The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction is an annual American children's book award that recognizes historical fiction. It was established in 1982 by Scott O'Dell, author of Island of the Blue Dolphins and 25 other children's books, in hopes of increasing young readers' interest in the history that shaped their nation and their world. Eligibility for the award requires that a book be written in English for children or young adults, published by an American publisher, and the author must be a United States citizen. The award is recognized in the United States by publishers of children's literature and young adult literature, the American Library Association, [1] and the Assembly for Literature of Adolescents. [2]
Books may be submitted throughout the year to the Award Committee. Award nomination forms must be submitted with the required information for each title a publisher, literary agent, or author wish to bring to the attention of the Award Committee. [3]
The annual selection from qualifying books is made by the O'Dell Committee. Zena Sutherland — who was Professor Emeritus of Children's Literature at the University of Chicago — headed the committee from its formation in 1982 until her death in 2002. The home of The Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction was moved in 2022 to the Reinberger Children’s Library Center at the Kent State University iSchool in Kent, Ohio. In partnership with Kent State University, the O'Dell family and matriarchs Elizabeth Hall (Scott's widow) and Lauren Anderson Gerber (Scott's granddaughter) continue to administer and fund the annual award. The 2024 Committee includes: Maria Trivisonno (Chair), Family Engagement Specialist, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH; Kristen Blackshear, Social Studies Teacher, Glenwood School, Smiths Station, AL, and Adjunct History Instructor, Southern Union State Community College, Opelika, AL; Marianne Martens, Ph.D., Professor, Kent State University School of Information, Kent, OH; Mary Anne Nichols, Senior Lecturer, Kent State University School of Information, Kent, OH; Uma Nori, Head, Youth Services, Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Western Springs, IL; Debra Liddell Quarles, Library and Information Specialist, Shaker Heights City Schools, Shaker Heights, OH; Mike Rogalla, Children's Services Manager, Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL; and Kerry Shelton, Principal, St. Gabriel Consolidated School, Glendale, OH. [4]
No award was given in 1982 and 1983, as the committee felt that "no books of sufficient merit had been published". Elizabeth George Speare was the first recipient, receiving the award for her book, The Sign of the Beaver , a tale of wilderness survival. The award has been presented every year since 1984. O'Dell himself won the award in 1987 for Streams to the River, River to the Sea, his fictional retelling of the story of Sacagawea. Louise Erdrich has won the award twice, in 2006 and in 2013.
| Year | Recipient [5] | Book Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kim Johnson | The Color of a Lie | Random House Books for Young Readers |
| 2024 | L. M. Elliott | Bea and the New Deal Horse | Katherine Tegen Books |
| 2023 | Irene Latham and Charles Waters | African Town | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers |
| 2022 | Justina Ireland | Ophie’s Ghosts | Balzer + Bray |
| 2021 | Helen Frost | All He Knew | Farrar Straus and Giroux |
| 2020 | Thanhhà Lại | Butterfly Yellow | HarperCollins |
| 2019 | Lesa Cline-Ransome | Finding Langston | Holiday House |
| 2018 | Lauren Wolk | Beyond the Bright Sea | Dutton Books for Young Readers |
| 2017 | Jennifer L. Holm | Full of Beans | Random House |
| 2016 | Laura Amy Schlitz | The Hired Girl | Candlewick Press |
| 2015 | Kirby Larson | Dash | Scholastic |
| 2014 | Kirkpatrick Hill | Bo at Ballard Creek | Henry Holt and Co. |
| 2013 | Louise Erdrich | Chickadee | HarperCollins |
| 2012 | Jack Gantos | Dead End in Norvelt | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) |
| 2011 | Rita Williams-Garcia | One Crazy Summer | Amistad |
| 2010 | Matt Phelan | The Storm in the Barn | Candlewick |
| 2009 | Laurie Halse Anderson | Chains | Simon & Schuster |
| 2008 | Christopher Paul Curtis | Elijah of Buxton | Scholastic Press |
| 2007 | Ellen Klages | The Green Glass Sea | Viking Children's Books |
| 2006 | Louise Erdrich | The Game of Silence | HarperCollins Children's Books |
| 2005 | A LaFaye | Worth | Simon & Schuster |
| 2004 | Richard Peck | The River Between Us | Dial Press |
| 2003 | Shelley Pearsall | Trouble Don't Last | Alfred A Knopf |
| 2002 | Mildred D. Taylor | The Land | Phyllis Fogelman Books |
| 2001 | Janet Taylor Lisle | The Art of Keeping Cool | A Richard Jackson Book/Atheneum |
| 2000 | Miriam Bat-Ami | Two Suns in the Sky | Front Street/Cricket Books |
| 1999 | Harriette Robinet | Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule | Jean Fritz/Atheneum |
| 1998 | Karen Hesse | Out of the Dust | Scholastic |
| 1997 | Katherine Paterson | Jip, His Story | Dutton |
| 1996 | Theodore Taylor | The Bomb | Harcourt, Brace |
| 1995 | Graham Salisbury | Under the Blood Red Sun | Delacorte |
| 1994 | Paul Fleischman | Bull Run | Laura Geringer/Harper-Collins |
| 1993 | Michael Dorris | Morning Girl | Hyperion |
| 1992 | Mary Downing Hahn | Stepping on the Cracks | Clarion |
| 1991 | Pieter Van Raven | A Time of Troubles | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| 1990 | Carolyn Reeder | Shades of Gray | Macmillan |
| 1989 | Lyll Becerra de Jenkins | The Honorable Prison | Lodestar/Dutton |
| 1988 | Patricia Beatty | Charley Skedaddle | Morrow |
| 1987 | Scott O'Dell | Streams to the River, River to the Sea | Houghton Mifflin |
| 1986 | Patricia MacLachlan | Sarah, Plain and Tall | Harper & Row |
| 1985 | Avi | The Fighting Ground | Lippincott |
| 1984 | Elizabeth George Speare | The Sign of the Beaver | Houghton Mifflin |