Mythopoeic Award Winners for Best Children's Fantasy Literature

In 1992, the Mythopoeic Society added two new award categories to their annual awards. One for Myth and Fantasy Studies, and this award, honoring the best in Children's Fantasy Literature. The qualifications for this award are very similar to the qualifications for the Adult Fantasy Literature award. The award for this category is to be bestowed upon the fantasy novel, multi-volume novel, or single-author story collection for children published during the previous year that best exemplifies “the spirit of the Inklings”. As with the Adult Fantasy Literature award, books that are not selected as finalists in the year after publication are eligible for a second year and books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own, but if not the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears. The question of whether a book is best suited to the Adult Fantasy Literature category, or the Children's Fantasy literature category is decided by consensus of the selecting committees.

One interesting difference between the Adult Fantasy Literature award and the Children's Fantasy Literature award is how often series win the award. While Catherynne M. Valente's Orphan's Tales series is the only series to win the Adult Fantasy Literature award, four different series have won the Children's Fantasy Literature award. I'm not sure why this is: perhaps children are more willing to read a series of fantasy books, perhaps children's stories are more suited to a multiple book format.Whatever the reason, due to the proliferation of series victors in this category means that even though the Children's Award has been around for only half as long as the Adult award, there are three-quarters as many total novels represented in this category. If this trend keeps up, the total number of winning books in this category will exceed the total number of winning books in the Adult category in fairly short order.

1992: Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
1993: Knight's Wyrd by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
1994: The Kingdom of Kevin Malone by Suzy McKee Charnas
1995: Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl
1996: The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones
1998: Young Merlin trilogy (Passager, Hobby, and Merlin) by Jane Yolen
1999: Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
2000: The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
2001: Aria of the Sea by Dia Calhoun
2002: The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson
2003: Summerland by Michael Chabon
2004: The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle
2005: A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

2006: Bartimaeus trilogy (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate) by Jonathan Stroud

2007: Corbenic by Catherine Fisher

2008: Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) by J.K. Rowling

2009: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2010: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

2011: Queen's Thief series (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings) by Megan Whalen Turner

2012: The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
2013: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
2014: Doll Bones by Holly Black
2015: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
2016: Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

2017: The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

2018: Frogkisser by Garth Nix
2019: Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

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