s)

1996 - Honor(s)

1995 - Winner(s)

It is 1942, and Denmark has been occupied by Germany. A group of teenage boys dare to do what their elders have not--show resistance to...

1995 - Honor(s)

1994 - Honor(s)

1994 - Honor(s)

1994 - Winner(s)

"With reluctance, thirteen-year-old Arduino's father arranges for his son to become an apprentice to a talented, but cruel, master painter," said Wendy G. Ramsey, chair...

1993 - No Awards Given

1992 - Winner(s)

1991 - Winner(s)

1990 - Winner(s)

1989 - Winner(s)

1988 - Winner(s)

1987 - Winner(s)

1986 - Winner(s)

1985 - Winner(s)

1984 - Winner(s)

1983 - Winner(s)

1982 - Winner(s)

1981 - Winner(s)

1980 - Winner(s)

1979 - Winner(s)

1979 - Winner(s)

1978 - No Awards Given

1977 - Winner(s)

1976 - Winner(s)

1975 - Winner(s)

1974 - Winner(s)

1973 - Winner(s)

1972 - Winner(s)

1971 - Winner(s)

1970 - Winner(s)

1969 - Winner(s)

1968 - Winner(s)